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FL 7-Day Blogging Challenge Day 7

Prompt for January 15: What would be the ideal status of Health Care in the U.S. For 2010? chosen from contestant suggestions

I’m at that in between age, old enough to collect Social Security and too young to be on Medicare. I go to a sliding scale clinic, where (twice a year) I have to show proof of income so I can see a doctor. I go to a pharmacy, which charges $4.00 for most of my generic prescriptions. My mother is on Medicare (handled through a local HMO). She pays $3.00 for most of her generic prescription. She pays a $10.00 co-pay to her regular doctor, a $20.00 co-copy to a specialist, $25.00 at the urgent care and $50.00 at hospital emergency rooms. Any test either of us has is extra and that ranges from $25.00 to $100.00 depending on the test and where performed.

We were both fortunate to get into a grant program, which paid for our false teeth. In addition, at my last physical, my doctor found a mass in my breast; fortunately, I am a senior citizen so the Women’s Health Connection is taking care of the cost of mammograms, ultrasounds, and specialists for this health issue.

The ideal health care system would let senior citizens pay less then $10.00 for all their prescriptions, which would include all medications not just generics, with all doctors’ co-pays less then $15.00, while hospital emergency rooms and urgent care facilities charging $25.00 or less.

At 63, I don’t expect anything to be free because I know there is always a price for everything. Even if there is no out-of-pocket cost, there is still a price and sometimes, but not always, it’s better to pay out-of-pocket cost.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as the ideal health care system. There will never be an ideal health care system because we are dealing an ever changing civilization composed of humanity, an evolving species, whose needs change with maturity, age, and various other factors.