People get “wellness exams”?
Okay, that was sarcasm, but my last “wellness exam” was over two decades ago, and that would have been a mandatory postpartum visit. In lieu of insurance or big bags of cash, I’ve simply attempted to stay healthy.
This doesn’t mean I think we’ve got a good system. See linkage below for a grim picture of the situation.
A group of Georgetown medical students recently posed as either low-income, uninsured adults or as the parents of low-income uninsured children who needed a wellness exam. The students visited 311 clinics, doctors’ offices and community health centers in the District.
Nearly half of these pretend patients were unable to get an appointment; those who were able to get one usually had to wait 2 1/2 weeks to see a doctor.
Providers also asked the students for a pre-visit deposit averaging $190 — a quarter of the gross monthly income of a minimum-wage worker. Only one in 40 sites was willing to see an uninsured patient without payment at time of service, and four out of five required payment in full at the time of the visit. The students further reported that more than one in five of the personnel with whom they interacted were rude or very rude.
A Snapshot of the Uninsured Life (Washington Post op-ed)
Promised grim picture link:
The U.S. Healthcare System (Angry Bear; this is part one—for more numbers and graphs see the topic links at the top of the lefthand sidebar)