Recently, I took my father to his monthly doctor’s appointment. It’s part of a routine we have developed over the past 6 months, which includes an hour long drive and shooting the breeze. I hadn’t been feeling good due to an earache so I thought I’d see his doctor too while we were there. No big deal, right? Wrong. The person at the front desk said they didn’t take my insurance plan. Wow! Really? It’s a nationally known and widely accepted insurance plan. Or so I thought. So, I would’ve had to pay $150 out of pocket then for the visit, so I decided not to. I figured, I could wait until later and hit the local walk-in clinic as I usually do for things like this. Before I could do that though, my dad, being the quintessential salesman that he is, told his doctor the situation and before I knew it, the doctor checked my ears, wrote me a prescription for much needed antibiotics, and we were on our way.

Before we left, we had a good conversation about healthcare. The doctor said he’d never have thought that he’d support a healthcare system run by the government until now. He’s right. Things keep changing and insurance companies (and their clients) are not all treated the same. Why IS it that some insurance companies have better access for treatment? Why don’t the same procedures cost the same across the country? If you work, but you can’t afford to buy healthcare, what happens if you get sick? There are so many questions that we have to answer for healthcare to work for all in the United States.

As for me, I will continue to think about problems like these, but today I take great pleasure in my dad asking for help for me and a doctor taking his time to be neighborly in times as these where you don’t see a whole lot of that.

TETH