health insurance, finally

In the years between my 20th and 31st birthday, I did not have health insurance. So...I did not go to the doctor.

Did things go wrong? Well, yes. Sure. I mean I got the flu occassionally, strep throat, that sort of thing, but nothing major. I could always go to my school's doctor, but the health center at CSU Chico wasn't really so much a hospital as a waiting room with four chairs, some pamphlets about quitting smoking, and a guy who would prescribe vicadin without too many questions. Basically, Chico's health center was less a hospital and more like the school's nurse office at your average grade school.

Of course, I could have received health insurance from Rite Aid while I worked there, but then, that was a union shop, I would have had to work full time, and of course, they always scheduled me about an hour short of full time. The only person at Rite Aid who ever received health insurance was the born again Christian girl who management felt should receive health insurance lest they suffer eternal damnation. I could have called my union rep, of course, but then, he was too busy laughing at the fact that, after paying my union dues, I was making less than minimum wage.

Fuck, I hate unions.

But that is another post about cops standing on the side of the road while people run red lights trying to hit me because Massachusett's driving tests are 10 minutes instead of the suggested 30, and these fuckers don't know how to drive, and you can't pay the cops enough to give them tickets. It's anarchy in Massacusetts.

But that's not the point. The point is that when you don't have health insurance, what counts as a problem necessitating medical advice depends mainly on whether or not you can stop the bleeding or whether you can take over the counter medicine, in proper ammounts, in order to knock yourself unconscious through the worst part of it.

Now, however, I can finally consult a doctor for things like hangnails and ennui. UMass has a hospital on campus, which essentially means, I have a doctor's office at my place of employment. Furthermore, it is a doctor's office that caters primarilly to 18-22 year olds who are notoriously healthy. I can get an appointment 10 minutes from now if need be. Mental health, got it. Acupuncture, got it. Flue shots, well...but you can't ask for everything.

Nonetheless, my more frequent trips to the doctor have, as per usual, confirmed my general supicion that either doctors aren't exactly up to snuff, or that modern medicine has some ways to go. Take my recent eye appointment, for instance, the guy checks out my eyes, determines they are in tippy top shape, hears I read a lot, and so suggests I buy reading glasses. Well, hell, I could have told him that. Or perhaps, as my example, I will choose my visit to the doctor who I visited for my sore throat who told me that I might want to try some Robitussin and perhaps a spray. It was like he'd performed some psychic ability in which he looked directly into my home medicine cabinet. Or perhaps he smelled it on my breath.

Now, I'm not saying I want the job, but if this is the sort of medical advice that America needs, I'm willing to give it out. You could come to me and say, "hey, I've got a headache," and I'd say, "try Aspirin." You would, and problem fixed without you having to get on a scale, have that cuff around your arm, or listen to old people reminesce about the days before chocolate in the waiting room. "I'm bleeding": "have you thought about bandaids." See, that's not so hard.

On the other hand...there's the dentist.