The Cost of Medical Care

Well, I went to the doctor yesterday.  In Hospital Chiriquí, in what is the Internal Medicine department, you can see any one of the doctors who are there at that time.  I like one particular physician; I’ve seen him for minor things like annual checkups for at least two years.   I like his attitude, the way he goes about things.  I’m not fond of Western medicine, but have had no access to the type of medical care I much prefer and used in the US whenever possible–naturopathic/chiropractic.  I understand that recently a Cuban chiropractor moved to David, and I’m going to look into this. However, I have to say that I’m impressed with this physician; if I have to use this type of medical care, I’m satisfied with this one.

But I am not the only one in my preference.  I had to wait 2.5 hours (there is no such thing as appointments, believe me) to get in to to see the physician.  I managed to get quite a bit read in my current book while waiting, so as far as I’m concerned, it wasn’t a problem at all.  Plus, I had a great time talking to an older Panamanian woman at the end, when I about to go in to see the doctor.  

I have classic sciatica pain.  Sciatica has a number of potential origins, and we’re started on the road to finding out what mine is.  I don’t think it’s serious.  However, I agree with the route, at least initially.

Since I have insurance through the hospital, my co-pay for this visit was $10.  That’s up from last year when it was $7.  That’s a really significant percent increase, but in absolute terms, is still quite reasonable.

The first step is to control the pain.  So, I went to the pharmacy with a bunch of prescriptions for 4 types of medications–some for pain, an anti-inflammatory, and another for which I can’t find information on the Internet.  Some are for 8 days, some for a month.  One of the medications is for an injection.  the procedure it to buy the stuff, then take it down to the emergency room where I paid $1.75 for the very competent stab into my nether region–I hardly felt it.

However, the total medication bill was another story.  I nearly choked when I had to shell out $118 for the batch.  That was with the jubilado discount.

I have done very little research on the comparative costs of medications between here and the US, because I live here, not in the US.  My limited knowledge and some conversations here lead me to believe that many of them are cheaper here than in the US.  I know that my blood pressure medication is.  But I don’t know to what extent that’s true–the cheaper prices.

Costs are more than just monetary.

The doctor warned of the side effects of one of the drugs (a big reason why I like this physician–I receive information, almost always without asking for it) is light-headedness, dizziness, and/or sleepiness.  He also said that most of his patients didn’t experience these side effects. He also put me on half of the normal dose to gradually work me into a full dose.  Warned me not to drive.  He also said that the side effects would be temporary, as my body adjusted to the medication.

Evidently, I’m not among the majority!  Woo-ee, especially this morning.  Talk about dizziness.  Like I need a warning not to drive.  I doubt that I’ll be going up 12 ft stepladders to work on the ceiling for a while.

I think I’m probably more sensitive to side effects because I take so few medications of any kind.  Blood pressure medication, yes.  But for ordinary, minor pain, I won’t even take Tylenol, which drives Mary just crazy because she has to endure my bad mood until the pain has passed.  However, I make the distinction between minor pain and debilitating pain.  There have been plenty of studies to show that such pain does slow down healing.  I’m not interested in being a chronic case.  So, I’ll go along with this routine for a while, anyway.

But in the meantime, I’m pretty restricted in what I can do.  When I casually mentioned that I was going to weed eat this morning, Mary went from having  kittens to producing lion cubs.  Since she is probably going to postpone her US trip thanks to the uncertainty about this annoying problem, I don’t feel like arguing with her (this time).

So, once again, I’m forced to take it easy, forced to go out on the porch and enjoy this spectacular morning, forced to read, forced to play with the dogs and provide a lap for the cats.  I tell you, it’s a truly hard life, right?