Health Decisions Ahead Of My Race

That health care is 'free' means shit to me if I can't get it in a timely manner.

Consider my current problem. On April 13th I'm running a half-marathon on Vermont. The main challenges when you train is to avoid injuries and hopefully not get sick. I've already gotten sick losing 10 days of training back in late January, early February. Now it's been about a week I'm under the whether uncertain of what I have. I have annoying sore throat but it doesn't feel swollen or hurt when I swallow. I just know it's there. My fear it's "something" and it develops into something "more."

As for injuries, except for some severe muscle spasms in my lower shoulder area affecting not only the said area but my neck and head as well, I've been fortunate to avoid a reoccurring calf muscle problem. Knock on wood.

In the meantime, I'm scheduled to run 13 miles today and I don't feel like it.

Leading up to the race is proving to be problematic.

Anyway. I'm lucky enough to have a family doctor (something many Canadians don't have) and called to see if there was a remote shot at seeing him. I was told not before May. There's no way to see him before. So now I'm faced with either taking my chances or going to the pharmacy and getting a pharmacist to help me out - I'm a firm believe pharmacists should be able to prescribe stuff exactly for situations like this - and maybe recommend something.

Or I can go private. My parents just paid $275 for a doctor house call for my father's bronchitis. Best money ever spent. Of course, what bothers me about that is I already pay through my taxe for a health service which I can't ever seem to get when I need it most.

Or I can open and pay for a file at private clinic (like we did for my daughter because we're sick - excuse the pun - of the access problem and wait times on the public side) which will run me about $200.

Decisions, decisions.

Thanks for nothing.

***

More on Obamacare problems.

I like this comment from the thread:

"You don't understand. It's a moral issue. It's not about expanding coverage. It's about profits going to the rich.
Rich capitalists profit off of health care, and that's not fair. That's why we need single payer.
Government doesn't waste money on profits to the rich. That makes government more moral than capitalism. So what if it does a poorer and less efficient job, and obtains its funds through coercion instead of voluntary exchange. The fact that it doesn't give profits to the rich outweighs all of that.
Feel the envy. Let your hatred for the rich grow and control you. Then you will understand that it is better to allow a sick person to die than to allow a rich person to profit from healing them."

Incidentally, another new argument I see cropping up on lefty web sites is the notion that a country can "never go broke."

It's hard to say who is more retarded on either side of the ideological divide but to me, after years of reading and listening to them. I can with some comfort and confidence assert that the dumbest comments I've come across on matters of money and finance tend to come from liberals. On average, in my life I've come across more clueless liberals when it comes to their money than conservatives.

I'm sure experiences vary but this has been my personal experience.