I recently read another blogger’s posts about health care here in Canada. This post is a few months old; I’m sorry I missed it at the time because I would have like to comment on it–and ask for the name of that Doctor. Clearly this person’s experience is different from mine. Twice weekly appointments? Good grief–I can ONLY have appointments 3 months apart. I make “grocery lists” of issues that need to be addressed and even then I don’t always get to bring up all my stuff. The focus has been on my gynecological stuff and on writing prescription refills. God forbid I should have a sinus infection coming on–as last visit. We spent the allotted time checking my blood pressure, weight and doing refills. I didn’t get to mention that I thought my sinuses were getting infected. Well they were and they are and now I’ve waited an additional six weeks, trying to deal with it sans antibiotics.

I realize now that with Christmas holidays and travel approaching, I can’t fiddle around with it any longer. The neti pot isn’t working this time and I have just enough days to do a five-day course of antibiotics before the holiday. I will not go to Dr. P’s Monday walk-in hours and sit for 4 or 5 hours to see him for 5 minutes. I will instead go around the corner to the walk-in clinic. I realize this defeats the purpose of having a “family doctor” to follow ones care, but my time is valuable and my patience is finite. On the plus side of the equation, the office visit is free and because we have supplemental insurance through my husband’s job, my prescription will also be free to me.

Back in the USA, I would call for an appointment and get one either same day or next day with my doctor or with her Nurse Practitioner. If I had insurance it would cost me a $10 or $20 “co-pay” plus about the same amount at the pharmacy. Without insurance it would cost me as much as $65 for the office visit and if the doctor did not have antibiotics in the “sample closet” it would cost me another $30 to $50 at the pharmacy.

I guess if you’re one of the insured in the US, the results are about the same, right? If you are one of the uninsured, anything more than a sinus infection is cause for alarm.

But I’d still like to be able to have a consistent relationship with one family doctor. Who do I see about that?