I went to the Post Office this week. One of those annoying little errands that keeps getting postponed because something more urgent gets in the way. I had unearthed a stash of odd stamps that were not marked with any numbers to indicate their value. They were the ones that are first issued after a rate increase, but had been sitting long enough I wasn’t sure what they were worth anymore.
It seemed simple enough; walk into the Post office and ask a clerk how much each stamp was worth, then buy stamps with the difference so I could use them to mail letters. It was annoying not to be able to know the value of the stamps, and even more annoying to wait in line to find out.
There was plenty of time to think about the inefficiency of the system, because there was only one clerk on duty despite there being 4 very nice, modern registers available. I waited 30 minutes for my turn at the counter. I was racking my brains trying to think of why it would be so crowded when the woman behind me in line informed me that it is always that way at this office: Lots of modern, expensive machines, and one clerk.
I quickly depleted my small talk repertoire, and used the silence to focus on the inefficiency of issuing stamps with no value printed on them. I wonder how much money the government spends to produce those stamps? How much postal employee time is spent telling customers what the stamps are worth? How much is spent processing mail that is sent with the wrong amount of postage because consumers guessed wrongly?
If something as straightforward as mailing a letter can be so wasteful and confusing, imagine what it will be like applying this same methodology to health care:
You walk into the clinic for your appointment. All you want is a refill for medication you’ve taken for years. You don’t know what the visit will cost, because they calculate it based on a complicated formula using your income, and you have to give them all of your personal financial information in advance. You still aren’t sure if you have been granted an appointment, or the value of the doctor’s time to see you. You see that the waiting room is full, and look for the receptionist so you can sign in. There is a brightly lit reception area at one end of the room with several desktop computers visible, so you go there with your financial documents, birth certificate and social security card. You don’t see anyone because the only receptionist is on her break, so you wait. You don’t know how long you will be there, but you can tell it will be a long time and you’re glad you aren’t ill.
Since there is only one clinic available, you wait all afternoon to ask the doctor for your prescription, knowing that you will face a similar line at the pharmacy tomorrow. The visit itself is “free”, but you had to take a day off of work. The combined union wages for the doctor, receptionist, nurse, pharmacist and store clerk who played a part in this drama, added to the building overhead costs for clinic and pharmacy, plus all other related costs came to $327.00 and the drugs you need cost $42.00 to produce. The medicine costs you $1.25, which just happens to be how much I spent on extra stamps to mail my letters, and the remaining $367.75 is paid by the 47% of Americans who pay Federal Income Tax.
Does anyone really believe this is a sustainable or efficient way to handle health care?
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