Actual Transcript of my Visit to the Doctor This Morning:
Dr: What seems to be the problem?
Me: Well, my throat started getting sore on Sunday night and Monday I just felt awful, with fever and chills and aches. I stayed home that day thinking it was just the flu. I haven’t gotten any better though, and my throat is getting worse. Last night I looked at it and, well, it’s pretty gross.
Dr: Let me see…
He shines a little light down my throat for, like, 2 seconds.
Dr: Yep! I’ll write you a prescription. You want a note for work? Have a nice day!
That was seriously it. Elapsed time: about as long as it took you to read that. I walked out with my amoxycillin prescription and an excuse note for work. Plus since my doctor bulk-bills (i.e. only charges $25, which the government covers for office visits), I didn’t have to pay a cent. It was seriously the best doctor’s visit of my life.
5 responses
Damn you Aussies and your national health care! 😉
Knock on wood… I haven’t been sick in a while. Get well soon. 🙂
Eh, it was better in England. Here’s it’s more like “national insurance”. The government pays $25 for an office visit, but doctors are allowed to charge more if they want. So if they charge $40, you’ve got to pay and then claim back to the gov. for the difference. Obviously, more and more doctors are doing this. Luckily there are still some like mine that bulk bill for the poor folks. 🙂
And I still had to pay regular price for the prescription – twenty bucks. I guess it was still way cheaper than in America though!
And thanks Kari! I also picked up some pain reliever at the pharmacy so I’m feeling pretty good. They sell codeine over the counter here! 🙂
Damn you Aussies and your over-the-counter codeine!