H1N1 [Swine Flu]
Last weekend was a bit busy and I am still catching up, as my Mother was ill. She had a flu shot on Wednesday and then fell ill on Friday and was miserable in the entire weekend.
According to the Centers for Disease Control this is what you should look for in H1N1 –
In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
- Sudden dizziness
- Confusion
- Severe or persistent vomiting
- Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
Mother had all but the last item and is fine now.
She has a great health insurance combination, Medicare and Tricare for Life. In general she pays nothing for health care, unless she wants a prescription filled that isn’t carried by the local Air Force pharmacy, or that she wants immediately. Even then it is $3 for generics and $9 for a named medication. It’s great coverage, that was won from the Federal government after a law suit that dragged on for a decade.
The problem is that this is insurance, not health care. If she needed health care, she would have been forced to go to a hospital emergency room. She needed a prescription for an anti-viral, but the only way she could have gotten it between 4PM Friday and 9AM Monday was by going to the emergency room and exposing dozens of people to the flu. This is stupid. This is not how you stop a pandemic. This is not a functional system.
I can get a cat seen by a vet with a phone call, but the emergency room is the only answer for people. Does this make sense?
3 comments
It really is insane. And I really don’t get it. *shrug*
I’m glad your Mom is OK Bryan! I hope she stays that way too. 🙂 I hope she’s feeling a lot better. Flu sux!
I hope things are returning to some kind of *normality* (whatever that is!) for you also m8! I know you’ve had a lot on. 🙂
Cheers. and best wishes to you both. 😀
Glad your mom is OK.
Our country seems to be missing the point entirely that health INSURANCE is NOT health CARE. Emergency Rooms are to be just that…EMERGENCY…not used as Primary care.
The rest of the world is laughing at us and knows that a good portion of our country are dumb sh**s.
.-= last blog ..Fabio Viviani signing my book =-.
It was only a weekend thing for her, and she was miserable, but she had already had a dose of this back in 1970s, so her body reacted to it instantly. This is why this flu is not affecting older people like the normal flu does.
It is very probable that she picked it up getting the regular flu shot, because that is the only time she left home recently. That’s her story and she’s sticking to it.
I view hospitals as a place to get sick, not to get well, Jill. We need clinics for this kind of thing, or doctors you can call for a prescription, not cattle calls.