Friday
Sep172010
Free Healthcare?
Friday, September 17, 2010 at 9:28PM
This morning we made a trip to University Health Services here in Madison- Nicole had cut her finger whilst slicing a bagel, and instead of stopping when she felt skin.. she kept sawing. Don't worry though.. it's all ok, she's didn't cut her little finger (pinky) off, just a cut.
But it was really bruised and hurting, so she called the health centre here on campus. After a brief description of the problem the nurse said "Ok better get it checked out, how about an appointment at 10am?" At this point, we both turned to look at the clock.. 9.50am. Great. Off we went. A brisk walk later, we were checking in with the receptionist. After verifying Nicole was who she said she was- I.D number, DOB etc.- we perched down in the seats in what was really quite a nice waiting room; lots of chairs, bright and open, welcoming even. Not at all like your typical NHS centre. Our bums had barely touched the chair, when the nurse came out and called Nicole in. 15 minutes later she was back, having had all her vitals checked (just in case) and her wound looked at, disinfected, and a fresh plaster (or bandaid if you want to use the American generic term, which is actually a brandname) put on it.
Now I waited for the killer... "Do you have insurance, this is going to cost x amount of $". Wrong. Nicole asked how much she owed..nothing. With or without insurance, this excellent service was free. Wonderful, I thought; no need to worry about how much it would cost me for a simple doctors visit. Alas, again I was wrong. This service is just for students, and that's why its free. But it isn't actually free. It's paid for by tuition fees, which are at least $20,000 a year, but can total more than $34,000 if you live out-of-state. I thought things in at UW-Madison were amazing when I first came here... free bus passes, free gym membership, free music and films at the union, free healthcare.
But it isn't. It's paid for with extremely high tuition fees, which I successfully avoided paying being an exchange student from Warwick. Maybe it's true, maybe nothing in life is free.
Meanwhile, I get to go back to figuring out which doctors and hospitals are cheapest for me to go to- they have to be "in-network".... NHS anyone?
But it was really bruised and hurting, so she called the health centre here on campus. After a brief description of the problem the nurse said "Ok better get it checked out, how about an appointment at 10am?" At this point, we both turned to look at the clock.. 9.50am. Great. Off we went. A brisk walk later, we were checking in with the receptionist. After verifying Nicole was who she said she was- I.D number, DOB etc.- we perched down in the seats in what was really quite a nice waiting room; lots of chairs, bright and open, welcoming even. Not at all like your typical NHS centre. Our bums had barely touched the chair, when the nurse came out and called Nicole in. 15 minutes later she was back, having had all her vitals checked (just in case) and her wound looked at, disinfected, and a fresh plaster (or bandaid if you want to use the American generic term, which is actually a brandname) put on it.
Now I waited for the killer... "Do you have insurance, this is going to cost x amount of $". Wrong. Nicole asked how much she owed..nothing. With or without insurance, this excellent service was free. Wonderful, I thought; no need to worry about how much it would cost me for a simple doctors visit. Alas, again I was wrong. This service is just for students, and that's why its free. But it isn't actually free. It's paid for by tuition fees, which are at least $20,000 a year, but can total more than $34,000 if you live out-of-state. I thought things in at UW-Madison were amazing when I first came here... free bus passes, free gym membership, free music and films at the union, free healthcare.
But it isn't. It's paid for with extremely high tuition fees, which I successfully avoided paying being an exchange student from Warwick. Maybe it's true, maybe nothing in life is free.
Meanwhile, I get to go back to figuring out which doctors and hospitals are cheapest for me to go to- they have to be "in-network".... NHS anyone?
Reader Comments (1)
Not excessively high tuitions fees actually, especially for in-state tuition. I think residents only pay like 10,000. Definitely worth all the stuff that comes with it, no? I would have loved if Warwick gave free city bus passes and free gym memberships and films.
You can still come to the films though, even if you're not a student. Yay!
I wish university didn't cost so much though, anywhere. It's getting a bit ridiculous :(