I tend to pull at hangnails, which sometimes results in an infected finger. This happened twice while I was in the Marine Corps (in the mid-50s). Both times I strolled over to "sick bay" and was examined by an enlisted rank Navy Medical Corpsman -- who handed me a little box of penicillin tablets and told me to take two every two hours. Both times the swelling was down and the infection was gone by next morning.
Later, as a civilian, when an infection started up I would call my GP for an "emergency appointment." Then, for a quick glance and a penicillin prescription my insurance company (GHI) was billed $110.
But that was gentle by comparison to the time when an infection started late on a Friday afternoon, too late for a GP appointment and too risky to wait 'til Monday. So off to the local hospital's Emergency Room, where I waited about two hours to be interviewed by a social worker who filled out about six pages of redundant information.
Then I waited another hour to be led into a ward, told to get into a bed (fully clothed) and covered with a sheet, where I waited about another hour to be "seen" by a tired-looking intern who seemed disgusted at the petty nature of my complaint. Instead of just writing a prescription for the penicillin, which we both knew was all I neded. But in spite of my objection this guy insisted on lancing my finger and inserting a drain -- then giving me the prescription.
The bottom line to that systematic rip-off was a $675 bill to my insurance company for "Emergency Surgery." This was before I became eligible for Medicare, which would have gotten the same bill, which would ultimately have gone to the taxpayers
$675 for something that probably cost the Navy Medical Corps about fifteen cents!
Another military example occurred during field maneuvers in the Philippines when a painful golf-ball-size boil formed on my left inner thigh, putting me out of action. A Navy Field Corpsman, no older than I was, gave me a shot of novocaine, lanced the boil, inserted a drain, dressed the cut, gave me a penicillin shot and a little box of penicillin tablets. And I was back on my bulldozer nest day!
The point of all this, and the question I have, is what happens to all these military medics when they get out? Why are there not walk-in clinics comparable to Navy sick bays available to bring such minor medical problems to? My $675 emergency room adventure could have been handled by a former medic for about a $20 fee -- as could the majority of routine emergency room treatments.
But rest assured the American Medical Association would bring heavy pressure to bear against any such proposal.
