Lady in Red Tape

During the Clinton administration, there was a lot of talk about creating a national health care plan. I am all for some kind of national health care; having grown up as poor as I did, with no medical at all, I know exactly how much this is a problem in this country for lots of people.

During the talk of nationalized health care, I remember hearing someone say something about it being "sort of like the military medical system."

God forbid.

If you've ever been on welfare, take that system and make it slightly LESS efficient, slightly MORE confusing, and then add a feeling of non-accountability to almost all of the employees to whom you have to talk to get any help when something goes wrong. If you haven't ever been on welfare, just imagine the DMV on a bad day. Or your college's campus police office at the beginning of the semester when they hand out all the tickets to the new students who don't know where to park.

I have a weird glitch in my record at the hospital where I am going for my babies' care. The doctors & nurses are not a problem here-- it's the RECORDS. I have called about fifteen phone numbers this morning to try to fix the problem. At one of those numbers, I was given a number for someone to help me-- totally wrong number. At another number, where they quite hilariously answered the phone "customer service" I was put on hold and forced to listen to "Lady in Red"* in its entirety. How long is that song? Too long. I hung up. Called someone else.

I finally found someone who was helpful and is looking into my problem, which probably has to do with the fact that last year, Andrew changed from a Navy guy to an Air Force guy and hence has two records in the system. Presumably, nice guy on the phone who has figured THAT out might be able to then fix my problem without me having to go down there and go all Mama Bear on their asses. (It's going to be a persistent metaphor for a while, I'm afraid.)

But my point (and I do have one) is that yes, I'm all for having some kind of national health plan, but it has GOT to be run by the private sector somehow. People who can, if they screw you over too badly, be fired. People who don't have the security blanket of knowing "it's not my job to care."

Because NO ONE should be forced to listen to a Muzak version of "Lady in Red" after having already hit 14 dead ends. No one.

*And don't get me wrong, I actually sort of like the song, in its not Muzak/intstrumental on hold version. But there is a distinct difference between a sweet love song on the radio and being on hold for that long. If you don't know the difference, drop something very heavy on your foot, repeatedly, and then have someone tell you to "hold please." There you go.