Me at the Grand Canyon!
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Saturday, June 18, 2005
I need a tooth fairy ...
For 25 years my pearly white teeth never let me down - until my Maker decided to recall some parts.
While munching on a snack, I suddenly felt a crack inside the mouth. It was a very strange sensation. I spit out the remnants of my enamel and admired the size of the gaping hole it left behind. So much for enamel being the strongest part of the human body. I felt like a vulnerable king - with my crown exposed!
The torture wasn't immediate - it wasn't until the next day when a few morsels found their way into that hell hole. The pain was immediate and searing. I weathered in stoic silence praying for relief. After 15 minutes I felt normal again - but it was the proverbial calm before the storm. Next day it was worse - a dozen pain killers and 3 days later I decided that I had enough. So I went to the campus health center for help.
For some strange reason the already bloated, inefficient and expensive healthcare system in the US places dentists on par with aristocrats and celebrities. For us grad students, who are indeed the lowest form of life in this planet - the health insurance (I pay $1200 annually) extended to us refuses to acknowledge dental problem as a "health" issue. It is not covered under insurance - except under extraordinary circumstances - like when you meet with a bad accident and your tooth isn't the only thing that needs to be fixed! So technically, if I someone were to run over me while I was munching my snack, things would have been a lot easier for the insurance company!
The fun part starts now - I pick a catalog of dentists in the neighborhood and call them. Halfway through the list I figured out that no dentist would want to even see you if you can't fork out $100. After a week of enquiries within the desi-community on campus (they never visit dentists I think), I was led to a "reasonably priced" $75 clinic. After an hour-long torture of filling the 8 page disclosure document promising not to sue them and letting them know my entire medical history, I was led to see the dentist - or so I thought.
They took me to a room and X-rayed my teeth in all the different angles possible (only later did I know that they charged me for each and every one of them). All the while I kept telling the nurse that I had a problem with that single upper molar on my left jaw. But they seemed extra cautious - or perhaps they decided to use me to recover their cost of investment on that X-ray gizmo. So after 15 minutes of measuring weight, BP, height (yes that's true!) later I was led to the clean room and wait for the doctor. And BTW, the nurse who measured my BP tried to do it 3 separate times (for the first time in my life BP measurement was painful!) and managed to get it wrong each time. She mumbled about me having a very High BP and left.
I have my oral cavity clipped open and tongue depressed so I cannot speak - while the doc was dictating notes to the nurse. The doc never spoke a word even after the clip was removed and even when I started explaining my problem - so he still doesn't know why I came there! I was led out to a room where I met with a cost analyst. She made me watch a video showing the risks involved in wisdom tooth extraction while she drew up a quote of extraction, cleaning, filling and root canal charges. I told her I didn't care about wisdom tooth extraction (that was the only concrete sign of my wisdom, so why bother to remove it). I was a poor graduate student just hoping to get the barest work done with as little expense as possible until I could afford a separate dental plan. Well - I got a quote for $3000 for this job - and an attractive incentive to pay it in "easy" installments. Now I can imagine what a single mom with 3 kids and working on minimum wage can do!
I remember paying additional $100 for the X-ray charges and walked off in disgust. This whole system reeked of such inefficiency - a doctor who wouldn't listen, a nurse who can't measure BP correctly after 3 attempts, a cost analyst who cares only about what you can pay the clinic. I spent 3 hours and nobody, I repeat nobody, even asked about my immediate problem.
Have you seen the waiters in small-town "Udipi" tiffin centers? They do a MUCH better job. They're efficient and won't botch up multiple orders -they'll even remember how much of sugar you like in your coffee if you are a regular customer. Or those "dabbawalas" in Mumbai? Ultimately, it's not the million dollar machines and fancy technologies alone that make you feel good - it's the human touch. You need to empathize with the patient, listen to what they have to say and reassure them - instead of worrying about how much your next year's malpractice insurance premium would cost you!
Unfortunately, the goal of most insurance companies is to reduce this human element from the loop! Until something drastic happens, many developing countries will have far more developed and affordable healthcare facilities. I hope to get tooth fixed in India - the root canal and everything for less than $200. Back home it's the doctors that are real tooth fairies!
While munching on a snack, I suddenly felt a crack inside the mouth. It was a very strange sensation. I spit out the remnants of my enamel and admired the size of the gaping hole it left behind. So much for enamel being the strongest part of the human body. I felt like a vulnerable king - with my crown exposed!
The torture wasn't immediate - it wasn't until the next day when a few morsels found their way into that hell hole. The pain was immediate and searing. I weathered in stoic silence praying for relief. After 15 minutes I felt normal again - but it was the proverbial calm before the storm. Next day it was worse - a dozen pain killers and 3 days later I decided that I had enough. So I went to the campus health center for help.
For some strange reason the already bloated, inefficient and expensive healthcare system in the US places dentists on par with aristocrats and celebrities. For us grad students, who are indeed the lowest form of life in this planet - the health insurance (I pay $1200 annually) extended to us refuses to acknowledge dental problem as a "health" issue. It is not covered under insurance - except under extraordinary circumstances - like when you meet with a bad accident and your tooth isn't the only thing that needs to be fixed! So technically, if I someone were to run over me while I was munching my snack, things would have been a lot easier for the insurance company!
The fun part starts now - I pick a catalog of dentists in the neighborhood and call them. Halfway through the list I figured out that no dentist would want to even see you if you can't fork out $100. After a week of enquiries within the desi-community on campus (they never visit dentists I think), I was led to a "reasonably priced" $75 clinic. After an hour-long torture of filling the 8 page disclosure document promising not to sue them and letting them know my entire medical history, I was led to see the dentist - or so I thought.
They took me to a room and X-rayed my teeth in all the different angles possible (only later did I know that they charged me for each and every one of them). All the while I kept telling the nurse that I had a problem with that single upper molar on my left jaw. But they seemed extra cautious - or perhaps they decided to use me to recover their cost of investment on that X-ray gizmo. So after 15 minutes of measuring weight, BP, height (yes that's true!) later I was led to the clean room and wait for the doctor. And BTW, the nurse who measured my BP tried to do it 3 separate times (for the first time in my life BP measurement was painful!) and managed to get it wrong each time. She mumbled about me having a very High BP and left.
I have my oral cavity clipped open and tongue depressed so I cannot speak - while the doc was dictating notes to the nurse. The doc never spoke a word even after the clip was removed and even when I started explaining my problem - so he still doesn't know why I came there! I was led out to a room where I met with a cost analyst. She made me watch a video showing the risks involved in wisdom tooth extraction while she drew up a quote of extraction, cleaning, filling and root canal charges. I told her I didn't care about wisdom tooth extraction (that was the only concrete sign of my wisdom, so why bother to remove it). I was a poor graduate student just hoping to get the barest work done with as little expense as possible until I could afford a separate dental plan. Well - I got a quote for $3000 for this job - and an attractive incentive to pay it in "easy" installments. Now I can imagine what a single mom with 3 kids and working on minimum wage can do!
I remember paying additional $100 for the X-ray charges and walked off in disgust. This whole system reeked of such inefficiency - a doctor who wouldn't listen, a nurse who can't measure BP correctly after 3 attempts, a cost analyst who cares only about what you can pay the clinic. I spent 3 hours and nobody, I repeat nobody, even asked about my immediate problem.
Have you seen the waiters in small-town "Udipi" tiffin centers? They do a MUCH better job. They're efficient and won't botch up multiple orders -they'll even remember how much of sugar you like in your coffee if you are a regular customer. Or those "dabbawalas" in Mumbai? Ultimately, it's not the million dollar machines and fancy technologies alone that make you feel good - it's the human touch. You need to empathize with the patient, listen to what they have to say and reassure them - instead of worrying about how much your next year's malpractice insurance premium would cost you!
Unfortunately, the goal of most insurance companies is to reduce this human element from the loop! Until something drastic happens, many developing countries will have far more developed and affordable healthcare facilities. I hope to get tooth fixed in India - the root canal and everything for less than $200. Back home it's the doctors that are real tooth fairies!
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