National Health Care, For The Win!

As many of you probably know, I'm really great at being sick. If they had awards for it I might be able to squeeze one out. Usually, at about this time every winter I end up with my standard illness. Sometimes it's just a cold, sometimes it decided to grow into a sinus infection, but it always follows the same progression of steps. At any point I can usually tell what's going to happen next, and so usually I don't think too much of the whole "being sick" thing. Much to my mother's shagrin this also means that I don't usually go to the doctor when it doesn't go away.

However, this morning I woke up without being able to hear as much as I usually can out of my left ear. In the past, this has meant that I have a sinus infection (don't ask my why disabled-hearing = sinusitis, but it does). So I decided what the heck, I'll go to the doctor.

Quick Side Story:
When I was going through the necessary procedures to register as a student resident in Japan I registered for the national health care plan (our program requires all students to do so). Each month it costs my around $15, and by being on the plan it automatically reduces my cost of getting health care by 70%, and I'm not even a citizen!

Anyway, so at 9 o'clock this morning my host mother and I did headed off to the doctor. The place we went to was just a general doctor's office, no specialties. After a brief wait we entered his office, he said "So what's up?", and did the typical quick check that I was still alive. From there, he then sent us off to an ear/nose specialist (it's just ear and nose in Japan, not ear/nose/throat). Turns out this doctor was in the bigger hospital. Once there I had to fill out some more paperwork (there's always paperwork), and then after a bit more waiting we saw Doctor #2. She again asked me what was wrong, and then looked in my ears and nose to find that they were indeed filled with gunk.

Up until this point all of the doctors had been speaking entirely Japanese, and surprisingly I had been able to follow them and describe my symptoms. After poking around my ears and nose I expected this doctor to either ask more questions or deliver instructions, but she did neither. Instead, without a word she just grabbed a funnel, stuck it up my nose and inserted a thing, transparent tube up my nasal canal. She then hit a button, and quite literally vacuumed out all of the general nastiness that filled my nose and ears. It was among the strangest nose-related feelings I've had, although I was definitely cleared out afterward. In retrospect, I'm glad that I wasn't giving a warning, but for some reason it still felt a bit like a cheap shot.

Past-cleaning she sent us off to wait again, until Medical Professional #3 came to get me for a hearing test. Apparently this is standard when you get any sort of head-related illness in Japan, and after the nice little vacuuming I could hear everything just fine. Another wait, and once again we were back at Doctor #2. She said that I probably had sinusitis (thankfully she knew this word in English) and wrote up some prescriptions. A quick stop by the drug store, and I had my medicine within 15 minutes of leaving the hospital.

Overall it was good as doctor's visits go, but what blew my mind at the end of the day was the price. I had seen two different doctors, received a test, had my sinuses completely cleaned out, and filled four different prescriptions. Imagine my surprise when the combined cost of everything was about $50. You can barely fill one prescription in the us for $50, let alone go to two doctors and then some! I have to say, for all the pros and cons that Japan may have, national health care is definitely a pro. Here's to hoping that we get this in the US sometime soon....