Korean Healthcare?.....Niiice!

Since last Friday, I have been feeling a little under the weather. After coughing up a storm (or typhoon if you will) and failing to fix my leaky nose, my pseudo co-teacher Paul took me the hospital yesterday. It was rather funny, really, to see the look on his face when I told him I was coughing and blowing my nose all weekend. He was shocked that I didn’t get any meds and that I survived to tell the story. I mean c’mon, it was just a cold for cryin’ out loud (thanks Mom for my tough skin ;). Nevertheless, Paul was taking me to the hospital and I didn’t resist. 

We left school yesterday at about 1pm since the kids weren’t there.  They have all week off for Chuseok, or the Korean version of Thanksgiving. I had to come to school to “desk warm” as they say.  After opening my bank account with KEB, (Citibank sucks here, but’s a whole ‘nother story) we headed to the local clinic. And lemme tell ya, it was quite the enjoyable experience.

At the clinic, the nurse handed us a little form to fill out with the usual name, address, symptoms, etc. However, it was just a LITTLE form. Not the time-consuming 3 pages of inane questions that you have to fill out in the States. The nurse called my name (Queen Hoobutzuh) within 2 minutes of turning in the form and I IMMEDIATELY saw the doctor. Immediately. Not the 2-hour-wait-that-seems-to-never-end-because-you’re-reading –trashy-outdated-celebrity-magazines that so commonly occurs in the States. Ok. Moving on. The nurse brought me DIRECTLY to the doctor’s office where the English-speaking doctor asked me what ailed me. He sent me on my way with a prescription after about 60 seconds. All said and done, it took about 5 minutes. Wham bam thank you ma’am. Paul and I headed to the pharmacy right next-door, grabbed my meds, and c’est la vie. And the best part? Everything together cost me about 5USD (that’s US Dollars for those keeping score).  5 bucks?! Unreal. And the pills they gave me look fit for a severely sick horse. There’s about 7 pills per dose, and I’m supposed to take 3 doses PER DAY. That’s 21 pills per day. Here’s the evidence…

With that many pills, I felt like Lindsay Lohan!

 I have taken 3 doses so far. My runny nose hit a hurdle. My cough is out the window. And my headache is as gone as Clay Aiken's career. Korean drugs? Success!

To conclude with some political commentary (hooray, right?...), the Korean healthcare system seems to be working. The fact that I was in and out within 10 minutes, and that it only cost me $5 for everything, tells me that the US healthcare needs help. After reading this, my Mom is gonna ask me why I hate the US and the answer is I don’t. I love the USA more than anything. I just wish people would stop saying that US healthcare shouldn’t be changed. Ok that’s it for the banter. Sorry if it was too heavy. On a lighter side, I’m heading to Busan for fun in the sun tomorrow! That’s all for now, I’m out!