Since I was a little boy, Ive had a penchant for dressing up in outrageous and flamboyant outfits - Halloween and costume parties have always been my favorite celebrations! Maybe it's the gay gene or the fact that my parents and grandparents felt comfortable with me slipping on a pair of vinyl go-go boots or making a dress out of sheer curtains with a little dab of red lipstick to complete the look that got me started, but I love getting dolled up and gender bended and heading to a party or out on the town. It's so much more fun than wearing an Abercrombie t-shirt, a pair of designer jeans, and flip-flops (and who wears flip-flops to a bar anyway? unless, of course, it's a dress made out of flip-flops a la Priscilla Queen of the Desert!). of course, there's always risks involved in dressing up to go out, usually involving drunk frat boys looking to start a fight or the occassionally inappropriate or ill-chosen outfit for the occasion - the latter can normally be overcome with a little chutzpah and a drink or two. A few weeks ago, I headed out for some barhopping in San Francisco with some friends wearing a vintage sailor's top, jeans, and a pair of candy apple red, knee high, lace up platform boots that I'd recently purchased at the marine surplus store in Provincetown. We had a great time laughing and making new friends, until I learned that a lack of practice walking in platforms combined with a few beers and a spilled drink can lead to what one Facebook friend referred to as a "disco injury". I toppled over and felt my ankle do something that felt more than a little "unnatural" - later, I found out I'd broken it in two places and needed surgery to install a plate and eight screws in my leg to stabilize the joint and allow for proper healing. ouch!
After falling, I demanded that the bar staff call an ambulance and refused their suggestions that I had just sprained my ankle and should take a cab home, put ice on it, and that I'd be fine by the morning (This is the result of living in an insanely litigious society where individuals fail to take personal responsibility for their actions. I chose to put on the boots. I chose to drink beer. My decisions were the main factors inovlved in this accident. Ironically, if they HAD convinced me to put ice on it and head home, I would be suing their asses.). Anyway, an ambulance was called and the paramedics took me to the emergency room at the Kaiser Permanente hospital.
Several months ago, budget cuts eliminated my choice of health insurance, and I was forced into accepting Kaiser Permanente as my insurer. I was not happy about having to leave my general practitioner in private practice, a GAY doctor I had chosen based on extensive research and recommendations. I was concerned that I was going to have to sit in a dirty clinic and wait for hours - this was based on nothing but my naive beliefs and misconceptions. In fact, my first visit did little to convince me because I had to sit and wait to see the doctor with a bunch of strangers. Wait a minute! This is exactly like I've had to sit and wait in a waiting room to see a doctor my entire life. The only difference is that this time I only had to wait for less than five minutes before being called back and then only another five minutes before the doctor saw me. Now that had never happened before at my "regular" doctor's office! I started to think that maybe Kaiser wasn't such a horrible place to go for health and medical care. My trip to the ER and the subsequent surgery only made me a strong believer in their model for healthcare, plus I realized how damn lucky I am to have this type of care and service.
An Economist Survey on Health reported on the Kaiser Permanente (KP) Wikipedia entry states that their high performance ratings by patients and consumer reporting agencies was due to three main factors. (1) KP places a strong emphasis on preventative care and medicine resulting in reduced costs later. (2)Their doctors are paid a salary rather than paid per service, lessening the number of unneccessary procedures prescribed. (3) KP professionals work to minimize the amount of time patients spend in high-cost hospitals through careful medical planning and clinic visits. Of course, the first one had little to do wtih my injury but I'm sure the staff would've advised against wearing the red boots, but I have a few factors of my own that make KP an excellent model for healthcare.
1. In many cities (possibly even San Francisco), being delivered via ambulance to the ER from a gay bar for treatment of an injury that was incredibly gay and behaving like a big ol' flaming queen, particularly when they started the morphine, might tend to experiences of explicit, even nasty and hateful, discriminatory and deragatory comments. The only person who was in any way negative to me was the chump in the bed next to mine who asked the nurse to make sure she washed her hands after touching me (I hope this is standard practice anyway) but his insinuation was quite clear - I was a faggot with AIDS. Don't worry, they moved him to another part of the ER after I tried to get out of my bed with a broken ankle calling him a homophobic son of bitch and threatening to kick his ass with my good foot. I experienced absolutely no judgment from any of the hospital staff and felt welcomed and well cared for during my stay (this goes for the surgery visit as well).
2. When the ambulance picked me up and upon arrival at the ER, I asked that my gay male friend be allowed to stay with me at all times. He isn't my boyfriend or my husband, just a good friend whom I'm known for many years who was out with me that night. He was allowed to stay by my side and comfort me, no questions asked, until my husband arrived.
3. When my husband arrived, he was immediately taken to me and allowed to make all care decisions for me. (I should mention that he is also covered by KP through my employer at no extra cost to us and would be whether we were married or not.) We recieved excellent customer service and respect throughout the ordeal. This is in contrast to story after story we hear about partners, even legally married spouses, being denied access to their loved ones and not being allowed to make treament and care decisions.
4. My total out of pocket expenses so far, including the ambulance, ER treatment, x-rays, IV fluids and medications, prescription medications, surgery, and office visits to my surgeon total approximately $50.
Since this incident, I've been thinking about how "lucky" I am and "privileged" I am to have better than adequate health coverage as well as having received such wonderful treatment, and it's really, really PISSED me off. The truth of the matter is that every single person in this country should receive the same quality of service, free of discrimination, without going bankrupt that I received in the past few weeks. As the federal government continues to debate health care reform, it is each of our responbilities to contact our congressional representatives and demand that any bill passed is not merely a political strategy, that they cannot give into the insurance and pharamceutical companies, and that they MUST pass comprehensive legislation that includes a public option. This IS a basic human right and we can no longer afford to be complacent.
Now, about those red boots...
