Medical insurance

A few days ago, I took a little roll of bread Steve made from the freezer. I thought to cut it into three slices and bake it for my breakfast. The bread was frozen and hard. I managed to slice it once, and while my right hand was holding the knife trying to cut the second slice, the bread skipped out of the way, but the knife cut into my left forefinger. So, it was bleeding fast. I called Steve, he came back home to take me to the ER at the hospital. I was kidding and blamed Steve for making such a hard kind of bread when the registration staff asked the cause of my injury! The wound was not long but a little deep, so the doctor gave me four stitches. He did it in less than half an hour, but we were waiting there quite long. We arrived there about 10.50am and it was 1.50pm when we finally got out.

I wondered why we had to go to the hospital ER even just a little injury? If in Malaysia, we would go to a clinic. Here, the medical procedure is a little different. We need to have an appointment with the doctor. As we have medical insurance, we pay US$10 for every doctor visit, but US$50 to go to a hospital ER.

In the USA, the fees are expensive for people who don’t have medical insurance. How expensive? I don’t know. I knew a Taiwanese person who went back to Taiwan to seek medical help, as she doesn’t have medical insurance…

I wish all of us are healthy always!

几天前，我从冰箱拿出一粒Steve做的小面包，准备切成三片放进烘炉做早餐。刚从冰箱拿出的面包已冻硬，我拿着刀切了一片，要切第二片时，右手用力将刀切下，面包溜开，刀却向我的左手食指切下，血很快就流着。我打了电话给Steve，他回来带我去医院急诊处（ER）。在登记人员记录我的伤口原因时，我开玩笑说都怪Steve的面包做得太硬！我的伤口不大却有点深，医生给我缝四针。缝针的时间不到半小时，但等的时间却很长，约10.50am到医院，出来时已是1.50pm。

我好奇为什么这点小伤要去医院急诊处，如在马来西亞不是去诊所就可以了吗？这里的医疗程序是有点不同，看门诊的各科医生，须预约，我们医疗有保险公司的，每次看门诊医生，付费是US$10。而医院急诊的付费是US$50。

在美国如果没有医疗保险，即说费用是很贵的，有多贵？我不知道，我知道有台湾人没有医疗保险只好回台湾医病…

最好是大家健健康康！