Almost 4 years ago, my husband was injured on the job. His employer of course sent him to "approved" workers comp doctors.
The doctor put him in a hip to ankle brace for several weeks. Which I thought was odd for a knee injury.
His leg muscles atrophied, but we assumed he was better because the doctors said so.
Fast forward to July 2009. The same knee "pops" one day at work. That night, it swells. Now going to a new doctor, one covered by our own insurance not a 'workers comp' specialist - we find out that he has a degenerative problem. One that began from another injury. A shredded tendon. Now a cyst has formed, arthritis issues....a mess.
All this easily diagnosed with an MRI that workers comp would not pay for 4 years ago.
Now, he is out of work on short term disabilty. His knee will never be better. He will have chronic pain until he dies.
4 years ago we had health insurance. We have always carried 2 plans. A "just in case" scenario for if mine didn't cover something, his would. We never figured on the tricky, shady workers comp experience.
With a National Health Care system - we would get care for patients who need it when they need it. There would be no fuss over the cost of MRI's and proper diagnosis. It seems silly and frustrating to know that now all these years later, insurance is paying thousands of dollars for his diagnosis, treatment etc......wasteful.
