A completely non craft-related rant

For you crafties out there, this post will be followed up with a craft/knitting related post.

Our health care system is failing. Period. In fact, I was speaking with someone over the holidays who possessed an attitude many share--the system is working for me. End of story.

Here's the problem, not everyone has some sort of state job where their insurance premiums are covered in their entirety. Most of us have to pay out of pocket, or at least pay quite a chunk of our monthly premiums.

Why am I ranting about this? I'll tell you. My 27 year old baby sister is in the hospital. The backstory:

The Wednesday before turkey day, her abdomen started to hurt. A lot. A few weeks before she had an emergency appendectomy. She was told after the surgery that if she had abdominal pain, she should call the surgeon's office asap.

Hmmm...what would a reasonable person do? Yep, you guessed it. She called the surgeon's office. They told her "it was probably some bad turkey she ate" and to take an antacid. [Note: if you were paying close attention they told her this on Wednesday. Before Thanksgiving. Like the rest of us, she hadn't yet even had her holiday turkey.]

Since they didn't seem to think too much of it, my sister didn't make too much of it. She made it through Thanksgiving, and by Sunday night was in horrible pain.

First thing Monday morning she called her regular doctor's office. They told her the doctor was on vacation, but she could see a nurse practitioner. She went in and they told her it was probably indigestion. They gave her a laxative and a pain pill.

Monday afternoon she called me in tears saying it hurt so much she thought she was going to die. She didn't want to the ER because of the $500 co-pay unless he doctor orders her to go. I ended up calling my mom who immediately drove over and took her to the ER.

That was Monday. She's still in the hospital. Nobody knows what is wrong, and today no one even stopped by her room.

She's probably going to check herself out of the hospital...why sit there and wait if no one is going to see you?