What if you are up in the wilds of Canada and that 2 week chest cold turns into something a bit more nasty? I smoke too much, and have smoked for much too long, so a chest cold can easily turn into bronchitis or worse. Over here in the land of free medical care this means a trip to the "walk-in clinic" and not too early on in the cold, or you will get to sit around in a waiting room full of crying children and finally a lecture about antibiotic resistance. "Thanks Doc, never heard that before, I'll be back when I am drowning in my own phlegm". We pay for our own prescriptions (and our dentists, leg casts, glasses, etc) here still. And the local tribe of white-coats think they are saving the planet by keeping antibiotics from anyone they think is poor and therefore irresponsible.
Good news: if you get that sick while visiting Japan, it is just about the same, only better and a bit more expensive because you are an uninsured tourist.
My 10 day cough kept getting worse and by a certain Monday, I was finding it hard to breathe. Yup, bronchitis or worse. Clear phlegm, hacking cough, could feel my lungs with each breath. Of course I picked a long holiday weekend to die on, so even though it was Monday, the usual conveniently located doctor's offices were all closed. Fortunately Google found me an Emergency Clinic open not too far from a train line.
Well, screw the train. Pay $18 for a taxi and just get there now! My friend came along to help and interpret. The clinic was pretty well what you would expect; a big operation full of coughing folks and crying infants. After a check in and a 30 minute wait I saw a doctor, pantomimed my distress, coughed and wheezed and was given a prescription, filled on the spot for 5 days of Cipro and expectorants.
Now Cipro isn't usually used for bronchitis in North America, but as it can knock out Anthrax, it is a pretty strong antibiotic - which is what I needed. My friend did a bit of translating for the doc, mentioning an allergy to one class of antibiotics and a past history of pneumonia, so I guess he went for the big gun.
I paid the almost Y9,000 tab in cash and pocketed the little envelopes of pills, after gulping down my first dose.
A bracing, wheezing 15 minute walk back to the train station (interlude with longing looks at the butcher-block like shogi table out in the trash: Verboten!) Y280 back to the local train station stop and another 10 minutes walk and I was beginning to feel a bit better, or at least relieved that I had once again cheated death.
Don't you dare accuse me of hypochondria. Pneumonia is the real thing.
Now to attend to the lose ends. Wait until evening and fire up the Google Voice number so I can call CAA's traveler's insurance line; "Nope I am not in the USA - using the interwebs phone... I am in Japan, got sick, had to, etc. Just letting you guys know. Thanks for getting the reimbursement form in the mail to me so it will be waiting for me when I return."
CAA charged me about $120 for a month of traveler's insurance and two months later reimbursed the clinic bill and the taxi bill. So kudos to them. In previous years, I had used a company called Special Benefits, who were a bit cheaper and they coughed up for the nasty spill I took on my bike as well. So both firms are ok by me, but CAA is a bit cheaper once you reach "a certain age". I think I got a $9 discount for being a member. Either firm can set you up over the phone in under 10 minutes if you are hale and youthful, but the Special Benefits firm wants paperwork for us middle aged geezers.
Moral of the story. Pay the extra for the traveler's health insurance!
A similar song and dance in South Western Ontario would have ended costing about half as much, or more than in Japan if I was a tourist without our wonderful socialist health insurance (for which the flame of the glorious people's revolution still burns in my heart to honour! Just teasing the cousins, ignore me)
One more lesson learned: Don't wait until you are about to drop and it is a holiday.
I hope to be back in Japan for March 2015. Cherry Blossoms for sure this time!
