The French Medical system, at least, what I know

So Marilyn Cernosek got sick the last day of the Jefferson trip, before they came to Couze. And she sorta stayed sick (they arrived on Wednesday, I think). Let's not be TOO specific, but by the time we decided to do something about it, she'd run out of Immodium. Or maybe it's Imodium.

And I don't know all that much about the French medical system, except that I do know that pharmacists have a lot more training at diagnosing and things than they do in the US, and prescribe things, with limitations. And I do know that EVERYBODY has to have medical coverage if they are permanent residents or citizens; the cost of insurance is withheld from paychecks, like social security and medicare in the US. It's not negotiable. I also know that the insurance is subsidized by the government if a person can't afford it (this determined, of course, by the same government). I really don't know what the complaints are about it, but it doesn't sound all that ghastly to me.

So on Friday morning, after being sick since late Monday or early Tuesday, we took Marilyn down to the pharmacy in Couze, at the bottom of the hill. Talked to this apparently very knowledgeable woman there who appeared to be (hey!) impressed by my ability to describe the situation in French. She told us that Marilyn needed to quit taking Imodium because it shuts everything down and can actually aggravate whatever is going on. She also said that she (Marilyn) needed to see a doctor.

Please bear in mind that we are outside both the French resident medical coverage system and Marilyn's American coverage...

So the pharmacist made a phone call (this was about 10:00 a.m. on Friday), came back and told us to take Marilyn to Dr. somebody in Couze at 11:30 a.m. (also on Friday), and that the office was down the road across the street from the Mairie (mayor, sort of), and that there was a sign on the door. So Marilyn, Tony and I went to the doctor at the appointed hour, waited a few minutes (they were expecting us) in a room with another person in it (we'd been greeted by what appeared to be a receptionist), and then were ushered into the doctor's office by the doctor himself, who was a guy probably in his early 40's, wearing a plaid shirt and trousers.

He asked questions, in French and English (Marilyn speaks no French, he speaks some English, so it was a hodge-podge, I was in there with her), decided she had a virus, rather than a bacterial infection, printed out a prescription with instructions, asked for (are you sitting down?!?) TWENTY-THREE EUROS (that's ALL) which were to be paid to him. We had to get the money from Tony, and the doctor put it in his wallet, made change, gave them a receipt for it. And we drove the two blocks up the road to get the prescription filled.

This is my only experience of primary medical care in France, but hey, I am impressed.

We've spent lots of time in Great Britain (two years full-time, plus other visits, on a couple of which we'd had to get medical care, and one bad emergency, when Martin was hit by a car), and our experience and my impression of the NHS is that primary care is EXCELLENT, emergency care is immediate, and specialists, surgeries that aren't emergencies, etc., are not so wonderful. Not so immediate, at least.

But isn't good primary care what is the most important for keeping people healthy? Treating problems before they become either emergencies or life-threatening?

So there...

cheers, lillie