Putting the Collar On Me and You

Wearing my Philadelphia Collar 24/7 for 8 weeks is a depressing proposition but is the price I have to pay to heal my broken neck.  I will do it with determination and with a smile.

My collar was provided by the hospital.  It came with two sets of pads.  I have been wearing the collar for three weeks now interchanging the three pads of each set every couple of days.  Even though Cathy has been washing the pads, they are retaining a smell in the foam rubber and are starting to wear out.

This week we traveled to a pharmacy to try to buy new pads.  A very nice lady told us they did not carry them but gave me three places to call.  I called the first place and the woman asked me for my name.  I gave it to her and after checking her records, she did not find my name.  She told me since they did not provide the original Philadelphia Collar, I would have to have a prescription to buy replacement pads from them.  I wanted to yell, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE F**KING SHITTING ME!

I called the second place, Floyd Brace and Limb, whose address was near the hospital.  I told the lady my situation and what I needed and after a few minutes, she said that they could provide me the pads for $50.00 a set.  YOU HAVE GOT TO BE F**KING SHITTING ME!  Since I thought I might need at least three more pad sets to make it the next 5 weeks, $150.00 was down right crazy.

The next day Cathy and I stopped at a fabric and upholstery store.  I found a roll of foam pad that was just the right thickness, softness, and texture.  We bought a 12 inch length off the 4’ wide roll and cut out three sets of pads.  This small piece of foam rubber pad cost $2.00 plus tax.

Thus the problem with our medical industrial complex in the US, a monopolistic system with virtually no competitive market or governmental forces to control cost and greed.  We spend 18% of our GDP on health care with mediocre outcomes, ranking us about 16^th compared to other first world countries.  The next closest country pays about 12% of GDP.  And we have 50 million people uninsured placing the US as the only first world country on the planet not having some form of Universal Health Care covering all citizens.  Now that is “American Exceptionalism” for you.