Sick

"What do you do for work?" the Israeli doctor asked me in the walk-in clinic at 8 o'clock this morning.

"I'm an English teacher at an elementary school in East Jerusalem," I replied.

"Oh, well, there--that explains it," he said with finality as he put down his pen and picked up the tongue depressor. "Teachers are always, always sick."

And yes, I am, sick with a terrible ear infection such that I'm half-deaf and it hurts to chew. Of course I am sick now, on this the first day of our week-long Chanukah vacation...and, of course my health insurance from the States only covers visits to the emergency room. And unlike in the U.S., where the shortcomings of our health care system mean the only access some people have to medical care is in the emergency room, you better not be going to the emergency room in Israel for anything short of a bus bombing or rocket attack. No no. There are *real* emergencies here, don't be bringing your stuffed up ear or your sore throat to the E.R.

So I found myself initiated to the system of socialized medicine early this morning, for which I as a foreign resident without national health insurance paid 460 shekels to be examined and prescribed antibiotics--$115. Words cannot describe, or at least not right now as I am wracked with fever and wearied with malaise, how I missed the after-hours walk-in clinic at Kaiser Permanente, home of the $5 co-pay, in the moment that I handed over my credit card to pay the woman in the billing office this morning.