Socialized Medicine: Wait and Wait, Pay and Pay

You’ve got to love socialized medicine.  You have to wait for appointments.  You have to wait when you call to schedule appointments.  And you’ve got to pay for all that waiting time too!

Reports Britain’s Daily Mail:

A patient was left with a phone bill of £127 after being left hanging on the line for 49 minutes to make a hospital appointment.

Wayne Marshall, 30, was left fuming after spending nearly an hour on the phone to the outpatients’ department of Broomfield Hospital.

But he was gobsmacked when he discovered the two calls had landed him with a bill of £127 for just trying to rearrange his appointment.

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Furious: Wayne Marshall was shocked to discover he had been charged with a £127 telephone bill after being put on hold while phoning a Broomfield hospital

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Mr Marshall, who is unable to work because of the severity of his epileptic fits, was left waiting on the phone for 21 minutes after first calling the hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, on March 14.

He eventually got through on his second attempt the same day after a 29-minute call.

Mr Marshall, from Witham, Essex, said: “I eventually got through on the second call, explained that I needed to change my appointment time and that was it.

“But when I looked at my bill online I was absolutely flabbergasted. I would have thought it would have been no more than a few quid even with all the time I spent on hold.”

Now Mr Marshall is worried other people may be stung by the cost without realising.

He said: “I have spoken to BT and they have told me that there is no mistake. This is especially bad for elderly people if they do not have an itemised bill as they may be in the dark about how much it is costing them to make thses calls.”

The outraged patient was charged £2.59 per minute for his calls to the 0844 number. His first call cost him £55 and the second £72.

Just want Americans want for their health care system!