Unpaid, stressed, and confused: patients are the health care system’s free labor

I have spent the past year of my life managing a chronic foot injury. My left foot started hurting after a run last May, and, well, it never really stopped.

At best, the injury lies dormant for a few weeks, barely bothering me. At worst, it can cause intense pain to walk my dog down the block. So I’ve spent the past year in doctors’ offices, in MRI scanners, and in late-night Google search sessions trying to understand what went wrong and how to fix it.

I write a lot about health care for my job here at Vox, and have spent the past seven years covering and explaining the American health care system. But there was something I didn’t understand about American health care until this experience.

It is the considerable burden our fragmented system puts on patients to coordinate their own care. For the full article click here 

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