B1 English Listening Practice - Doctors

[0:00]Hey everybody, welcome to this B1 English Listening Practice video. You can use this video to practice your listening and comprehension as I speak. You ready? So today, I'm going to talk about doctor's appointments. This is not one of my favorite topics, because honestly, I hate going to the doctor. I'm sure some of you can sympathize with me on this one. Every time I have to go to the doctor, I get nervous, anxious, and I just can't wait until everything's over. But, that said, let's talk a little bit about the process of going to the doctor in the U.S. So, first of all, it's important to talk about health insurance. In the U.S., most people have health insurance, because without it, the cost of getting medical treatment can be astronomical. But there's still a problem here, because the insurance itself also costs a lot of money. If you're single and you're just insuring yourself, the average cost per month is well over $300. However, if you're insuring your whole family, the average cost is over $800 per month. And even though you pay this huge amount of money for your monthly premium, you still have to pay more money when you actually go to the doctor's office. It's crazy, I know. You might be thinking, "Why would people pay this much money? Why don't they just not get health insurance?" Well, if you don't go to the doctor much and you don't need any major operations, that would be fine. But, if something major happens to you or you get in an accident, you're going to pay thousand and thousands of dollars to get treatment if you don't have insurance. So really, in my opinion, the main point of having insurance in the U.S. is to make sure you're covered for any major, unexpected events. So, now let's talk about the doctor's office. When you go to a new doctor for the first time, the receptionist usually makes you fill out a long form with all your past medical history. If you're a returning patient, though, you don't need to do this. So before you see the doctor, you've got to go with the nurse to measure your height, weight, and blood pressure. Since I get nervous at the doctor's office, my blood pressure reading is usually high when they take it, so it always appears to them that I have high blood pressure. After they take your measurements and everything, they leave you in the room alone and you have to wait for the doctor to come. Then, you usually get about a 15-minute consultation with the doctor, and hopefully, it's productive. But of course, I've had many appointment in my life that I felt were unproductive or rushed. It really depends on where you go, and which doctor you get. So lastly, the doctor writes you a prescription if you need one, and you pick up your medication at the pharmacy. Also, if you need to see a specialist, the doctor refers you to one and then you set up that appointment when you can. Aside from all this, we also have private practice doctors that have their own offices outside of this general system. They're usually much more flexible and can offer better care, but their resources are more limited. Okay, that's all for today. Leave a comment and tell me how much a doctor's appointment costs in your