Når i sidder og klapper i hænderne over arbejdsgiverbetalt sygeforsikring og behandlingsgarantien, så please tænk længere og se hvilken retning det bringer os. Nogle gange kræver det folk udefra at se hvor privilligerede vi er! Her min svigerinde fra Chicago:

Hello everybody –
I want to share a little slice of my life with you. As you know,
Denmark is fully socialized; meaning simply that the collective
policy on health, education, and pensions are one of entitlement not
privilege. Period. One could also call it – socialized services with
capitalistic business opportunities. That is a whole other topic but
let me tell you what just happened to me as an American living in
Denmark. Not as a Danish citizen but as a resident tax payer.

Due to an old ski injury, I had reconstructive surgery on my knee 15
or so years ago. The last 3 years it has been giving me problems; not
chronic pain but irritations (every time I go down on my knees, play
tennis, ride bikes etc) Jacob has been hammering me to go to the
doctor about it forever and I just didn’t want to deal with it or
what I associated with it; time, paperwork, expense. Then I really
did a doozy; I smacked it into a metal bar while pushing my chair in
under the dinner table and I thought I fractured the kneecap. Being
that I could hardly walk, I immediately called my private doctor.

Now to sum up the rest of the story fast – here it goes:

– I went in the next morning. She immediately referred me to a
physical therapist whereby he said I needed to get that old screw
out, the rest was just a bruise- (time; 2 days/cost 0)

– He gave me a bunch of exercises to do and referred me to a
orthopedic surgeon that concluded after x-rays and MRI scans that
surgery albeit elective was a good idea – (time; 1 week/cost 0)

– I received a date for surgery – 3 weeks later but it was while I
was in the States. So, we postponed it to my arrival date at my
convenience.

– Yesterday, I went in at 11:30am, my surgery was at 1pm, I was
finished and released at 4pm and sent home with pain pills and a date
for my physical therapy to start up again (time 5 1/2 hours – cost 0)

Now note that I never signed a piece of paper; not a waiver, not an
insurance form, nothing. Just repeated my name and social security
number to several people along the way to confirm my identity and my
injury. Everything else was computerized. Today I am not worried
about getting dropped by my provider or paying a higher dividend for
my pre-existing condition. I had a situation that needed tending to
and now I am just moving on.

Why I am telling you this? I can assure not to say ‘ha ha’ –
especially to you that have had upwards of 25-50,000 USD in out of
pocket expenses this year alone for illness that you did not elect to
have. ( Bob, I can not even imagine your totals anymore ) The
personal stories that I know some of you have are enraging to me now.
But I share this with you to inspire you to demand it at home. That
the States can run the system as effectively as the country of
Denmark; the region of Scandinavia; as well as most of all the
European Community. That a unified health care system for all
americans is not a lost cause and it is not impossible no matter what
horrible propaganda is fighting against the success of it. USA is not
too big to do this – they are too crippled by this failing system NOT
to do it.

I want my parents to have decent and honorable retirements as much as
I want my siblings and my friends to receive the treatments they need
to fight cancer, MS, diabetes, and any other illnesses we have to
fight. No matter what your personal income is or what your ailment
may be or what genes may have been passed down to you through birth.

Please do not get lazy on this very important policy – keep pushing
for this in your local communities, with your local officials – do
not let this die. It is the only way to a better future for all of
us. Imagine a life whereby you will be taken care of just because you
are valued as a human being. It is not so radical.

And that is all from me for today while I sit on the couch feeling
grateful – how are you?

Deb