This morning, I accompanied Mrs. Denmarkguy to our local express clinic because she has has a pervasive cough that has now been lingering for a couple of weeks without really getting any better.
Part of the check-in process included an inquiry from the receptionist as to whether she would "like financial aid forms" in relation to today's visit.
Maybe I'm overly sensitive, but it just struck me that there are so many things wrong with that question... all the way from the idea that a simple visit to a minor urgent care clinic would result in financial hardship, to the fact that we have health insurance and yet are "at financial risk" even with it.
I should pause for a moment and apologize to our Canadian and Mexican friends for using the word "America's" to describe a USA-based issue. It's just something we say around here, and have been for the past 40-50 years, or however long it has been since the system "broke."
Anyway, it brought to mind how it was medical expenses that started our personal financial hardships, some 15 years ago — something we have never recovered from.
Mrs. Denmarkguy had two scheduled shoulder surgeries (rotator cuff repair) and even after the insurance kicked in, we ended up some US $24,000 out-of-pocket.
As I said, we had insurance, and that privilege set us back $633.00 a month in premiums. Not long after this, we became part of the many uninsured individuals in this country. Today, we have insurance again, but only thanks to a state subsidized insurance program for people 60 and older.
It all certainly does help explain why a full 65% of of personal bankruptcy filings in the USA are due to medical bills. If you have an illness, you can lose your house, your life and everything in it.
As it turned out, Mrs. Denmarkguy had a case of pneumonia. Thankfully, the antibiotics and inhaler she was prescribed was covered by our insurance.
Even so, the title of this post was written only partly tongue-in-cheek.
It all makes me wonder when — if ever — anybody in this country is going to make the honest assessment about the medical system here being completely broken.
People often seem surprised to know that the USA is the only industrialized nation in which the age expectancy is actually declining. People like to blame things like "poor diet" and "sedentary lifestyle," but will anyone ever be honest about the obvious and pervasive stress of working too much and knowing that if you get ill you might well lose everything you have and be on the fast track to poverty.
The US attitude towards healthcare is very interesting.
Even some of my most conservative friends are not opposed to the idea of "healthcare for all," they are just opposed to trusting the government to manage anything.
Back in my native Denmark, I expect at least part of the reason why Universal Healthcare works is that people have a very high level of trust in the government, and the corruption index is super low.
And that's a hurdle we're unlikely to get past.
In the meantime, we keep hoping for the best. And don't get sick!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great rest of your week!
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Created at 2025.09.15 23:22 PST
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