There seems to be an incredibly hot discussion going on across the pond re Obamas healthcare plan. I don't claim to have any real knowledge about it or the current situation. Suffice to say that I'm frequently amazed of how much is dependent on you having the funds to pay for treatments and medicine. So let me give you a brief explanation of how it works here in Sweden. If you want more info than I'll give you in my ramblings you can point your browser to: http://www.forsakringskassan.se/sprak/eng .
So this is how it works:
If you are unable to work you get about 80% of your income, the first week is paid by your employer, after that the social security kicks in. Many employers have additional insurance to cover loss of income.
An example: a few years back I worked at a café and one day as I was standing behind the bar I made a clumsy turn and stumbled on my own foot. Later that evening I felt that the pain were more than could reasonably be expected. So off I went to the ER. (Unfortunately not looking like the crew of the TV-series.) They established that I had a broken bone in my right arm. I couldn't work for 4 weeks and needed painkillers. So how much did it cost me in fees, medicine and loss of wages? Not a dime. “Högkostnadsskyddet” (patient's cost ceiling within a one-year limit for medical care and medicine under the health service) covered it all since I had reached the ceiling for both medical care and medicine. And my employers insurance, which is mandatory, covered the wage loss.
The ceiling for medical care is 900 SEK a year,for medicine it is 1800. If you need technical stuff like a wheel chair, crutches or the like the ceiling is 2000, and for cabs and other transportation needed it's 1400. So no Swedish citizen pays more than 6100 during a year and most of us don't need all the benefits.
(For the amount in your currency go to http://www.xe.com/ucc/ )
I'll take my current situation as an example. I suffer from frequent migraines and a bad back due to a slipped disk. This in itself would qualify me for the medicine ceiling, But as I'm also diagnosed as a transsexual, M2F, the added costs are staggering. I need the hormones for the rest of my life, hopefully a long one, and add to this the cost for several operations, srs and possibly breast implants, electro zapping of beard and sundry bodily hair, several wigs every year to cover my balding testosterone poisoned scalp and I could never afford the transition in this life time without our healthcare. And for this I pay tops 2700 SEK spread over a year and also get to pick wigs for 2500 a year.
So who is covered by our healthcare? Every Swedish citizen and everyone who is not a citizen but who pay taxes here. All children are covered, regardless of citizenship. It is something we take for granted. So when I read about, for example, a child dying of an infected tooth because the mother couldn't afford to pay for the necessary care I can't help but wonder how civilized you really are over there.
It's all financed by taxes and nobody objects. Sure there is debate over how high the ceiling should be and if high income households should have a higher one. But no one, from the far right to the far left questions the validity of a universal healthcare plan.
So, you sisters and brothers in the US, get a grip and join the rest of the civilized world and adopt Obamas plan.
August 12, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Great questions and explanation of your countries plan. I am from the U.S. and I hope to shed some light on what you see rightly as an uncivilized mind set about health care.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest issue here is fear due to ignorance. What those opposed do not understand is that they are already paying for the uninsured folks heath care in higher insurance premiums and higher deductibles and lower amounts covered. They don't understand the amount of money they will actually save by Universal Heath Care and how much relief they will have when they no longer have to worry about becoming uninsured.
They are ignorant because they do no research on their own. They only believe what they see in commercials put out by the insurance companies and by politicians who are given large political donations by these same companies. Only the insurance companies will be hurt by the health care plan so they are spending millions of dollars to defeat this thing.
I am afraid that over the last 30 years Americans have become lazy about fact finding and seem to want to be told what to believe and do. Hopefully they will begin to see the folly of this before it is too late.
Thanks for the comment. I was beginning to worry that no one was reading my ramblings.
ReplyDeleteWell said. I've tried to explain that my European counterparts at Atlas Copco felt we were wage slaves with no rights, and people here just don't get it.
ReplyDelete