Swollen Memories in Greece

I have another week or so of travel: filming in Rome for three days (St. Peter video for the Lutheran Church) and six days in Istanbul (updating and fine-tuning our first-edition Istanbul guidebook).

With the Greece tour finished, I said goodbye to our group and to Anne, who flew home. (By the way, I asked Anne if she wanted to share her thoughts on Greece on this blog, as so many of you have requested. She said “No thanks.” She likes her privacy as much as I like to be public…which I find perfectly understandable.)

Speaking of Anne’s privacy, let me tell you about a medical problem she had. She got stung by something in the harsh Mani Peninsula and her hand swelled up worse and worse over three days. At Mystras, we decided she should see a doctor. While the group toured the site, our driver took her to the local clinic, where a fine doctor sized up her problem and fixed her up with the right medicine.

Of course, being in Europe, the visit was covered by the national health care. Our group got talking about “free medical help” in their travels (which is, of course, not free but paid for in high taxes). Many people had happy stories — enjoying fine doctors, quick service and first-class care for no cost.

After seeing Michael Moore’s new movie, Sicko, I’ve been thinking about the beauty of a land where doctors can “care maximize” rather than “profit maximize.” European doctors seem to enjoy a system that allows them to do their work without regard to people’s ability to pay. When it comes to national health care, Michael Moore made Europe look even better than I do.

I’d love to hear any stories about finding (and funding) emergency health care while traveling in Europe. Can you share your experience?

Comments

53 Replies to “Swollen Memories in Greece”

  1. Socialist medicine may be fine and dandy if you have the flu or if you have a bee sting that swells up your hand. But if you have the ‘big one’ like cancer you’re in big trouble because specialized areas of medicine have massive waiting lists. In Britain they have a lower cancer survival rates than we do, made worse by the fact that nearly a third who die are still on the waiting list to see an Oncologist. Couple that with the massive taxes they have and I have to ask how socialism is better.

  2. I do not have any stories about finding emergency health care in Europe–I am just happy that you are continuing the blog. I read the last entry and was afraid that you would stop, that my trip was over. Glad you are still posting, and look forward to reading answers to your question.

  3. In September, 2004, I cut my hand while going through a barbed-wire gate during a hike on Mount Subasio, near Assisi. My wife, Anna, felt it was serious enough to have it checked out by a doctor so off we went to the emergency clinic in the local hospital. Within minutes I was examined and my hand was bandaged. I asked the doctor where I might pay the fee and was pleasantly surprised when she smiled and said, “No charge.” Don, Vancouver, Canada

  4. I don’t have any medical stories to tell from traveling except getting sea-sick. Hope Anne is doing fine. Happy travels to Rome and Istanbul!

  5. My grandmother was English and used NHS for her cancer surgery and chemotherapy – she went into remission, had top care, and it was all free. Furthermore, it’s not that you can’t get privatized insurance in the UK, and I’m assuming for the rest of Europe as well. You can – it’s called BUPA, and you can see doctors exactly the same way you do here with a work-paid health plan, or your paying extremely large amounts of money to subsidize your own insurance. At least they have a choice, unlike people in the US.

  6. One day in Stockholm, I needed a Dental repair. The cost for this repair in Sweden was three time what it is in the USA. They had a price sheet, looked at a list of countries and charged a percentage of the listed cost, based on which country the client was from. The percentage charged was less for countries with Government controlled medical system. For a US citizen, my charge was three times the cost at home.

    We visited Cousins in Hospitals in Germany, always dozens of patients in a ward, much like being in a Army barracks. And they weren’t happy with the care they got, or didn’t get.

    Our friend in Bracknell, England, worked for the English Health care system since it started, the stories she told about problems waiting to get care. Her son was a dentist, and after a few years, he started a private practice, one of the fasting growing businesses in England.

    I had dental work in Venice, don’t remember the cost, quality of the repairs was terrible.

  7. I had a cyst removed by a “top ranked” hospital in the US. The doctor only had 30 minutes slotted for my surgery with other surgeries both before and after. I never got to see the doctor. The surgeon did not remove the whole cyst and the wound become severely infected. While traveling for business in Mexico, a doctor there corrected the problem. I visited him daily for 1 week so that he could monitor the wound each day. Cost for surgery in US – $850 Cost for care in Mexico – $55

  8. I grew up in England, although I now live in the US (with good med insurance), and I would love for the US to switch to “socialized” medicine! I recently broke my wrist while in Switzerland, and the multiple Xrays, surgery to install pins, and a night in the hospital cost less than the out-patient surgery in the US to remove the pins. My US doctor would have installed a plate, I preferred the Swiss method. I also once visited a hospital in Ankara with a badly sprained ankle, and the cost for treatment was minimal. Whether you are charged in Europe as a non-European seems to vary, I’ve been charged twice for minor out-patient visits in the UK.

  9. While in Prague this year, I experienced shortness of breath, sweats, etc. and thoroughly scared myself. Because I was concerned about the language issue, I chose to spend a bit more and I made an appointment with the Canadian Medical Clinic in Prague and was seen by an excellent physician who put me through an entire battery of tests. She also arranged for an echocardiogram and a visit with a cardiologist. Cost? Under $225 and the visit with the cardiologist? $29.50. The staff and doctors were all Czechs that spoke excellent English. There was no waiting to see the doctor and payment was not even discussed until after I had received treatment. How very different than the US. I discussed my care with other Americans visiting Prague and found that my experience was typical. The care was outstanding and oh, yeah, I’m fine.

  10. We needed emergency health care on a RS tour this past summer. On the Paris and Provence tour, my husband developed severe back pain in the middle of the night in Arles. Our guide and our bus driver spent quite a while on three cell phones arranging for help. Paramedics came to our hotel in an ambulance and determined that John needed to be transfered to the hospital. As in all Rick Steves’ hotels, we were up a couple flights of winding stairs, but these men carried him down with ease. We spent most of the night in the emergency room, where they determined that he probably had a kidney stone. After much medication and an easing of his symptoms, we were able to return to the hotel. I left with a handful of prescriptions (including one for fizzy codeine) and a very weary husband. The bill, which came recently, was for 113.38 euros. Definitely a bargain, but they did not do tests for kidney stones that are normally done in the US. The diagnosis seemed more guess than science.

  11. A few years ago we were traveling in Italy with friends. One of ours friends is on a blood thinning medication and has has a procedure done right before the trip and needed to check her blood while on the trip. So we went to the hospital in Florence and they ran the blood test, and gave her the numbers to call her doctor here. She went to pay for the procedure and they said that there was no charge for foreign travelers. We were really shocked. Luckily we have never had to seek out medical help again.

  12. At Hopitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, France, I was ushered into the office of Professor Ernest Heid. This is a teaching hospital, there were three young lady students. The girls spoke English, and they seemed to enjoy my sense of humor, now that I had an audience, … !

    I took off my shirt, Prof. Heid poked me with a needle, then took a small part of the “thing” for the biopsy. I told the Professor that the shirt was off, the spot was numb, the knife was in his hand, so why not remove the whole thing (smaller than your finger nail), and he did.

    The bill was 137FF. At 5 FF per dollar, that was a cost of $27 for seeing the doctor, and the removal of the spot. Later we got another bill for about another 216FF, (most likely the lab) a total of $70. Medicare won’t pay for care outside the US, but Blue Cross paid 80%, our cost $14.

    We made arrangements that he call Emmy’s Cousin Doctor Reinhold Herrmann, in case we didn’t understand details, if we had made a call.

  13. Oh stop talking about those evils of socialzed medicine already! ENTIRE WESTERN WORLD USES IT, don’t you understand the US is the only country that’s out? Doesn’t it tell you something? Or would you rather have privatized police and fire stations as well? You just pontificate about the “waiting lines” while the world is laughing. For some reason the most difficult thing in the world is to explain to an American that _perhaps_ there is something the US is not doing the best way. You know, like, it’s just _possible_, ok? Go to Europe for a year, see how it’s done there, then comment on it. Theorizing about “waiting lines” is just abstract nonsense.

  14. A staff member where I work had Lukemia. She got a bone marrow transplant (And LOVES America because the donor was from the USA). She was clean for a decade. Recently they discovered a spot of cancer on her tongue. The spot was removed and her tongue repaired with some muscle from her leg. She’s been through a lot: All on the Austrian public system. On Christmas eve, my daughter came down with a fever. I envisioned Christmas in a clinic. My wife (having seen the problem many times before) called our doctor and said “its a urinary tract infection”. Our doctor called a prescription in to our neighborhood pharmacy (one is open in every neighborhood 24/7). Within 2 hours my angel was on antibiotics and she was fine by Christmas morning. Austria has a system where wealthier people can choose their own plans, choose their own doctors etc. Taxes are high. But I sleep easier in a country were I know every child has coverage. 40 million uninsured in America is troubling. Be safe! Happy travels!

  15. I couldn’t figure out why people on this blog started asking Anne to blog. Where did that idea come from? Why would they think she would want to do that, and where do they get the nerve to just request someone spend their time in a way for their own amusement?

  16. Ellen, I remember the original posting asking Anne to blog. The poster thought it would be nice to get a woman’s point of view on what they see in Greece. A couple traveling together, nice to know how both think about a country. But I do respect Anne very much for wanting to stay out of the public eye. It’s very hard to be in with the public for some people, so I don’t blame her at all. I hope Anne got home safe and sound. I bet she misses you already Rick!

  17. You really can’t compare healthcare systems based on anecdotal experiences of American travelers in Europe. My son had a bee sting reaction a few years ago also. I phoned our doctor and he said “Wait a few days and it will go down, no treatment required”. It did and there was no charge. My dad had prostate cancer 15 years ago and is still alive and well. In Britain, he would have had a 1 in 2 chance of dying of the disease. In the U. S., prostate cancer patients have a 1 in 5 chance of dying of prostate cancer. That’s how you judge a healthcare system.

  18. I like to share my story with everyone because it could have happened to anyone. While on tour in Eastern Europe last yearI had to have emergency surgery in rural eastern Eger,Hungary for appencedcitis. It turned out I had a Yersinia infection in my colon which I got from eating fruits or vegetables washed in contaminated water which moderately inflamed my appendix. Although Dr. Attila saved my life my experience was a cross between “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “The English Patient.” We had to pay the bill before I could leave the hospital and they don’t take Visa! As a result I am a strong proponent of contacting your physician before you leave home for travel advice and medical travel insurance.

  19. I have only had good experiences with the European health care. I used to live in the USA and often had far longer wait times (even with an appointment) than I experience here. Plus, doctors make house calls here, often free of charge! Much more patient friendly!

  20. There’s an aspect to European health care that no one has mentioned. It occurred to me over and over again on my trip to Italy this summer. That is, anyone needing a wheelchair to get around simply wouldn’t be able to travel here. I saw two American families struggling to push their children in wheelchairs, one child had a broken leg with a full cast, the other child appeared to have cerebral palsy. Those families were having extreme difficulty pushing the chairs over the cobbles. Europe is not user-friendly to those needing a wheelchair. Stairs everywhere even to access the WC, when there were elevators like in the hotels they were too small for a wheelchair, no ramps, no curb cuts. Health care is not only the immediate treatment. Any elderly or disabled person in Europe requiring a wheelchair is simple not able to get around. That could account for the few wheelchairs seen. Those people must be homebound.

  21. I just couldn’t resist getting in on this discussion. Having lived in the UK for 7 years, I feel that I have good experience with two countries’ health systems (USA & UK). As with all issues there are pros and cons with both systems. My neighbor in the UK died of colon cancer because he was never seen by an oncologist; his age kept him from reaching the top of the list. My older children had free dental care the whole time we lived there. And it was a relief to have a “family” doctor who made housecalls and knew you by name. In the States, if you don’t have good insurance, you can simply be left to die outside the emergency room (not in all states). But, on the other hand, I will not be refused a visit to an oncologist because of my age. I worked in the UK and 40% of my income was taxes, with no option at the end of the year to file for a refund. But then, I had unlimited paid sick leave. All I am saying is, don’t take a simplistic view of this issue.

  22. jo, The law requires all hospitals to treat emergency patients whether they can pay or not. No one is left to die outside an emergency room because they cannot pay, whether they are here legally or illegally. Furthermore, there is Medicaid and other state welfare programs for those who can’t afford medical treatment. And meanwhile (to address my earlier post) those requiring wheelchairs can get around without the difficulty they would encounter in Europe.

  23. Kath, There are a number of people here in the States who fall through the cracks when it comes to Medicaid and state welfare programs. They make too much money too qualify for Medicaid and other state welfare programs, however their jobs do not provide health insurance and they do not make enough money to pay for private health insurance for them and their families plus pay for the other needs of their families.

  24. True, Ruth, but jo was saying that such a person would die at the door of the ER and that is not happening. They would be treated and treated with the best medical care in the world. Of course, then the hospital would try and get paid.

  25. I think it depends what you have and where you are living as to what kind of treatment you get at a hospital without insurance. I have known a few people who have been refused and/or received substandard care partly due to the fact they did not have health insurance. Kath, Another part of the problem, is due to the fact that people do not have health insurance, they are using the ER doctor’s as their primary care physicians, which in turn clogs up the ER. Also, some of these people going to the ER often are sicker since they do not have health insurance and do not see a primary care physician on a regular basis. If they had health insurance, they would be more likely to see a doctor on a regular basis and hopefully catch illnesses earlier then by just catching it when they go to an ER and it is too late.

  26. I remember years ago in my bohemian days in Europe, while staying with an Austrian friend in Villach in ca. 1985, I needed some quick dental work, and my friend’s dentist just put the bill on my friend’s Krankenschein(dental insurance). It was an older dentist, so it wasn’t some flagrant break from protocol by a young upstart! Give or take a year, after breaking my foot while hiking in the Idi mountains of Crete, where Zeus supposedly was born, I was a bit reluctant to have my foot looked at on Crete or in Athens. I thought it was just a bad sprain, but decided to take the train back ASAP to Villach, Austria to stay with my friend Hannes again and to have the foot looked at. The doctors x-rayed it, declared it broken, set it, and put a cast on it for a very nominal fee, most of the cost going on Austria’s nationalized insurance. Now that wouldn’t have happened here in the U.S.!

  27. I believe in socialized med. but agree it is a complex issue. In winter 1999-2000, there was a flu outbreak in the U.K.. Hospitals were overflowing. Surgeries had to be cancelled. Many elderly died. On a flight from the U.S. back to London, I sat next to an American women who was researching socialized medicine on a Fulbright scholarship. We discussed the flu outbreak. She told me that she very much supported socialized medicine, but there were very different ways that countries implemented it. E.G. That year France had a very proactive program to immunize the elderly with the flu vaccine. There was a very mild outbreak of the flu in France. On the other hand, the UK had not been proactive with immunizations. Additionally that year, Relenza, a new medication which reduced the symptoms of the flue was rejected for NHS prescriptions. The lack of approval had nothing to do with safety or efficacy. It was not approved because it was not considered to be cost-effective.

  28. Of course, Britain has socialized medicine only for the middle class and poor. The wealthy go to private hospitals and get quality medical care. I just don’t trust government to make my medical decisions for me, whether I’m too old for kidney dialysis or colon cancer treatment or whether my disease has a lower priority than another disease or whether a vaccine will be ‘cost-effective’. I would prefer to make those decisions myself.

  29. I guess I understand people wanting socialized healthcare. I would suspect that a majority of people value security more than freedom. As someone who puts a higher value on freedom, for better or worse, it’s frustrating that I have no choice but to submit to the whims of people who think it’s “great” to get excellcent medical care and not pay for it. I’m sure it is great along with many other freebies govt’s can hand out. But these do not appear out of thin air. In my opinion, the problem with US healthcare is it’s not a true free market. If insurance were purchased directly by the health “users” we would have cost control. As for European healthcare, as with other forms of socialism, there is no “free lunch” and overtime will reduce medical innovation, reduce quality, and drive up cost. I’m not opposed to some form of gov’t safety net for special circumstances but not universal blanet coverage for all.

  30. On our first night in the Cab-In in Copenhagen we unfolded our bed from the wall – yes, quarters were that small and I caught my finger in the spring. The next morning, we went in search of the nearest emergency room. The emergency room was very clean, but cheerless. However, the doctor (Dr. Bruno)and his assistant took excellent care of me. They insisted on an x-ray, found that the finger was broken, removed the finger nail, and bandaged me carefully. They were very concerned that I would not be in pain. They used Danish humor to cheer me up. As I was leaving, with my middle finger prominately raised in a sling to my shoulder, I said that in America showing your middle finger is not a very nice gesture. Dr. Bruno laughed and as he slapped me on the back said, “It’s bad here, too!” I spent the evening in Tivoli Gardens saluting everyone with Dr. Bruno’s skillful work. I love the Danes.

  31. Thoughtful blog! Naturally maintaining a healthcare safety net has direct and indirect costs. Seldom mentioned is that NOT having a healthcare safety net also has costs -mostly hidden opportunity costs: lower productivity, high turnover, lower school attendance, disruptive widening of economic gap, upward pressure on the crime rate. There is a spooky but consistent inverse relationship between access to health care and crime rates. Strange. Any analysis should take into account all costs, direct and hidden. Extremes should be mitigated at either end of the equation. Cost/benefit analysis should help narrow down where the sweet spot on the curve is. But, generally, bad health care (or poor education) is like pot holes. Not filling them will also degrade your city’s business infrastructure over time. You always gotta pay somewhere! Complex issue. By the way, I love Rick’s blog. Very thoughtful and courteous participants. Wish the rest of the blogosphere were as polite! Thanks.

  32. I enjoyed reading Trav. Poli Sci’s post. I tend to always side with the most libertarian(govt hands off)approach on these issues, but I don’t think I know what the perfect answer is. I do feel strongly it’s not blanket coverage. What can I say, when it comes to govt policies I like to emphasize personal responsibility 1st, then move away from that position only when a logical argument can be made that “live and let live” will not work. I liked your comment that “Extremes should be mitigated at either end of the equation” and the logic you gave for the your position about other costs to society. So many times people debating on both sides think it’s all one way or all the other. As much as I love using Ricks travel books and like reading his points of view in his blog, when he sings the praises of extremists like Michael Moore it makes my stomach turn. Europe is a great place to live/travel but they’re not always more enlightened as Rick makes it sound. Thought he was more moderate.

  33. I just wanted to add a bit on the topic of ER care for those without insurance. I never had health insurance growing up, and as a result rarely saw the doctor. Those who believe that you can simply swagger into an ER and receive care for any health complaint are just naive. I’m sorry but you are NOT even theoretically guaranteed to be seen in an ER unless your condition is believed to be potentially fatal. Ah, but how does one guage that? Well, after a few hours waiting in the ER (and I’ve actually seen people with BULLET wounds and knife wounds waiting with the masses!) a nurse will meet with you for a few moments, take your blood pressure, your pulse and your temp.and then it’s back out on the floor.The immigrant woman who died at Martin Luther King hospital in So CA is not unique. She died writhing on the floor, begging for help. Other patients called 911 for help. The reality of life w/o insurance is not simply walk into an ER. If it were, noone would pay for insurance!

  34. Our health care system is so complex that the next president will have to put this as a top priority and try to fix it. Sam is right about the ED waiting time, and I would think every reader in this blog would have agreed. Don’t ever get sick, really. Hospitals in the country are so broke, getting reimbursement from the gov’t is a joke. There is no simply answer to our system, which way is a better way? No body knows for sure. Stay tuned.

  35. In France, cortisone is a panacea. Luckily when I needed a French doctor, cortisone was exactly what I needed.

    In Colmar 15 years ago, I was sick from an allergic reaction to some antibiotics I’d been prescribed in the States. Shakes, appetite gone, face bright red.

    Called a doctor picked at random from a list at the TI. Though I’d interrupted his lunch he told me to come on over in 20 minutes.

    One look at me and my pills was all he needed to diagnose the problem. One shot of cortisone and a half hour later I became a human mood ring, sitting in a cafe feeling better and better while, my wife says, my face changed color back to normal.

    This is of course the rarely realized fantasy of how medicine works: a magic shot or a pill that cures instantly.

    There was no waiting and the visit, treatment, and prescribed antihistamines cost about $15. Good thing, since my U.S. HMO refused to cover this expense. In its way a priceless experience.

  36. In Paris last year, we ended your Paris city tour with a few extra days to enjoy the city. My partner woke up from a nap with amnesia. After 30 minutes of trying to figure out what to do I called down to the lobby. Within 20 minutes a physician was in our room examining her. He called for an ambulance and we were rushed to the American Doctor hospital. After two days of tests and examinations she was released. Our hospital and physician bills for two days totalled $1800. All is well now, and we both say if we ever come down with anything serious we are hopping a jet to Paris.

  37. As an American living in Canada I can tell you that I am beyond frustrated with Universal Health Care. Everyone goes to the doctor for every little sniffle and wait times are horrific. I had to go back 3 times to get the right diagnosis because the docs are overworked and spend so little time with you they just give you a quick diagnosis to get to the next person the system in the US is definitely broken, but trust me, universal coverage has major problems too.

  38. Rick Steve’s, I understand your enthusiasm for socialized medicine. I certainly wouldn’t argue there are many advantages. But schilling for that god-awful liar/ propagandist Michael Moore? What the heck is wrong with you? That’s like having valid criticism of U.S foreign policy and then citing North Korea as a more potent critic. Get a clue, Steve. You just lost credibility.

  39. Canada’s universal health care system is so broken that British Columbia and Alberta send mothers in labor with multiples or preemies to the United States. There aren’t enough neonatal beds in Canada. Recently a mother expecting quads had to go from Alberta to Great Falls, Montana (apparently even an ordinary American city has better and more neonatal care than all of Canada) for her babies to be born and properly treated. There weren’t any beds available in all of Canada for four preemies. Even a Member of Canada’s parliament came to California for her breast cancer treatment. There may be no perfect system. With great care in the U. S. comes high costs. In countries with socialized medicine, care suffers.

  40. Kath, Based on personal experience with myself, family and friends, I would not say that great care is universal all across the U.S. medical system. Care can vary from floor to floor, just like it does everywhere else. There are many hospitals where I live in the U.S. that are closing their maternity wards due to high costs – ie insurance that doctors have to carry, and so more expecting mothers are having to go to the ER to deliver their babies since they do not live close to a hospital with a maternity ward. As for the Canadian situation with the premies montana is closer to Alberta then some parts of Canada. Why would they not go to Montana, if Montana would take them. I have know of Americans, who live somewhat close to Canada, who go over to or have gone over in the past to Canada to receive their health care. Care does not suffer anymore in socialized countries then it does here.

  41. A couple of the repeat posters on this thread sound as if they get their information about health care from Fox News rather than from actual Europeans. Anyway, the United States’ non-system has nothing to offer me, a middle-aged, self-employed person who makes too much for Medicaid, is too young for Medicare, and has found that Health Savings Accounts actually cost MORE than conventional insurance. The only affordable insurance I can get has a $5000 deductible, which means that I rarely go to the doctor, not even for the tests that I’m supposed to have at my age, not with each test costing a minimum of $300. When I was in England last summer, the landlady at one B&B told me that she had had cancer two years previously. The time between her doctor’s initial suspicions and her surgery? Two weeks. I’d gladly give up kidney dialysis after age 70 to be able to afford a plain vanilla physical at age 57.

  42. I got sick in Bucharest and checked myself into a hotel to recover. The women at the reception shooed me to urgent care. I was worried about how much it would cost since I’m not an EU national. She looked at me like I was crazy. ‘It doesn’t matter, you’re sick and you need a doctor.’ It’s true that the hospital was old fashioned, and privacy was minimal, but there weren’t the hordes of people waiting you usually find in a US ER. I received a complete physical and x-ray to make sure I didn’t have pneumonia, which I still have as a souvenir. All for nothing. Of course the dr wrote me a huge list of prescriptions that ended up costing more than $100. Oh well! That was mostly antibiotics, I soon was on the road to recovery and able to continue my trip. If I were to get sick like that in the US and not be able to go to the student health center, I would be SOL because I don’t have insurance. Yet in one of the poorest countries in Europe, even non-citizens can see a dr when they need it.

  43. In the year 2000 my husband and I were on a bus tour through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In Berlin, my husband suddenly passed out, an ambulance was called, and he was admitted for an overnight stay in a Berlin hospital. End result, no diagnosis and no charge. Five days later, in Zermatt, it happened again. He had to be air-lifted by helicopter out of Zermatt to a hospital in Visp. This time it was a four-night stay, aspirin prescribed, and the bill, over $6000.00 US, had to be paid before they would discharge him. There’s a comparison between the German and Swiss medical costs which we will never forget. As an afterword, two days after returning to California, he had triple bypass surgery. Cost? $65,000.00. Our insurance at the time, an abominable HMO, finally paid both bills, but not before my poor husband almost had a heart attack over the entire situation. My recommendation? Be diagnosed in California, get your prescription there, then go to Germany for medical care.

  44. One morning in Munich I woke up with a swollen face. A small pimple had become inflamed and I barely recognized myself in the mirror. The receptionist in the small hotel said there was a doctor next door. After a ten minute wait, the doctor saw me and she said she was not equipped but referred me to a specialist. She said she would call ahead so that they would be expecting me. After a ten minute metro ride, I found the second doctor. He was not expecting me but no matter because I had only about a 15 minute wait. He did what he had to do, I left, and by the time I got back to the hotel, I was no longer scaring people in the street. No charge except for a prescription.

  45. I feel compelled to speak for all of the veterans that fought and died to make Europe and Italy available to you for your multi-million dollar travel business. I was in Edmonds yesterday when you said that Germany spends its tax dollars on the arts etc. while the US spends its money on military. I need to remind you that the USA rescued Europe twice with our military, dollars and blood and it would be respectful if you would mention that in your presentations rather than belittle those that gave everything so that you can show Europe to them. Yes, I was wearing boots and a large belt buckle.

  46. To Jack Mitchell of October 12, Michael Moore’s great and has done much to expose our horrible lack of universal health care. By the way….. learn to spell your own name!

  47. My 90 year old mother broke her hip in a fall in May 07. She has been in hospital ever since in Scotland, UK getting very good treatment and attention from the NHS, National Health Service. Now she is in a recovery hospital where everything is spotlessly clean and the nursing care is terrific – Bill Gates couldn’t buy better attention. Cost to date NIL – but of course all her family has paid the National Insurance “tax” for many years. I live in CA and cannot find an insurer, never mind contemplate affording their huge charges and those crazy ‘deductibles’. As somebody else pointed out, there can be a waiting line in Europe for certain medical procedures but if you can afford it you can buy your way to the front of the line – usually to see the same specialist who would have seen you on the NHS anyway. Nobody said the system was perfect. Sorry my fellow Americans, this is one thing you have got totally wrong – a horrible system which discriminates so badly is unworthy of an advanced country and only keeps the insurance shareholders rich. David

  48. A little late, but… I was on a tour with a 66 year old (Girl Scout group, girls and adults) She fell and broke her arm in two places. All I can say for the British healthcare she received “it was free” It was sadly unacceptable. I work in healthcare. I was traveling with a nurse. We quizzed the hospital about treatment options “at her age a loss of mobility is acceptable” WHAT???? Her age??? She was 66 not 106!!! Bascially they gave her drugs, splinted the arm (very high break) and sent her to the hotel. We were told they would not operate on “someone her age” Insurance was never discussed…. After some involvment from a private hospital and the US Embassy we were able to obtain a release to travel and she was flown home by her insurance company where the next day she had surgery. End result NO loss of mobility….. Food for thought!

  49. We arrived in a tiny village above Interlaken to take up an apartment for the month of July. It was a Saturday afternoon, and my husband realized he had conjunctivitis (pink eye). He walked to the nearby pharmacy for advice. Within 15 minutes, he returned. “No one could help you?” I asked. “Oh, no, the pharmacist sent me to the doctor, the doctor examined me, wrote a prescription, and the pharmacist filled it- for 3 francs (about $2USD).

  50. During my first trip to Europe, I had a major medical issue. I went to the emergency room at a hospital a few blocks from the Vatican. After a couple of hours and several tests later, I tried to pay them with a credit card. A lady said, “No pay. We rich.” I was floored.

  51. I am a teacher and have led six tours of Europe. About ten years ago in Florence, one of the boys was misbehaving and put his arms through a window. This resulted in many cuts on both arms. Our tour guide called the hospital and an ambulance arrived. The attendants were dressed in black robes and looked like something from the Middle Ages. Also, an ambulance ride through Florence is undescribable! They spoke very little English at the hospital, but they knew what to do. The doctor gave my student lots of stitches and a tetanus shot. After that I indicated that there may be some pain. He wrote a prescription, and I had to go to the railroad station for it (the only place to get medicine on a Sunday.) There was no charge for the emergency room visit, and only a $3 charge for the painkillers. The doctor told us to see a doctor in Rome in three days. We went to an emergency room near our hotel. It was a very unusual experience, compared to our American ER’s. There were no other patients! They looked for infection, found none, and sent us on our way. Once again, there was no charge. I had explained to both hospitals that he wasn’t an Italian citizen, but that didn’t seem to matter. It certainly opened up our eyes as to the ways of doing things in another country.

  52. This is addressed to “Kath”. I have lived, worked, been hospitalized and had surgery in both UK (25 years) and US (39). Fortunately I have employer provided insurance here, so have had good care in both countries. My parents lived out their lives in the UK. My father was treated and cured of cancer of sinuses (requiring landmark surgery)age of 70+ and went on well into his 80s. My mother lived until 93 and had excellent care, especially at the end. A huge blessing and relief to them was that at no point was how to pay for it a consideration. They both had superlative care and caring with respect to their very modest means. Undoubtedly there are anecdotes about poor care and waiting lines on both sides of the Atlantic – believe me, examples cross my desk daily here in the US! (I work in the legal field) But Kath, explain this: if US health care is so superior, why do we rank only 28th in World Health statistics for longevity, way behind every single Western developed nation with universal healthcare? We are aligned with eastern European and developing nations. Have Americans been so brainwashed by special interests that they cannot do the math?

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