First Experiences: Medical Care

As most of you know I recently had surgery for carpal tunnel, and was out of work for a couple months. I was very unhappy with how things were going beforehand and not being able to do the things I enjoyed the most, like writing, drawing, and other art projects. I was so relieved when I saw the surgeon back in May and he was able to get me an appointment for the following week so that I did not have to continue missing work and could get this problem fixed right away.

Now that I am officially back to work from sick leave, and my hand is healed (mostly) I decided it was time to get back to my blog, although there is not a whole lot more for me to write about regarding Finland at the moment due to not having as much knowledge, or the experiences or the years living here to help me, I thought if there was one thing I could write about now it was about the health care and just how cheap it is here compared to the states.

In my experience in the States, I was always very stubborn about going to see a doctor, I hated the idea of it. My thought was unless I actually thought I was dying or causing serious life changing damage to my body I would just suck it up and not bother because it was just too expensive, even with health insurance. I even had to stop getting my prescriptions for things I needed because they had become too expensive and I did not have the proper coverage to help. When I did go to the doctor's office I always had to set up a payment plan to pay the bill because it was too much in one setting, one doctor's visit would cost me on average of $130 not including prescriptions needed.

Now that I live in a place with universal health care I do not have to worry about these things like I did before. The amount of weight lifted from the stress is so relieving. When I first went to the doctor regarding the pain in my hand and arm I had to go to the health center (terveyskeskus) in my town. I remember expecting to pay at least 75 for the trip, after all it was a same day appointment and short notice because I was in loads of pain. I was so suprised when the bill came back to be less than 30 euros, and the medicine I needed only cost a couple euros. I should mention that this is a public health center as well so in general it would be a little cheaper anyways, but compared to what prices were like at the public places in Illinois, I was shocked.

With my job we have occupational health care, so after the first appointment I had in my town, I started to go see a doctor at work, which was really nice to see that I did not have to pay anything for. So in general all the appointements I have been to within the last 6 months I have only had to pay for medicines and my work covers the rest, even the tests I had to have done to get my diagnosis for the carpal tunnel. They also paid for most of my surgery although I do not know for sure how much the total of it was and how much they paid into it. I do not know for sure if this is a really common thing here although I am under the impression it is for certain kind of companies at least.

Before having the surgery, I did do some research to compare what it would have cost me on average where I lived before I moved here, with the health insurance I had before as well. It actually scared me to see that it would have cost me around 2,300 USD for the surgery alone. WITH INSURANCE! My husband and I at the time were looking into how much the surgery would have cost here if we had to pay for it ourselves in case we had to go somewhere else, for a private clinic, and everything included, out of pocket, the cost was 1,400 euros. We ended up being able to go to the public hospital so we knew it would be cheaper, but I did not expect it to be as cheap as it was.

A couple weeks after the surgery I received the bill. Before opening it I was thinking about how much it was when I went to the ER a few years back, being in there for around 4 hours, and only having a blood test done, and how the cost of that I had to pay after insurance was around 800 USD. Keeping that in mind as I opened the envelope for the hospital I held my breath, and almost fell to the ground... 158 euros was the total! For spending the entire morning (abt 5 hours) in the hospital, surgery, and all that goes with it. I guess if you need an example of how wonderful universal health care is, here it is!

Honestly I think since I have been here the most I have spent in one medical bill was around 300 euros, and that was for 3 visits to a private practice for the dentist, other than that, anytime I have had to go to a doctor's office other than my primary, it was no more than 40 euros, and even my medications I get I do not pay more than 50 euros a month for in total. Whereas before I was expected to pay close to 100 per month for medications I needed and of course skipped it instead because even with two jobs I could not afford that "luxury".

After being able to have this experience, and feeling like I no longer need to worry about if I can or cannot afford a doctor's visit and now can get the health care I need, I truly hope that countries, like the USA can one day have univeral health care, it just makes sense, and makes life so much less stressful!