My one experience with French health care. I broke my wrist and was taken by ambulance to a downtown hospital in Nice. The hospital was being renovated so the waiting room experience wasn’t great, but the doctors were fine, although we had a language problem because my high school French is more than rusty and never extended to medical conversations anyway. I gave the desk all the insurance info (private, German) as well as my home address.
When I arrived back home, the orthopedist I saw for follow-up was not too impressed by the way the fracture had been set. He said it was an old-fashioned method. Eventually, the cast was removed. I had some physical therapy sessions, and things are fine.
We never heard anything from our insurance about the bill, but about a year afterwards we got a bill from France. After one of those I-wonder-what-this-will-be moments, I opened a bill for about ten dollars. I couldn’t believe it. That tiny amount could not have covered the billing cost. They must not have a system for collecting fees from people who are not covered under their national plan. Very strange.
ParisParamussays
Thanks for the piece on French healthcare. I would like to know more about the system; the problem is many of us know that the French media is heavily in bed with the French government, that I’m suspect of good things (or a lack of bad things) I hear about it.
expatsays
Paris,
There is a good WSJ Opinion Journal piece up by David Gauthier-Villas that explains the French system. There are over 250 comments, some pretty polemic, but the article seems to give a balanced view of its strengths and weaknesses. As with any analysis of this type, you have to think about how different elements would play out in the US.
These stories are sad, but true. Oprah “conveniently” never shares these stories on her show. We live near the Canadian border, so we have several friends who live in Canada. You would not believe the horrific stories that they have dealt with…in fact, just three weeks ago my Grandpa-in-law (wife’s grandpa) had a stroke and the doctors didn’t even know it, so they sent him home with aspirin! We called the doctor and said “didn’t you know he had a stroke!” They said, “well, the hospital never told us that…” These are some of the gaps that occur when capitalism is thrown out the door. These important details slide…
In today’s WSJ: “Although Canada has a population smaller than California, 830,000 Canadians are currently waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get treatment, according to a report last month in Investor’s Business Daily. In England, the waiting list is 1.8 million.”
My one experience with French health care. I broke my wrist and was taken by ambulance to a downtown hospital in Nice. The hospital was being renovated so the waiting room experience wasn’t great, but the doctors were fine, although we had a language problem because my high school French is more than rusty and never extended to medical conversations anyway. I gave the desk all the insurance info (private, German) as well as my home address.
When I arrived back home, the orthopedist I saw for follow-up was not too impressed by the way the fracture had been set. He said it was an old-fashioned method. Eventually, the cast was removed. I had some physical therapy sessions, and things are fine.
We never heard anything from our insurance about the bill, but about a year afterwards we got a bill from France. After one of those I-wonder-what-this-will-be moments, I opened a bill for about ten dollars. I couldn’t believe it. That tiny amount could not have covered the billing cost. They must not have a system for collecting fees from people who are not covered under their national plan. Very strange.
Thanks for the piece on French healthcare. I would like to know more about the system; the problem is many of us know that the French media is heavily in bed with the French government, that I’m suspect of good things (or a lack of bad things) I hear about it.
Paris,
There is a good WSJ Opinion Journal piece up by David Gauthier-Villas that explains the French system. There are over 250 comments, some pretty polemic, but the article seems to give a balanced view of its strengths and weaknesses. As with any analysis of this type, you have to think about how different elements would play out in the US.
These stories are sad, but true. Oprah “conveniently” never shares these stories on her show. We live near the Canadian border, so we have several friends who live in Canada. You would not believe the horrific stories that they have dealt with…in fact, just three weeks ago my Grandpa-in-law (wife’s grandpa) had a stroke and the doctors didn’t even know it, so they sent him home with aspirin! We called the doctor and said “didn’t you know he had a stroke!” They said, “well, the hospital never told us that…” These are some of the gaps that occur when capitalism is thrown out the door. These important details slide…
In today’s WSJ: “Although Canada has a population smaller than California, 830,000 Canadians are currently waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get treatment, according to a report last month in Investor’s Business Daily. In England, the waiting list is 1.8 million.”