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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Free Health Care

So, the last thing I expected when I went to the hospital today was to walk out without having even shown my insurance card or paid a single cent.

And don't bother saying it's because the French are on a social health care system. I'm not a tax-paying citizen, and I didn't enroll in the social security system as a student either. I opted to get my own health coverage.

I'm especialy surprised that this visit was free because I signed a form when I got to the orthopedic surgery department saying that I acknowledged that my doctor charges 100 Euro for the consultation alone, which I had to pay in cash.

However, after about 30 seconds of examining my condition and asking about the accident, the doctor told me there was nothing wrong with my bones and he saw no reason to go through with additional x-rays. Then he walked me to the secretary's office, and said, "Don't charge her for this visit."

Wow. Frankly, I think that's just cool. Bless you, Dr. Olivier.

4 comments:

TheQueen@TerrorsInTiaras said...

Wow. Does he make house calls? :)

Amy said...

YAY!!!!

Diane said...

Hurray! Thanks for a kind doctor and thankful that you are ok!

Bill Cobabe said...

Well, I'll tell you. I really wish more of the world was like that. If you didn't really need anything why should they charge you anything. Or if they couldn't fix it. Or if it was your birthday. Or if they just felt in their heart that money was not really that important - not compared with making your day, which is priceless anyway... Simple things. Small steps. But we'll get there.