"When I lived in Iceland, I found a lump..."

[MrScorpio]

[smirkymonkey]

1. K&R

[BlueJac]

2. Awesome story!

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[Hekate]

4. Sometimes words just fail me. The US is trying so hard to be a Third World Nation...

By the way for those who don't know it, some "developing" nations have terrific health care, great docs and hospitals -- IF you can afford it. IF you are of an economic class that has the money to pay for it. IF you can fly to another country for procedures not available where you are. Poor people are SOL.

[volstork]

11. "The US is trying so hard to be a Third World Nation..."

...for everyone but the 1%.

[Hekate]

22. What I said in the body of my post

[Boomer]

46. The 1% is how Third World Nations work

Not every single person is poor. There are people of tremendous wealth -- their 1% -- who have every advantage money can buy.

To say that the U.S. is becoming a third world nation is to say that we are creating an enormous wealth divide between the ruling elite and everyone else. It's in direct contradiction of our nation's self-image as a country with a strong middle-class of prosperous people.

[volstork]

49. Of course it is.

I have traveled and worked in the developing world for two decades, and know all too well the levels of corruption that exist there.

Until bush II, I think many Americans lived under the assumption that "America isn't like other countries. We don't do the dirty things those others do." His "administration" ripped the covers off of that lie for most (aware) people, showing that not only are we that bad, but actually much worse.

[MrScorpio]

25. Our horrible healthcare system is intentional...

[dchill]

28. Almost.

Uhhh...

[PatrickforO]

42. But, hey, we've got a really nice new shiny

Space Force!

Gosh, what could be better than THAT?

Do like I did, folks. Call your US Senators and your US Representative and ask how a space force is better for you and your family than healthcare.

[kag]

54. Or a wall...

Or a military bigger than the next five biggest combined, or tax subsidies for the wealthiest corps, or...

[bronxiteforever]

5. Kick and recommend.

[procon]

6. Amazing! Universal healthcare paid by the state

and funded by taxes paid by everyone. I think there's a word for that type of state run services... it's on the tip of my tongue..

[erronis]

8. I doubt it is "capitalism" or "trickle-down" or "laissez-faire". It's what congress gets

and the military.

Good old universal (socialist) health care.

Thanks for the (non)trick question.

[IronLionZion]

7. Socialism sounds brutally oppressive

warmers are a tool of the state to remind people that a country of 300,000 can live better than a country of 300 million

[BigmanPigman]

9. I knew that there was/is a better way of doing healthcare....

now I am FURIOUS with the GOP and whoever voted for them EVER! I blame them for killing and bankrupting Americans for their own profit and power.

[cally]

10. Wow. Warmers??

the US healthcare system is horrible. And I want warmers.

[catrose]

16. ditto!

[calimary]

18. Yeah! I want warmers too!

I want THEIR health care, too!

[Blue_Tires]

12. wow...

[MrScorpio]

26. And then we have America...

[area51]

30. "What type of sick fscking dystopia do we live in ...."

I've been saying for years that we have a libertarian healthcare system; if you can afford the treatment, you'll get it.

Please consider reading about and supporting comprehensive Medicare for All, and ask Speaker Pelosi to support it also.

[apkhgp]

13. You can never expect that from a 45 Health Plan

He has his head way too far up his ass to get something like you got in Iceland.

[SergeStorms]

15. Oh no, no.

He has a new healthcare plan all ready to roll out for the American people! All you have to do is vote for his re-election and "trust him". He plans to release this much better, much cheaper plan right after he's re-elected. Honest. And we all know we can trust Donnie, right?

[calimary]

19. With him, you always have to ask "better for WHOM?"

[Grokenstein]

43. He's never lied to us before! /SARCASMGASM

[apkhgp]

61. Trust?

The RNC trusted him in 2016. Rwers are trusting him to this day. He is pulling that "trust" crap all over the place. His whole administration is and always will be "One Tremendous Failure". That is where we can use that fucking word tremendous. A new Health Plan. Send it up to me, I need some toilet paper.

[suffragette]

14. Demolishes the RW talking point about having to wait for healthcare when not privatized.

And warmers, too!

[dixiegrrrrl]

55. the Brit system does have very long waits.

I suspect that some of that problem is linked to population size.

Iceland' pop. is 337,780 in 2018

England 55 million.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. Note: It seems this all happened in English. . . . nt

[DavidDvorkin]

20. Almost everyone in Iceland speaks English

https://iheartreykjavik.net/2016/07/qa-does-everyone-in-iceland-speak-english/

[Bernardo de La Paz]

21. Republicons consider bilingual people inferior.

Might be illegals! (their word)

[Celerity]

23. she corrected an error that set off my spidey sense (as I work in FOREX and was like wtf)

Link to tweet

Other than that minor thing, she is spot on!

[Kurt V.]

29. spidey sense aka experience. 👍

[IronLionZion]

34. 300 Kronur is like 3 dollars

at today's exchange rate it's about $2.50.

Their tax rates are not too insane, it maxes out at 46% https://tradingeconomics.com/iceland/personal-income-tax-rate

Their coast guard is their only military service, otherwise they depend on NATO for protection. So they can spend plenty on universal health care and education.

[kacekwl]

24. I was so excited in 2997-2008 because

Obama was going to allow my wife and myself to finally get healthcare , a public option they said. Well he won and we ended up with Obamacare . Not what I was hoping for but I was finally able to get health insurance. Being unemployed at the time it was great. I never had to use insurance but I figured I was getting older now and why push my luck. Now almost 10 years later we are no further along. Since then I now have Diabetes, high blood pressure and just last week I injured my rotator cuff. I'm glad the ACA is there but there are still way too many hurdles to jump thru and medication can be ridicules. My wife is on Medicare now and to cover day to day issues you have to pay for a supplement plan which is another ball of wax. I wish we could a system like others so we could get well without all the bullshit. Maybe in my lifetime.

[yellowdogintexas]

37. we can thank Joe Lieberman for the absence of a public option on the ACA

He was on the committee and voted against it. Guess what he was one of Connecticutt's senators. Hartford CT has the headquarters of a whole bunch of insurance companies. The main reason we can't break this cycle is the greed of the insurance companies

So we didn't have a public option.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

48. 🤬

[dchill]

27. That's what used to be called the practice of medicine.

[YOHABLO]

31. In the U.S. system they string you along so that everyone makes money.

[Honeycombe8]

32. Wow. I had no idea. But that IS Iceland. Not a lot of people there.

Maybe that had something to do with it, too.

[IronLionZion]

33. Icelandic Cancer Society

https://www.krabb.is/english/

Who's booking their flights? Iceland is an amazing and beautiful country with very friendly kind people.

[Gumboot]

38. And you can fly there non-stop from the USA.

Icelandair currently serves 15 US cities:

https://www.icelandair.com/about/routemap/



Even their airplanes are beautiful!

[IronLionZion]

45. If lucky, one might get to fly on their Hekla Aurora plane

https://www.icelandair.com/about/our-fleet/hekla-aurora/

[Ohiogal]

35. As a cancer survivor

I just wanted to cry reading this. I am all too familiar with all the nonsense and bullshit and mind boggling cost of treatment in this country. We could be so much better if the G-D GOP would just shut up and get out of the way. I hate them so much!

[gtar100]

36. My dad's nebulizer broke when we were in Paris on a vacation.

Went to the nearest hospital, got into a room a room right away where they had a machine, he got taken care of, doctor checked him out and we got info on how to rent a nebulizer through a pharmacy near our hotel. As we were leaving, I asked about paying and they just laughed. No payment necessary.

[JCMach1]

39. Similar experience in Dubai with just regular insurance

There is no single payer there, but all employers must provide health insurance through private insurance.

Key difference- there are tight price.controls on healthcare and medications.

Had a spot on my face. Showed it to my.primary care Dr. She sent me to the hospital to see a specialist (virtually all specialists operate out of hospitals). Dr. Said.yep it's a.cancer... he numbed my face popped it out and sent it for biopsy. Waiting a few days, breathed a sigh of relief when it was basal cell carcinoma.

So,.saved my.eye from.a fast growing stealth basal cell (it was.mostly hidden. Total bill= $0.00

[gopiscrap]

40. when I was an infant I was in the hospital for six months (5 weeks ICU)

with encephalitis the total bill for my parents was in 1957 US dollars was 41.37 that's 170.00 dollars today

[PatrickforO]

41. There is NO excuse in a society as prosperous as ours not to have

a single payer health system.

I mean, think about how little stress these Icelanders feel around healthcare.

Think about how good and less stressful YOUR life would be without the worry crummy, rationed healthcare with financially crippling copays.

We have to quit being stupid and greedy and begin taking care of each other.

[Grokenstein]

44. American Exceptionalism!

Ain't gonna have no socialist medicine in MY country! Naw, I ain't worried! One a' these days I gonna win big at Scratchers and then I can finally get my major afflictions treated!

[IronLionZion]

47. America is the exception out of developed countries who have universal healthcare

if you think about exceptionalism that way.

[Victor_c3]

50. The absolute horrors of socialized/single-payer medicine

[Locrian]

51. but **profit** OMG the PROFIT!!!

The horror - just think of the lost profit and all those poor struggling hedge fund and healthcare fund mangers! Why doesn't anyone **care** oh the humanity!!

[handmade34]

52. I am sitting in a hospital room

Dartmouth-Hitchcock... 1st day, Saturday ICU, my son in for severe brain injury (bike accident) money/insurance came up... that should never be a concern when someone is in the hospital...

things are looking positive and Dartmouth and the State of Vermont are great about helping with medical finances...


NO ONE should have to worry about money surrounding health care!!!

[Lars39]

58. I'm so sorry, handmade34!

I hope your son has a full and speedy recovery.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

53. This story should be condensed and made viral across the web.

And rubbed in the face of every medical industry exec and GOP politician.....

Every year they add complexity, increasing costs and more layers of profitability to our healthcare.

It's totally out of control. Where will it end?

Thanks for the great OP, MrScorpio.......

[demigoddess]

56. Iceland should be given the Nobel peace prize or something as big. They are

awesome people who should teach us.

[SayItLoud]

57. Maybe ONE of the DEM candidates will campaign for...

CONGRESS having the SAME F'n INSURANCE that the people they are supposed to represent have!

[The Mouth]

59. is there a way to post her entire thread to Facebook

Absolutely brilliant,

I tried saving images, etc, but no go.

[MrScorpio]

60. Just post the OP's URL in on you FB page

That'll do it.