American Woman Finds A Lump, Has Simple Experience with Icelandic Healthcare Compared To The US

We have the best health care ever invented! Of all time! Can’t be touched!

We hear that a lot in the U.S. from politicians and pundits, even though most of us know it’s total BS.

I think most people know that A WHOLE LOT of other countries on the planet have much better health care than Americans do – plus, overseas it’s CHEAP. But that’s not what politicians and insurance companies want you to hear.

A woman named Mary Robinette Kowal shared her health care experience in Iceland, and her tweets went viral. I think that this will be very eye-opening for a lot of you. It sure was for me.

Let’s take a look at Kowal’s Twitter thread.

When I lived in Iceland, I found a lump. I had no idea how to navigate finding a doctor, so I went to our show's production manager.

Me: I found a lump. Can you help me find a doctor?
PM: Just go to the cancer center.
Me: Okay. How do a get a referral?
PM: What's a referral?

— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) June 3, 2019

After I explain what a referral is, he looks baffled.

PM: Just go to the cancer center.
Me: But…referral?

He shrugs and hands me the phone number to the cancer center. I call and explain.

CC: A lump, ah yes. You should come in.
Me: Don't I need a referral?
CC: A what?

— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) June 3, 2019

Having accepted that I don't need a referral, I say, "How do I make an appointment?"
CC: An appointment? Yes, we can do that if your schedule is very busy, otherwise just come in.
Me: I don't need an appointment?
CC: You found a lump! You know your body, yes? Come in.

— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) June 3, 2019

So I go. The nurse checking me in apologizes because, since I'm not Icelandic, I'll have to pay for the visit.

It's 3 krónur.

That's 3 dollars at that point.

I pay and sit down to wait.

CC: Kowal?
Me: Already?
CC: You found a lump.

— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) June 3, 2019

3 dollars…

She escorts me into an examining room and palpates the area.

CC: Yes, that does feel like a lump. Let's do a mammogram.

I prepare to hear about making an appointment for that.

CC: I'm sorry, but it's across the hall. Do you mind following me?

— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) June 3, 2019

I've been in the building for about twenty minutes at this point when I'm strapped into the mammogram — WHICH HAD WARMERS — and she does her thing.

CC: There is something there, you are right. I want to see it with an ultrasound.

And then she leads me next door.

— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) June 3, 2019

She does the ultrasound and when we're finished, she tells me to get dressed and to meet her in the waiting room.

I head out to the changing room, put my top back on, and walk out to the waiting room. I sit down to wait.

CC: Kowal?
Me: Already?
CC: It is only cyst.

— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) June 3, 2019

Forty-five minutes after walking into the Icelandic Cancer Center and 3 krónur poorer, I had the answer.

In the US, a similar lump took two weeks and three different office visits.

I think about this every time I have to fight with medical insurance in the US.

— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) June 3, 2019

PS for clarity, I used my surname, but I'm pretty sure it was my first name the entire time, because Iceland.

PPS Why don't all mammograms have warmers?

— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) June 3, 2019

Kowal offered a little clarification about an earlier tweet.

PPPS I said 3 kronur, but it was actually 300 kronur. I got so used to throwing an imaginary decimal place in there to do conversions in my head that I botched it in the thread.

The bit about being it basically three bucks though, that was the point.

— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) June 4, 2019

We get your point, Ms. Kowal. Something to think about…

What do you think? Share in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!