Until it was too late.

I felt foolish. Embarrassed. Being loaded into an ambulance. Jan. 30. For a ride to a hospital. Merely because I was a little woozy. For no apparent reason. They told me. Better safe than sorry. The next day. I was released. Without any firm diagnosis. They thought maybe it was dehydration. For having walked 5 miles. Or it could have been a TIA (A precursor to a future stroke) There was no direct evidence for either theory. Anyway, my hospital bill. For that one-day experience. And tests that included an MRI and a cat scan. Was $19,108.  Maybe that should have been enough to frighten me to death. But it wasn’t. And on hindsight. I have reason to be thankful. That I went to the hospital. Anyway, my government-provided  Medicare  insurance and a private supplemental insurance  policy. Covered everything. It’s the type of coverage every American deserves. Even the poor. Yes, universal health care. Also known as socialized medicine. Should be a guaranteed right. For everyone. That’s the way I see it. I deserve no more or no less than what I am getting. Full and affordable coverage I want the same for the rest of you. When I was in Italy several years ago, I checked into an Italian hospital emergency room. For what proved to be a silent angina attack. Spent 8 days in the hospital. Had angioplasty. A procedure that opens  blocked or narrowed  arteries and restores normal blood flow to the heart muscle. It is not major surgery. It is done by threading a catheter (thin tube) through a small puncture in a leg or arm artery to the heart. The blocked artery is opened by inflating a tiny balloon in it. Sure beats open heart surgery. Anyway, my total bill. In Italy. For the entire experience. Medical and hospital. Was less than $7,000. Italy has universal health care. Like most other European countries. Medical care provided to everyone. At cost. Not for profit. Because affordable and proper health care is a human right. Regardless of income. I’m not an Italian citizen. Only a visitor. Living part of the year with my Italian amore. I paid the bill. Out of my pocket. And eventually got reimbursed 80 percent. By my private health insurance. Meanwhile, imagine what the bill would have been. If I had entered an American hospital. For 8 days. For the exact same kind of medical care. I’m told it would have been in the six figures. Over $100,000. Because we Americans get ripped off. By the profiteers in the health care industry.  That’s why certain politicians want to repeal so-called Obamacare. Despite the fact that 24 million Americans will lose their health insurance. That’s the hard facts of life, folks. In dear old America. My shameful homeland. To tell the truth, I often feel more at home in Italy and Europe. Where they have universal health care. Doctors and other health care workers make less. Because profiteers are steered  away. But hey, my friends in Europe have an easier time. Living with their consciences.   By the way, I am happy that I hitched the ambulance ride to the American hospital. Turns out that an MRI showed a narrowing in one of my carotid arteries. I went in last week. To get it fixed. If not for that check up, I’d be in mortal danger of a stroke. Without knowing it. Until it was too late. --Jim Broede