Into the System

I think I qualified for medical care benefits from a county health program where I live.
I'm a poverty level American, according to their standards.
This is the first time I have applied for assistance in this way. It's a reason to be grateful for my low income.
I am elated that, for the next year, if I trip over my dog and break a leg, medical bills won't wipe out my savings account and put me in deep debt.
Something as easy to get as a broken bone can do that to the average American person.
My broken ankle in 2002 cost me close to $23,000.
In just a week, you can be in massive debt.
At this time, medical bills are the biggest reason for bankruptcies in America.
If you lived in a modern country like Canada, England, and France, among others, it wouldn't be a problem.
Your government health care would set your foot, give you medicine for a few dollars, and provide therapy until you got better. Your government would provide that for you, just as it provides fire and police departments to protect and serve you, and libraries to educate and inform you, and the post office for your mail.
Government healthcare would be a service like that.

In the microcosm of socialized medicine, of which I will be partaking, it will be interesting to see how this particular system works. I will report from the frontlines, as I'll be going in for a difficult oral surgery soon.
And given that the healthcare centers at which the medical services are offered are training centers, I hope I get the smart interns.
But even with that, for the next year, a huge weight of worry has been lifted from my life.
I wish every American could experience this true lack of worry. It's truly a wonderful feeling.