My Year of Public Health #1

I am entitled to a year of health care with an extremely low co-pay.
Yesterday I had my first encounter as a patient of the public health care system.
I arrived at 8:45 for the nine AM appointment I made three weeks earlier for the dental clinic. I was scheduled for a full checkup.
I was given forms to fill out for about fifteen minutes, and after handing them in, told to wait. At 10:15, my name was called and I was taken back to a large room, partitioned off into about three or four "rooms."
I first entered a smaller room to get a full mouth x-ray. I learned the X-ray equipment had malfunctioned earlier, causing a delay in appointments until it was operational again.
I worried about how much exposure I was receiving.
After the x-ray, I was seated in an examining room where x-rays of the sides of my mouth were taken. Then I sat and waited for the dentist.
A little after eleven, a young man introduced himself to me as Dr. ?, consulted my x-rays and looked into my mouth. He discovered three cavities, and the tooth that needs extracted. Crowns are not an option at this clinic.
There was no discussion of payment. It was amazing. The doctor just stated that's what needed done, along with a cleaning, and sending me to the hospital in town for the tooth extraction.
The dental assistant took another xray, the doctor gave me a prescription for pain relief, and they pointed me to the office to pay and make an appointment.
I paid the secretary $71 for everything, and attempted to make an appointment, as the doctor and assistant told me to, for a cleaning and fillings.
But the secretary refused to make an appointment for me, telling me the instructions weren't written down on my chart. Instead, she pasted my name sticker on a piece of paper and told me "when the girl gets back, she'll call you and make the appointment."
I haven't heard from "the girl" yet. I'll call tomorrow and try to make it by phone.
I left the dental clinic around 11:45.

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.