Erieversible

I should log this under ‘differences’ - somewhat different to going to the dentist in the UK.  Or perhaps not.

In the UK the traditional dentist works on the National Health Service (NHS) and treatment is free, or effectively so.  You might not have a choice of materials for a filling, and you certainly won’t get a choice from 20 different favors of tooth polish (!) but it is affordable for all.

More recently the UK market has swung in favour of private practice.  That is, the UK Government has not been paying the dentists enough to do their work (dentist view) or the dentists have got greedy (popular view).  So many people in the UK find themselves without recourse to a NHS dentist and must either do without regular checkups or must pay a lot more than they are used to for them.  Sounding familiar to any US readers?

Today three of us had initial checkups, X-rays, clean and polish.  I won’t tell you what it cost, as that would simply depress me.  I’m told that most people having such treatment would have insurance, and would never even see the final bill, let alone have to pay it.  Lucky them.

This is one subject where there would have been a clear set of differences not long ago.  Now they are almost identical situations.  I do feel that the UK public lost out rather than the US public gaining.

It is quite easy to get health insurance if you have a Social Security Number (SSN).  It is less easy if you haven’t.  Today I’ve arranged health insurance for myself for the first 3 months as an immigrant.  Lots of sites are offering cover but on all the ones I looked at, once you look at the details, they are essentially selling travel insurance.  Still, it covers in an emergency.

There are far too many things that can’t be done until I get my SSN.  I think the immigrant experience would be greatly enhanced by speeding up the SSN part of the process.  That’s just my view, and I can understand why the SSN is so important, but as an immigrant entering the country on a private basis, rather than as part of a corporate move, the current process simply adds to the burden.  Luckily in this case we should be able to manage quite well, but others may have less of a buffer.

Or so we hope…as we really can’t afford to get sick.

This was never so true as now.  We are leaving the enormous confort of a National Health Service for the rather very different US health system.  Over here, if you get sick you ring your doctor and off you go…he/she treats you or refers you to someone else or sends you to hospital…etc.  And everything is covered.  Everything.

Of course the National Health Service isn’t perfect and waiting lists are often long for referrals and even necessary surgery, but it does provide a certain level of coverage for everyone that means it doesn’t matter if you are unemployed or have serious medical problems…you are covered!

I had two children here on the National Health Service and I paid a grand total of £2 (for a copy of one scan photo).  I suspect having the children in America might have cost more.  Especially if we didn’t have insurance.  Which we don’t at the moment.

I’m busy researching what we can do about that omission.  It looks (from early research) that anything we can buy ourselves will be somewhat limited in its cover.  But I think we will have to buy something.  While we are all healthy at the moment (if a bit stressed), we can’t afford to take the huge chance of having no cover and needing something major, especially with the children’s health!

This is one case where we will have to just find the money to pay for the insurance…better than trying to find the money to pay for treatment!!