Today I Learned

People in Poland only have to pay $1.85 for their doctor visits, and they still think that's too much!

It's because it used to be totally free.

I'm thinking that if a shit-poor country like Poland can manage such comprehensive healthcare, what the freak is wrong with us?

I also remember that kind of outrage: 'How dare you charge me? The state takes care of that!' That's how I felt in Canada, where it was also true. But the government only paid if you could demonstrate financial need -- maybe it's that way in Poland too. It was so easy to demonstrate financial need, though. All you had to say was "I'm a student -- well, I will be in a few months" and bang, the bill was taken care of.

It's not like here, where you have to engage for god knows how long with nefarious insurance companies who require you to jump through a million sly little hoops before you can get some totally erroneous charge removed from your bill.

Incidentally, I don't know if Poland is really a shit-poor country. Maybe tomorrow I'll learn that it's actually quite wealthy.