How French Socialized Medicine Literally Saved My Life

Bonjour blogsphere,

Today's entry is going to be a little different from the normal one, due to the importance of the subject (and my lack of time to polyvore). For the past year, I have seen many of my American comrades bash the idea of socialized healthcare and state how horrible it will be if a uniform healthcare bill passes in the US, how it will ruin the quality of treatment, blah blah blah...

In France, we have a mix of public and private healthcare. Everyone has access to the same basic coverage through national insurance funds, to which every employer and employee contributes. The government picks up the tab for the unemployed who cannot gain coverage through a family member. This equates to everyone having a basic level of healthcare. You can choose your own doctor. If you pay a bit extra, you can have additional insurance that will also cover you if you want to have better care, such as more expensive doctors or private hospital rooms. For more on French Healthcare, click here.

The French doctors have literally saved my life and have diagnosed something through a routine check-up (and a battery tests to confirm the results) that the American doctors completely missed. For the last 12 years (and maybe longer), I have been constantly been suffering from being tired all the time. US doctors tested me for mono at least 6 times, allergies, and a few other things. They never figured out what was wrong with me, and just chalked it up to a virus each time. It was expensive (I had blue cross blue shield); I usually had to pay a lot out of pocket to see the doctor and pay for the prescriptions until I hit my deductible. I came into the French doctor's office looking to have a yearly check-up and talk about starting on a weight loss program, not mentioning any symptoms (after 12 years, I am used to it and just chalked it up to me being normal). The doctor ordered a series of bloodtests to check everything, and caught that I had extremely low cortisol levels- the hormone that is produced under stress. They have now diagnosed that I have adrenal insufficiency for certain, and I am now undergoing more tests to find the cause of it. This adrenal insufficiency explains so many things, including my constant craving for salty foods, my love of potatoes, never have the energy to exercise, and my constant fatigue. The problem is not life threatening, the hormones can be replaced with daily medication, and I will be able to live a long and healthy life. However, undiagnosed, people who have this disease can go into shock and even die. I have actually gone into adrenal shock before (it happened earlier this year for sure based on the symptoms- we called the doctor in the middle of the night and he came and gave me a shot... please note doctors in France do make house calls) at least one time and possibly more. So I have the French healthcare system and the French doctors to thank for the rest of my life; they were able to diagnose a serious problem that the American doctors overlooked for years. I am so relieved to finally know that there really is something wrong and that it can be easily fixed. The doctor is still going to need to find the underlying cause of the adrenal insufficiency, but at least I can start treatment right away and will finally be physically awake again!

Do I pay more taxes in France than I did in the US? Probably. But I don't need to pay for healthcare, which ate up some of my old salary. I also have no deductible, and am 100% reimbursed for all the many tests I have had performed. The prescription pills which I will most likely need to take for the rest of my life cost 4€ a month (the rest covered by my basic social security). It is also nearly impossible to cut people's salaries (when my company announced their job cuts, my American coworkers saw their salaries drop the next paycheck by 5-10% or more. They could not do anything with French workers- also be aware that my company is cash rich and was not really in a position where they would be even close to going bankrupt without the salary cuts- they used the recession as an acceptable excuse to cut costs all the while padding their own bottom line.), sever permanent contracts, and you have a lot more unemployement benefits. And to be honest, at the end of the day, I make more than enough to live a comfortable life and have the ability to splurge on the occasional Jimmy Choo pumps or Chanel sandals, and I doubt I would be making nearly as much as I currently make if I still resided in the good ol' USA.

So, lesson is that socialized healthcare is not necessarily as evil or as rotten as you may think. It just may need to be deployed properly. France's system is not perfect; but it is definitely better than any treatment I have received in the US and technically, I owe the French medical system my life.

A bientot,
Liz