Living the Scandinavian Dream for one year: Hospitalization without the massive bills.

http://www.alternet.org/my-magical-year-living-scandinavian-dream-my-wife-where-you-can-get-pregnant-and-not-panic-about?akid=14037.294211._ZERCH&rd=1&src=newsletter1052018&t=8

Bernie Sanders unashamedly looks to Scandinavia for a model for healthcare, education and, well, taxes. My wife and I packed up and moved to Norway for a year to experience this supposed Nordic paradise, even if some back home thought I would become “a mush-headed socialist.” I had received a Fulbright fellowship to study in Trondheim, but the only catch was that my wife, Katy, was pregnant.

The healthcare insurance for Fulbright is administered through the State Department, the same system that covers our senators and representatives. You’ve probably heard that this is the “best healthcare coverage in the world,” but I checked the small print. It said, “Pregnancy is a pre-existing condition” and not covered under the plan, as if it’s some sort of disease.

We had to forfeit the fellowship, so I called up the office for international students in Trondheim to break the bad news. “Oh, you Americans! You have such funny issues,” the Norwegian woman replied. “That’s not a problem here in Norway. You come over here and have your baby.”

She seemed convinced, so I asked if she could send us some of the documents. “When you arrive here in July,” she continued, “the sun will be out all day. It’s been a long, dark winter, so everyone will be at their cabins in the mountains or at the seaside. The government offices don’t really open up until September.” In other words, we had to just relax and file the documents all in good time.

Once in Trondheim, we went to the trygdekontor, the insurance office, to register Katy for healthcare to cover the birth. The woman at the desk looked over our documents somberly and said she didn’t think we qualified. We panicked. “Oh, the government shall pay for the birth,” she assured us. “I just don’t know if you are eligible for the extra maternity benefit.”

If Katy had been working for at least six months in Norway beforehand, she would get 42 weeks off work at full pay, or 52 weeks at 80 percent of her salary — paid for by the government, not her employer. As it turned out, we’d just receive a lump sum of about $5,000 for the baby, the same sum of our deductible back in the U.S. – a $10,000 difference!