Female American Writer Found A Lump While In Iceland, Shares How Amazing Their Healthcare Is Compared To The US

The USA is probably the world’s first developed country and has always been one that others set as benchmark to grow as a country. Unfortunately, it’s not the best country when it comes to healthcare system. When everyone should be receiving the same priorities according to their medical conditions, it’s a country filled with tragic and disgusting stories of horrible healthcare services.

It takes weeks for a simple check-up to be received by the patients, possibly putting them at risks. Yet, other countries that may not have been significant for their technological advances to have much better services.

That’s exactly what this writer experienced during her trip to Iceland.

Mary Robinette Kowal is a Tennessee-based writer who was working in Iceland temporarily as a puppeteer on a children show called Lazytown. This happened in 2006 and on one fateful morning, she found a lump in her body that she doesn’t recognize.

Dread. That was the first thing she felt.

“Even though I knew it was probably nothing, because there’s no history of breast cancer in my family, there’s still a chance that it is going to be a problem.”

“I was dreading the process of having to navigate a healthcare system in a foreign language. I assumed that it would be as complicated as it was here, with the added challenge of not speaking much Icelandic.”

Her experience on that day at the hospital due to the small lump she found added to her list reasons to return to Iceland, possibly permanently.

By the time this article is written, 300 Icelandic Kronur equals to less than $2.5.

Here’s another story of a woman who found a lump in her breast. The difference is that she didn’t get to enjoy the quick, responsive and friendly healthcare services Mary got.

Everything. She should set fire to everything. And we’ll stan her.

There is a reason why she decided this story of the beautiful and prompt response from Icelandic’s healthcare system.

“My normal experience, here, in the US, is one of frustration every time I interact with the insurance industry. I wrote that Twitter thread as I was in the midst of arguing with health insurance for a vital medication for a family member.  In fact, I’m still fighting with them. It’s a medication that they covered last month and this month they aren’t. The contrast is frustrating.”

“At every turn, it’s clear that choices are being made from the accounting office, not for the patient’s best interests. I’ve told this story over the years to other Americans and they all have the same complete shock at how easy the experience was.”

While it’s true that people who work in the medical sector still need to earn, it’s also important that people are not weighing lives against how much they are willing to spend.

Share this story if you think more people should know how countries around us are advancing in healthcare sector.