The Health Care System I Want Is in France

A woman being treated for breast cancer compares here experiences here in the US to those in France...and the disclaimer at the bottom of this article states she is using her married name because she fears that she would not be able to obtain US health insurance when she returns to the US if insurers were to track this article....BD

Shortly after we moved to Paris, my son, Luke, cut his lip in a fall at school. I rushed him to the emergency room of a suburban Paris hospital, where a nurse asked my name and address and a doctor quickly stitched up his cut. When I tried to pay, the cashier asked me to call the following week because the "computer is slow." A bill eventually arrived in the mail for the equivalent of $60.

I've had a unique opportunity to see both systems up close and personal: I had breast cancer in California nine years ago and a recurrence in Paris this year. I received excellent care in both places, though looking back now my California oncologist's office was a bit of a meat market — always packed with patients, from the seemingly not-so-sick to some a step from the grave — a time-consuming disadvantage of living in a much larger country with a lower doctor-to-patient ratio.

My French doctors and nurses have been sensitive, skillful, caring — and not so harried. But the biggest difference has been money. I was frequently stuck in the middle of disputes between the company and my hospital and doctors over "agreed to fees." People least able to pay and those with chronic or serious illnesses often have the best coverage. Because I'm being treated for cancer, I'm cent pour cent —100%—covered.