When I woke up yesterday morning it was 25 degrees outside. This morning it was 45. Ålesund lives up to its reputation for having “shifting weather” as yesterday we were in the midst of a beautiful winter landscape and today we have nothing but SLUDD (slush), which isn’t nearly as beautiful. I am so thankful I bought some “treads” for my shoes so I can slip them on to keep from slipping. The last thing I want is to fall and get injured, as we had quite the discussion in class today on the Norwegian health care system. It may be cheap, but it ain’t perfect. I’m hoping to avoid going to the doctor for anything while I’m here, so I’m taking extra precautions to be careful (I avoid going to the doctor at home too, so that’s not so unusual.) A few months after we moved here we all got a letter from the government telling us which doctor we have been assigned to. Kaleb got a separate letter saying they didn’t have his record of immunizations (probably because he has had NONE), and I got a separate letter stating they had no record of me having a “cancer check” lately and I was due for one. At least they are on top of things. If I were to call to make an appointment, I wouldn’t get in for over a month, as that is the typical backlog for medical appointments. If I needed a specialist, I’d first have to go see my assigned doctor to get a referral then wait another month for that appointment. If I needed surgery, then it’s not unusual to wait up to a year to get that. One of our neighbors had an injury on his job so he was put on disability leave until he could have surgery to fix his shoulder. He waited eight months for the surgery – all the while getting disability pay until he finally got the surgery, recovered, and was able to go back to work – nearly a year later. But on the upside, it’s cheap. There is a little co-pay for every visit to the doctor or emergency room, but once someone has met the maximum out of pocket expenses for the year, the rest of the year is free. That out-of-pocket limit is about $250 per person (or $750 per family), so basically, no one here loses their house if they are sick.
I can’t believe the number of my classmates that go to the emergency room even when they just have a cold! Most doctors’ offices are only open between 8:30 and 2:30, so it’s common to go to the ER for anything after two o’clock. They even had a big article in the paper recently about how long people had to wait at the ER over Christmas break because so many doctors took that time off. Unbelievably, the most anyone waited was two hours, and that was newsworthy because they thought it was so terrible. So it seems their ER system runs much more efficiently than their office visits. Go figure. But a trip to a doctor’s office has a co-pay of about $15, and a trip to the ER is around $30, so then everyone complains about how expensive THAT is. When I told my class that our insurance premiums in America went up to a thousand dollars a month – and that’s to not even GO to the doctor – then everyone shut up and said they would stop complaining about the Norwegian health care system. So much for that discussion.
Kory enjoyed his day home alone cleaning house, making soup, and drawing another picture. His latest drawing is impressive and I can’t wait until he finishes it. And tonight we were invited out to the island of Valderøya to have a yummy dinner with Kory’s 3rd cousin Kolbjørn and his incredibly classy wife Anne-Grete. They are a wonderful couple with a gorgeous home and we always have such interesting conversations with them (I was surprised over how long Kaleb was able to converse in Norwegian). They wanted us to visit before they took down all their Christmas decorations so we were treated to REAL candles burning on the tree, which made me a little nervous, but they sure looked snazzy. Anne-Grete showed me how to make the coolest Christmas tree ornaments – which were incredibly simple, yet elegant. Another great evening with them…. then on the way home we experienced a three minute miracle. The tunnel is being worked on so it closes at night and we had to take the ferry back. We all went inside to use the bathrooms and as the ferry was docking we went back to the van, only to discover Kory had locked his keys in the car! He ran back inside to see if the ferry workers could help us and Kaleb and I stood next to the van praying. I said, “Kaleb, we need a miracle or we’re going to have to break a window.” A guy was passing right behind us when I said that and he asked if we needed help. I said we did and he went over to his work truck, pulled out some handy tools which wedged the door open enough to stick a wire down and unlatch the lock – all within just a few minutes -- and just in time for us to drive off the ferry like nothing happened. God answered our prayers and sent us an angel at the exact moment we needed one. Hallelujah!
I can’t believe the number of my classmates that go to the emergency room even when they just have a cold! Most doctors’ offices are only open between 8:30 and 2:30, so it’s common to go to the ER for anything after two o’clock. They even had a big article in the paper recently about how long people had to wait at the ER over Christmas break because so many doctors took that time off. Unbelievably, the most anyone waited was two hours, and that was newsworthy because they thought it was so terrible. So it seems their ER system runs much more efficiently than their office visits. Go figure. But a trip to a doctor’s office has a co-pay of about $15, and a trip to the ER is around $30, so then everyone complains about how expensive THAT is. When I told my class that our insurance premiums in America went up to a thousand dollars a month – and that’s to not even GO to the doctor – then everyone shut up and said they would stop complaining about the Norwegian health care system. So much for that discussion.
Kory enjoyed his day home alone cleaning house, making soup, and drawing another picture. His latest drawing is impressive and I can’t wait until he finishes it. And tonight we were invited out to the island of Valderøya to have a yummy dinner with Kory’s 3rd cousin Kolbjørn and his incredibly classy wife Anne-Grete. They are a wonderful couple with a gorgeous home and we always have such interesting conversations with them (I was surprised over how long Kaleb was able to converse in Norwegian). They wanted us to visit before they took down all their Christmas decorations so we were treated to REAL candles burning on the tree, which made me a little nervous, but they sure looked snazzy. Anne-Grete showed me how to make the coolest Christmas tree ornaments – which were incredibly simple, yet elegant. Another great evening with them…. then on the way home we experienced a three minute miracle. The tunnel is being worked on so it closes at night and we had to take the ferry back. We all went inside to use the bathrooms and as the ferry was docking we went back to the van, only to discover Kory had locked his keys in the car! He ran back inside to see if the ferry workers could help us and Kaleb and I stood next to the van praying. I said, “Kaleb, we need a miracle or we’re going to have to break a window.” A guy was passing right behind us when I said that and he asked if we needed help. I said we did and he went over to his work truck, pulled out some handy tools which wedged the door open enough to stick a wire down and unlatch the lock – all within just a few minutes -- and just in time for us to drive off the ferry like nothing happened. God answered our prayers and sent us an angel at the exact moment we needed one. Hallelujah!
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