Before I left the United States, I visited my dentist to make sure everything was in working order. Upon examination, my dentist insisted I needed two crowns, to replace fillings I’d had for years. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about this, but since it was the first time in my life that I actually had dental insurance, I figured — no time like the present. After all, I’d never be able to afford such dental work without insurance, and who knows if I’ll have dental insurance with my next job.
Give or take $3,000 later, I had two crowns. (Yes, that is the price, with insurance — my insurance covered half-ish of the total cost).
One of the two crowns was ungodly painful when he put it on — to the point where I screamed out in terror and proceeded to sob uncontrollably for several minutes. The crown throbbed for days and even though the pain eventually went away (My dentist assuring me all of this is “normal”) it always seemed a bit sensitive to hot or cold, and occassionally, it would throb.
Usually it was just a minor annoyance, but last Sunday the pain was more than a minor annoyance and eventually it was so excruciating that I was sobbing on the floor in pain and terror.
I was in hysterics — not only because my mouth was killing me slowly, but because I was on an island. Did they even have dentists here? Scott assured me they did, but then came the question “Do they speak English?” My French is only good enough to order food – not convey the pain I’m experiencing in a tooth!
There are three dentists on the island. 2 are French. 1 is Spanish. I went for the Spanish dentist (who, praise that sweet woman, tried to speak to me in English realizing I was in far too much pain to speak in anything but my native tongue).
I needed an emergency root canal. Having had this same procedure in the United States I cringed at how much it would cost without insurance. (It was $1,500 with insurance when I had it done last time— in the 90s!)
I wasn’t even sure Scott & I had the money between our bank accounts and credit cards to pay for it. If it cost more than $1,000, we were pretty much screwed, unless they took credit cards (and since most places here do not accept anything but cash, this was cause for concern). We were both in a panic but because I was in such excruciating pain, we were willing to do about anything to get me the surgery I needed.
Drum roll please:
The total cost for my dental surgery (4 visits) without insurance: $380
The total cost for my prescription medication (1 weeks worth of antibiotics and pain killers), again, without insurance: $10.70
Clearly there is something very, very wrong with health care in the United States.
With my insurance, a root canal in the U.S. would cost at least $1,000, and that’s before I got hit for emergency visit fees, sitting in the chair fees, fees to pay fees-fees.
In talking about this experience with a friend — he pointed out that “Sure, we pay through the nose in the United States, but we have the best technology.”
Do we? Or is it all smoke and mirrors?
Admittedly, the office here was not as “fancy” as the office in New York City. There was no flat-screen TV in the waiting room, or a big fancy camera/TV setup in the surgery suite so I could see what was happening inside my mouth (Did I really want to see what was going on inside my mouth? I might be self-conscious about what the inside of my tooth looks like!).
There were only the basics — the chair, an x-ray machine, sterilized equipment, and various tools, etc. in this office and surgery suite. It was clean, sterile — got the job done, what else matters?
That’s right! Fancy stuff be damned! Is it nice? Sure. and perhaps the equipment in the U.S. is a little newer, but it’s certainly not worth 10x the price! (An emergent root canal not covered by insurance will run you about $3,000).
If you’re wondering if the prices are low because of universal health care, or European socialism, the answer is no. Although I live on a French/Dutch island; we don’t operate like Europe in the sense that it’s socialist with huge taxes and free health care.
(To be fair, this may exist on the French side, but I don’t think so — it doesn’t on the Dutch side).
Here there is no insurance. Or free health care. You just go to the doctor, the dentist, the hospital, wherever, get treatment and pay for it — only the prices are REASONABLE.
