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THE DOLLARS & SENSE OF US HEALTHCARE

I Asked My Daughter In the U.S. Why She Hadn’t Made a Doctor’s Appointment

Her answer reminded me how grateful I am to live in France

Janice Macdonald
Minds Without Borders
6 min readDec 10, 2024

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X-rays from last year’s hip replacement surgery (author’s photo)

I was on the phone with my daughter in Washington state when she mentioned a fairly minor but frustrating medical concern that was still dragging on despite the medication she was using.

Why didn’t she just go back to the doctor, I asked. Silence on the line and then a sigh. Money, of course — high monthly insurance premiums, high deductible, yet if she sees a doctor, she’ll incur an out-pocket expense of around $150. Extra for blood tests and x-rays.

“I’ll just see how it goes,” she said.

The 11 years I’ve spent in France have all but erased memories of medical costs charged to credit cards and choosing to delay treatment rather than racking up more debt. But I’m reminded by conversations like the one with my daughter or Medium stories like one by involving $6,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses in two months.

Funny to think that one of the questions I was asked most frequently before I moved to France was, ‘What if you get sick?’ As though France couldn’t possibly provide adequate treatment, and if it did, the…

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Minds Without Borders
Minds Without Borders

Published in Minds Without Borders

A thoughtful look at how culture, society, politics, media and economics affect us all.

Janice Macdonald
Janice Macdonald

Written by Janice Macdonald

At 68, I started a new chapter in my life: I moved to France. Alone. It turned out to be quite the page-turner. Still is — even when age insists on a part.

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