Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > My Magical Year Living the Scandinavian Dream with My Wife - Where
You Can Get Pregnant and Not Panic About Hospital Bills
________________________________________
My Magical Year Living the Scandinavian Dream with My Wife - Where You Can
Get Pregnant and Not Panic About Hospital Bills
By Eric Dregni [1] / Salon [2]
March 6, 2016
Bernie Sanders unashamedly looks to Scandinavia for a model for healthcare,
education and, well, taxes. My wife and I packed up and moved to Norway for
a year to experience this supposed Nordic paradise, even if some back home
thought I would become "a mush-headed socialist." I had received a Fulbright
fellowship to study in Trondheim, but the only catch was that my wife, Katy,
was pregnant.
The healthcare insurance for Fulbright is administered through the State
Department, the same system that covers our senators and representatives.
You've probably heard that this is the "best healthcare coverage in the
world," but I checked the small print. It said, "Pregnancy is a pre-existing
condition" and not covered under the plan, as if it's some sort of disease.
We had to forfeit the fellowship, so I called up the office for
international students in Trondheim to break the bad news. "Oh, you
Americans! You have such funny issues," the Norwegian woman replied. "That's
not a problem here in Norway. You come over here and have your baby."
She seemed convinced, so I asked if she could send us some of the documents.
"When you arrive here in July," she continued, "the sun will be out all day.
It's been a long, dark winter, so everyone will be at their cabins in the
mountains or at the seaside. The government offices don't really open up
until September." In other words, we had to just relax and file the
documents all in good time.
Once in Trondheim, we went to the trygdekontor, the insurance office, to
register Katy for healthcare to cover the birth. The woman at the desk
looked over our documents somberly and said she didn't think we qualified.
We panicked. "Oh, the government shall pay for the birth," she assured us.
"I just don't know if you are eligible for the extra maternity benefit."
If Katy had been working for at least six months in Norway beforehand, she
would get 42 weeks off work at full pay, or 52 weeks at 80 percent of her
salary - paid for by the government, not her employer. As it turned out,
we'd just receive a lump sum of about $5,000 for the baby, the same sum of
our deductible back in the U.S. - a $10,000 difference!
What's more, the Norwegian government would automatically deposit about $150
into our bank account every month because it recognizes that raising a child
is a huge financial burden. This money would help raise our child and would
continue until he was 18 years old or until we left Norway. (When we did
leave Norway, the government kept depositing money into our account anyway.
I had to write to the Norwegian government that we had left the country and
tell it to stop sending us all this money. It's a letter I sometimes
regret.)
I told our Norwegian friend Rachel we'd feel guilty getting this benefit,
but she rebutted, "Why should you feel 'guilty' about receiving money from
the government? It's our money, after all, even you pay taxes here now.
Everyone receives the child credit, even the crown prince does. After all,
it's not really your money, it belongs to the baby."
Sure, people complained about the high taxes, but my Norwegian friend Knut
spoke about the social contract they've all made: "We are a small country of
just 5 million people, so we pay high taxes but don't have the very poor or
the very rich as you do in the United States." What's more, the universities
in Norway are essentially free, so students are much more likely to get a
higher education and aren't saddled with debt when they leave.
As our year went on, we learned how Norway has a nationalized oil and energy
industry, Statoil, so the profits are returned to the people as opposed to
executives walking off with millions, as happens in the U.S. This money from
the oil fund shores up the economy and is invested in socially responsible
stocks and heavily in geothermal research, wind power and the primary source
of power in Norway: hydroelectric plants. Norway taxes gasoline
heavily-nearly three times that of the U.S.-and offers huge incentives for
electric cars that now are a regular sight zooming alongside the fjords.
Parties in both Denmark and Norway have radical proposals to make their
expensive urban public transport absolutely free to wean commuters from
their polluting cars and encourage drivers to use the network of electric
trams and buses.
Unfortunately, our son born in Norway doesn't automatically get Norwegian
citizenship (the Republicans would approve). If he eventually does achieve
Norwegian citizenship, he'll have a free college education, healthcare for
the rest of his life and a comfortable pension to live out his days with the
Vikings. He may become a mush-headed socialist, but at least he'll be living
the Scandinavian dream.
Eric Dregni is the author of "In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream"
[3] and "Vikings in the Attic." [4]
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Twitter Tweet
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [5]
[6]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/my-magical-year-living-scandinavian-dream-my-wife-wh
ere-you-can-get-pregnant-and-not-panic-about
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/eric-dregni
[2] http://www.salon.com
[3]
http://www.amazon.com/Cod-We-Trust-Living-Norwegian/dp/081665624X/?tag=salon
com08-20
[4]
http://www.amazon.com/Vikings-Attic-Search-Nordic-America/dp/0816667446/?tag
=saloncom08-20
[5] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on My Magical Year Living
the Scandinavian Dream with My Wife - Where You Can Get Pregnant and Not
Panic About Hospital Bills
[6] http://www.alternet.org/
[7] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > My Magical Year Living the Scandinavian Dream with My Wife - Where
You Can Get Pregnant and Not Panic About Hospital Bills
My Magical Year Living the Scandinavian Dream with My Wife - Where You Can
Get Pregnant and Not Panic About Hospital Bills
By Eric Dregni [1] / Salon [2]
March 6, 2016
Bernie Sanders unashamedly looks to Scandinavia for a model for healthcare,
education and, well, taxes. My wife and I packed up and moved to Norway for
a year to experience this supposed Nordic paradise, even if some back home
thought I would become "a mush-headed socialist." I had received a Fulbright
fellowship to study in Trondheim, but the only catch was that my wife, Katy,
was pregnant.
The healthcare insurance for Fulbright is administered through the State
Department, the same system that covers our senators and representatives.
You've probably heard that this is the "best healthcare coverage in the
world," but I checked the small print. It said, "Pregnancy is a pre-existing
condition" and not covered under the plan, as if it's some sort of disease.
We had to forfeit the fellowship, so I called up the office for
international students in Trondheim to break the bad news. "Oh, you
Americans! You have such funny issues," the Norwegian woman replied. "That's
not a problem here in Norway. You come over here and have your baby."
She seemed convinced, so I asked if she could send us some of the documents.
"When you arrive here in July," she continued, "the sun will be out all day.
It's been a long, dark winter, so everyone will be at their cabins in the
mountains or at the seaside. The government offices don't really open up
until September." In other words, we had to just relax and file the
documents all in good time.
Once in Trondheim, we went to the trygdekontor, the insurance office, to
register Katy for healthcare to cover the birth. The woman at the desk
looked over our documents somberly and said she didn't think we qualified.
We panicked. "Oh, the government shall pay for the birth," she assured us.
"I just don't know if you are eligible for the extra maternity benefit."
If Katy had been working for at least six months in Norway beforehand, she
would get 42 weeks off work at full pay, or 52 weeks at 80 percent of her
salary - paid for by the government, not her employer. As it turned out,
we'd just receive a lump sum of about $5,000 for the baby, the same sum of
our deductible back in the U.S. - a $10,000 difference!
What's more, the Norwegian government would automatically deposit about $150
into our bank account every month because it recognizes that raising a child
is a huge financial burden. This money would help raise our child and would
continue until he was 18 years old or until we left Norway. (When we did
leave Norway, the government kept depositing money into our account anyway.
I had to write to the Norwegian government that we had left the country and
tell it to stop sending us all this money. It's a letter I sometimes
regret.)
I told our Norwegian friend Rachel we'd feel guilty getting this benefit,
but she rebutted, "Why should you feel 'guilty' about receiving money from
the government? It's our money, after all, even you pay taxes here now.
Everyone receives the child credit, even the crown prince does. After all,
it's not really your money, it belongs to the baby."
Sure, people complained about the high taxes, but my Norwegian friend Knut
spoke about the social contract they've all made: "We are a small country of
just 5 million people, so we pay high taxes but don't have the very poor or
the very rich as you do in the United States." What's more, the universities
in Norway are essentially free, so students are much more likely to get a
higher education and aren't saddled with debt when they leave.
As our year went on, we learned how Norway has a nationalized oil and energy
industry, Statoil, so the profits are returned to the people as opposed to
executives walking off with millions, as happens in the U.S. This money from
the oil fund shores up the economy and is invested in socially responsible
stocks and heavily in geothermal research, wind power and the primary source
of power in Norway: hydroelectric plants. Norway taxes gasoline
heavily-nearly three times that of the U.S.-and offers huge incentives for
electric cars that now are a regular sight zooming alongside the fjords.
Parties in both Denmark and Norway have radical proposals to make their
expensive urban public transport absolutely free to wean commuters from
their polluting cars and encourage drivers to use the network of electric
trams and buses.
Unfortunately, our son born in Norway doesn't automatically get Norwegian
citizenship (the Republicans would approve). If he eventually does achieve
Norwegian citizenship, he'll have a free college education, healthcare for
the rest of his life and a comfortable pension to live out his days with the
Vikings. He may become a mush-headed socialist, but at least he'll be living
the Scandinavian dream.
Eric Dregni is the author of "In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream"
[3] and "Vikings in the Attic." [4]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [5]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[6]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/my-magical-year-living-scandinavian-dream-my-wife-wh
ere-you-can-get-pregnant-and-not-panic-about
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/eric-dregni
[2] http://www.salon.com
[3]
http://www.amazon.com/Cod-We-Trust-Living-Norwegian/dp/081665624X/?tag=salon
com08-20
[4]
http://www.amazon.com/Vikings-Attic-Search-Nordic-America/dp/0816667446/?tag
=saloncom08-20
[5] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on My Magical Year Living
the Scandinavian Dream with My Wife - Where You Can Get Pregnant and Not
Panic About Hospital Bills
[6] http://www.alternet.org/
[7] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
