Well, lookee lookee here!

I got my yearly letter from my health care people.

And noooo, it wasn't a bill.....

It is a PR sort of thing. They tell you what you have incurred in costs over the past twelve months, and how much they paid for you. So let's see.... hmmm...

My GP collected €78.34. Ok, cheap, I see him once a month. My internist got €99.33, and that was only one visit. My optomitrist got a whopping €82.31... that is Hedwig, the angry inch, as I call her, because she gets really testy if you don't follow orders. I had to see her three times. Some guy who did my one blood mock-up got €7.34 for letting me know my results weren't all so good. My blood pressure pills and eye drops were over €200.00

So all in all, I cost the system €478.32 for the past twelve months.

Again, this is not a bill. Just information, letting you know what they have done for you.

And an avviso that they have a new programme where they check you out, and try to catch early signs of diabetes for people of my age, the so-called diabetes prevention exams. They check your eyes and feet, seemingly. Again, this is also 'free', you do not get a bill.

And they aren't 'death squads', they want you to be healthy, and it is preventive, because if you do have that and they catch it quick, it will ultimately cost them less in expenses, ok?

The one thing I mock about these yearly reports is they don't tell you how much you paid in. Am fairly certain that I did pay in more than the costs I incurred. But I have said this before, and will say it again with emphasis. If it was more, that went to cover other people whose costs were higher than what they put in, and I really do not mind that at all.

My take on it is... if I really become seriously ill and not have the usual things that ageing brings onto us, I know that I will get good care. And that amount for my little ills would have hurt me in the pocket muchly.

No one will shove me aside in that case, or let me linger and die.

Am disappointed that the single payer model never got to the table there, and horrified at what is going on, and the gullibility of some people who believe the absolutely hideous and perfideous lies being bandied about these past couple of weeks.

People there deserve more than that and not being scared out of their wits till they nearly shit themselves.

And the stink of the undercurrent of racism beneath all that can make you gag even over here, so far away.

Those are no longer dirty politics. They are sewer politics.

Sigh.... I have been trying for over eighteen months now to do something in my miniscule way. Because I have experienced both systems, and felt I wanted to contribute something positive. And again, I have to reiterate... no system is perfect. So it hasn't been glorifying it as if it were, here. But it is much better than what most people have there.

So I have to say... am already disappointed, no matter what comes out of this. And will refrain from scathing criticism until I see what does get passed in the end.... I'm an optimistic pessimist, after all. Hoping for the best, and sort of expecting the worst.