Isänpäivä

Today is Fathers day in Finland. It looks like Ben will get to celebrate it twice this year - once today and again in June, American style. I'm off to make him an ice cream sundae.

He deserves it.

Finnish Halloween

Halloween is not celebrated in Finland.

Instead on October 31st, they celebrate All Saints Day, which resembles a sort of Memorial Day. I guess it involves a cemetery but it's not exactly the same thing.

I am a grown adult--way too old to go trick or treating, so you would think that I wouldn't care that much that we wouldn't celebrate traditional American Halloween.

You would think that, but you'd be wrong.

Dead wrong.

I love candy.

And scary movies.

And I am especially fanatic about kids in costume.

And finally having a baby of my own, the lack of Halloween festivities felt especially sharp.

I mean what was the point of even having kids if you dont get to dress them up for Halloween?

Needless to say, I was quite bummed about the whole deal. Luckily our friends Timo and Christine came to the rescue and threw a costume party.

It was complete with decorations, themed food and games...

...and best of all, we got to bring our deadly ninja. In spite of the grumpy face, she actually had a delightful time.

It was the best Finnish Halloween one could have hoped for.

Trick or Treat

Little bear's new trick from Benjamin Ames on Vimeo.

For more videos, link to our vimeo video page

2 Months Later

It is a wonder what a couple of months can do.

My experience with socialized medicine

This is a controversial topic, so I am a little hesitant to bring it up.

I know as a former teacher when non-educators would start rattling on about America's "failed education system" I would get a little hot under the collar.

That being said, several people have asked me what I thought of the health care here in Finland and I thought I would just detail my personal experience, and my own impressions. I realize that this is a hugely complicated issue and I certainly don't claim have the answers.

In Finland, the medicine here is socialized.

They have a single payer system where basically everyone pays taxes and in turn everyone is entitled to basic health care run by the government. All public care doctors, nurses, dentists and other health care workers are government employees.

Before I moved here I always had a negative image of socialized medicine, but seeing how it works here has been really interesting and enlightening. Overall, I would have to say that my personal experiences as a patient have been very positive.

When I found out I was pregnant, I was assigned an OBGYN and a nurse midwife based on where I lived. You can request another doctor if you want, they just figure it is more convenient if you live nearby the clinic (which it is when you don't have a car). I met with my midwife or OB frequently throughout my pregnancy and they both were very helpful and spoke excellent English. Now I go to the same clinic for Adelaide's pediatric checkups and will continue to do so until the age of 6 when she starts school.

I did notice that they cut out a lot of the extras. For example, I shared a room in the maternity ward instead of having my own room. Also, I was only allotted one ultrasound. They checked to see that everything was looked right and because it was, I didn't need a second one. Later on Ben and I wanted a second ultrasound to see what she looked like and for that had to pay out of pocket. In other words, they provided the basic care and if you want any extra procedures you can pay yourself. There are also private clinics available, where the patient pays the extra cost of the private service (KELA will pay up to what the service would cost in a public clinic). Most Finns use a combination of public and private clinics based on their circumstances.

My baby's birth was (thankfully) uncomplicated and routine, and so my midwife ended up delivering her. There were several doctors on the floor in case they were needed, but in my case it wasn't necessary for them to be there because I didn't need any special attention.

My midwife, Sari and Adelaide. And my hand. That's all you get to see of me post-birth.

I stayed in the hospital for 5 days after delivery because Addie was so small and she lost more than 10% of her body weight the first two days. Adelaide and I were both assigned nurses and they helped make sure I figured out nursing and that my baby was gaining weight and healthy enough to come home.

In the end, I had excellent care and the whole bill cost about 150 Euros.

Pros:

First of all, the medical records are all online. I would show up for different diagnostic tests at different sites and they would just ask my name and ID number and would have all of my records right there on the computer. So convenient.

You don't have do deal with insurance companies at all. It is a wonderful thing.

Malpractice law is virtually non-existent.

It is unheard of to file for bankruptcy because someone in the family gets sick. Finns ask about this in the US and find it very surprising that if you are unlucky enough to have a serious injury or illness you could risk losing everything.

Medical school is free. It is very hard to get in, but once you are in it is all paid for by the state. So all doctors graduate with no student debt.

Cons:

Umm, the obvious one is you have to pay higher taxes (can be up to 50% in the highest tax bracket). Currently Ben and I are in the lowest tax bracket here so we don't currently feel the sting of half of our wages being siphoned off for the public good. However, Finland happens to be very efficient, spending about 7% of their GDP on health care, while the USA currently spends over twice that.

Doctors make an upper middle class wage here in Finland, but you don't see any millionaire surgeons like you can find in the USA. Government doctors are paid a salary that is based on what they do and their specialty. Some doctors make more, some less. All get 6 weeks of paid vacation.

There is a need for rationing of health care. It seems that especially with older people living longer there are too many people who need treatment and not enough doctors to get to everyone right away. Now keep in mind that they will always treat people immediately for emergencies, but if you don't need the surgery right away you might have to wait a few months. If you have the money there are still private clinics you can go to that will usually see you sooner, but you pay the difference out of pocket.

My dad is a doctor, and I have quite a few friends and relatives in the medical field. I understand the fears that people have about the government stepping in and taking over.

What's more is the United States is a country 50 times bigger than Finland with a very different and more complicated population. So I'm not sure if a single payer system would work as smoothly in the US. But after seeing all of the political ballyhoo the past 6 months, I just thought I would throw my experience out there as a little food for thought.

So there you have it.

My experience with socialized medicine.

Comments are welcome, just keep the tone civil please.

Jealousy

Don't you wish you could get sleep like this?

The Suomi Chronicles

Episode VII: TRADITION! from Benjamin Ames on Vimeo.