My Health Care Experience

Once in this country, I spent less than 17 hours in the hosptial and the bill came to over $65,000. And they didn't even send me home with a jar of Vaseline®.

Near the end of one of my music tours in The Netherlands, I became ill. Fever, dizzy, throat was on fire. So sick that I slept right up till a performance on a music festival and then went right back to sleep again.

My friends finally woke me and said, "Dude you don't look so good, were taking you to the doctor". My protests did no good; they thought better for a poor musician from the states without any insurance coverage and what he had to say about his own sickness. Instead they took me to a non emergency hospital to seek treatment. My friend Tilly said, "don't worry this is on us".

A short ride to the hospital filled out a one page form and right in to see a doctor. I kept telling him that I had no money - he didn't listen to that, he just took care of me. He wrote a prescription for me that cost $3.00 - and sent me to my guest home. On the way out we paid for the prescription and I asked how much did the doctor cost because I wanted to pay them back. They said - It is already paid. We have national health care. "But I'm a ....USA.... citizen; I don't have any health care". They explained that because I was creating commerce, business by singing and performing that I was part of The Netherlands economy and I was covered. "You are a legitimate worker with a work visa after all. You're paying taxes on everything you buy, and so are your fans", she said.

Now I’m not suggesting that we cover non ....USA.... citizens with health care. But, the moral of the story is, not only do the Dutch take very good care of their own people, they take an actual Christian attitude towards a total stranger! The parable of the Good Samaritan comes to mind.

What a stark contrast to how we treat our on citizens. P.S. No need to worry about the Dutch Insurance Industry - It is alive, well and profitable. The Dutch maintain one of the highest standards of living anywhere in the world.

In my opinion, those haters - so called "Tea Party" who call themselves "Christians" are really more like the Romans who tossed the real Christians to the lions!!

Holding insurance companies accountable is the correct thing to do. Making sure that no one can be denied or dropped from their insurance is the correct thing to do.

How can we have "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness" if we are always worried about if we even have or the cost of having healthcare? Total coverage is a basic right of USA citizenship.