An American in Hay-on-Wye

[dreamer_easy]

The doctor says Morgan's foot will be fine; we just have to keep the cut clean.

The receptionist, however, looks altogether more grave.

"The visit's normally covered under National Health," she says apologetically, "but since you aren't residents..."

"Yes?"

We once made an emergency visit to a doctor in Oregon to get a large splinter out of Morgan's foot, and the clinic tried to bill us five hundred dollars. And that was without any blood or swelling.

Jennifer and I brace ourselves.

"... it will be twenty pounds."

We gape.

"What?"

"I'm sorry!" the receptionist pleads. "It's terrible, isn't it?"

"You... think..."

"Is it different in your country?"

We stare uncomprehendingly at her.

"Yes," I finally say. "It is different in our country."

- Paul Collins, Sixpence House, 2003

(Two years after Collins wrote that, Jon and I would both have similar NHS experiences on a UK visit. :)

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