Excitement in Stockholm

Written April 2, 2015
We had a fantastic visit to Stockholm last weekend.  The weather was a little cool, but the sun was shining which was great for walking around and exploring the city.  We enjoyed a cruise through the archipelago, a visit to the Vasa Museum, and wandering through the old town.

Unfortunately, as we were finishing up dessert at a nice little Swedish restaurant I noticed a little problem which I had previously been instructed necessitated a trip to the ER: "Akuten" in Swedish.  My heart immediately began to race as I told L what was going on.  L took care of the bill as quickly as possible and we headed outside.  We called our overseas insurance line and were told under the circumstances that we could go to any hospital, but we picked the one closest to our hosts' home, hopped in a cab, and headed to the Akuten as quickly as possible.  When we got there we were informed that we actually needed to go to a special Akuten call the Gyn-Akut for women.  I thought this sounded great because surely we would be seen more quickly in a specialized emergency care clinic.  I was wrong.

We arrived around 9:30 PM.  We finally got to talk to a mid-wife around 10:00 where they took my personal info and did some tests.  I even got my own ID number for the Swedish national health system. We did find that everyone in Stockholm spoke English flawlessly except at the hospital.

After the interview we were given what can best be described as a cubicle with a mobile hospital bed and a chair.  We were told openly that it had been an insane evening and that the mid-wives had no idea when we might be able to see a doctor.  We had no plans to go anywhere, but as midnight rolled around, and then 1:00 and 2:00 AM, we questioned whether it was worth it to stay or if we should just come back in the morning.  We stayed of course, I slept a little, and finally about 4:30 AM we were called back by a doctor.  She was a very kind doctor originally from Germany who spoke perfect English.  She asked how I was doing and then quickly moved on to the ultrasound to put our minds at ease.  We could immediately see the baby moving around like it was dancing at a rock show and were quickly comforted.  The doctor also checked my cervix, and everything was fine there too.  She explained what had likely happened and why we didn't need to worry.  It was so different from our ER experience a year ago.  After we finished in the gyn-akut, we called our host and he graciously came to pick us up.  We finally got to go to sleep around 6:00 AM.

L received the bill yesterday.  It came to a total of 3200 SEK, or $372.  Our insurance will pay the bill in full, but I am so surprised by how low it is.  I've had a few ER trips in my life, so I know that $372 is a steal.  We did have an abnormally long wait to see a doctor, but the care was excellent and the price was incredible - it wouldn't have cost anything if we were Swedish residents.  I'd say our first experience with "socialized medicine" was generally positive despite the wait.  Is it possible that those countries with socialized systems have figured out the trick to having low cost high quality care?  Perhaps, but mostly we're just really happy that everything was ok.