Wish Phil Well - (Be Careful What you Blog About)

One thing about blogging is that you are the one who sets the rules. What to blog about. What theme will your blog have (If any.) One of the blogs I read daily is Finland for Thought. FFT is written by 'Phil' an American who apparently fell in love with a Finn and followed her back to Finland. Phil has this statement posted about Finland for Thought:

I'm an American IT professional who's been living in Finland for three years. I started this blog to address some of the political, cultural, and current event issues in Finland and the United States. I am a strong advocate of liberty, individuality, equality, and tolerance. Enjoy!

One of the issues that had been discussed lately on FFT is the system of Finnish health care, which is based on universal coverage. Then follows heated debate in the comments section of the posts by Finns, Americans and others about which system is best. Phil gets the Finn's blood flowing by constantly criticizing Finland's system of health care. So to there is this post:

People sell their kidneys and make big bucks, does the same work for faulty appendixes? Cause I got one. I'm writing from a hospital bed at Jorvi, when I woke up this morning I had no idea I’d be having appendix removed 12 hours later. Fun fun. Who remembers that Simpsons episode where Dr. Hibbard performs an emergency appendix removal on the street and tosses it away right before it bursts like a grenade? Hehe.

He adds:

I committed a terrible hospital patient faux pa when I tried to make small talk and asked the girl next to me, “What are you in for??” and she replied, “I don’t want to say.” Oooops.

My first thought was 'What some people will do for a story to post on their blog.' But that was just a sarcastic passing thought. Anyway, I have met Phil during my last trip to Finland and he is a great guy. It is one thing for a person to attack some of Finland's social problems from abroad. It's another thing to do it from the belly of the beast like he is.

Provided that Phil survives his adventure inside the Finnish Public Healthcare System, he will be much more knowledgeable about how the system works. Many of us look forward to his comments about the experience. Some have even joked about faxing the hospital copies of his health care costs.

I lived in Finland for over three years. Thankfully I never had a medical emergency. Unfortunately, my American friend did. One night my friend was over and he hit his foot against one of my chairs so hard that he broke his big toe. Being two Americans living in Finland, we called a good Finnish friend and together we went to the hospital to see how the system works. The receptionist asked what his social security number was. He gave it and the woman read out his name from the computer. We were all impressed. Three hours later, we left with the big toe taped to the toe next to it. The cost should have been $50, but he never even got the bill. Not bad for an emergency room visit.

I wish Phil a speedy recovery!

I recommend that you take a look at his blog if you are interested in how life is over in Europe or if your not so happy about life is in the US. Trust me, you'd be much happier once you see how life is overseas. They have not yet obtained their goal of utopia! Phil also does a weekly podcast at Radio Free Finland. It's definitely worth a listen.

Finland for Thought
FFT - A market for Faulty Appendixes

Fred Fry interviewed by Phil on Radio Free Finland

Related Posts:

Finland – The Good, The Bad, and The Stupid - 10 June 2005
Mette Mannonen: Finnish Weather Goddess - 4 February 2006
Henrik Lax - Presidential Candidate of the Swedish People's Party (of Finland) - 6 Jan 2006
Former Soviet Dissident Predicts Collapse of the European Union - 28 Feb 2006
Europe, Unprepared - 4 February 2006
Before you move to Canada - 19 December 2004
Before you move to Canada: Update - 4 August 2005
Before you move to Canada: Update II - 23 January 2006