(Don't worry, I did not drive myself. I had campus security take me!) After that, we both had the same quality of care, except I got my own room in the hospital and he had to share his. All in all, I had to pay $800 after insurance for my hospital visit, while his was completely free even though he was a foreigner. He did have insurance for his travels abroad, but the first words out of the nurses who gave him the diagnoses were "Don't worry, it's free!"
You probably know why people need hospitals... they get sick! Instead, I'm going to talk about our second experience that involves a clinic, which is kind of like a scaled-down hospital where you are seen for less serious things such as the flu, a bad sore throat, or in my friend's case, an infection. One of the other Italians, my best friend here, fell down some stairs while coming back from class. She had trouble walking the first day, then got better the next, and then afterone more day, her knee was almost twice its normal size! I had never seen anything like it, so I told her she needed to go the doctor. One of the most valuable life skills you can have is knowing when a doctor is needed! We went the next day, after making an appointment, and she was put through a bunch of tests. The next day they gave her eight different medications she needed to take! They sent her back to our school to recuperate. After about a week of taking all the different medications and me cooking for her since she wasn't allowed to get up and leave her room, her leg healed up and she was back to normal. I was amazed to find out the cost of the care.
