A story about health care in Iceland

I'm Icelandic, male and with no experience of cancer of my own. But with considerable insight into and an bad experience with the healthcare system.

This is not a accurate description of the healthcare system.

It's true that the search for cancer is active here and pretty good. You can find information about the screening system here: https://www.krabb.is/english/

The price she mentioned is not correct. First she updates the price from 3ISK to 300ISK. Nothing costs 3ISK here. 300ISK is barely worth charging. So 3000ISK or ~25USD (currently) seem more likely. Here are the prices, in Icelandic. https://www.krabb.is/leitarstod/leitarstodin/verdskra/

It states that breast scan is 4700ISK (~38USD) for people within the national health system(insured) and 9200ISK (~75USD) for those not within. The breast ultrasound is ~135USD to ~150USd. In anycase, not great sums.

Regarding the referral part, it's true that you do not need a referral for this specific thing.

But to get to speak to a specialist, you do first need to go through a general practitioner or your family doctor to get a referral.

My take on the system, long waits, overworked staff, indifferent government workers, outdated equipment and buildings. This results in (my case) unnecessary mistakes and harm.

What is true, is that you will not be bankrupted going to a doctor or getting fixed up after an accident. A seemingly popular US thing is to point out that it's not free, you pay for it with your taxes. That is obliviously true, and in my view a much more preferred way of operating than the US way.

Anyways, just wanted to put some insight into this. Cheers from Iceland!