Mahatma Gandhi.

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.

He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.

He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it.

He is not an outsider to our business. He is part of it.

We are not doing him a favour by serving him.

He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so.

Mahatma Gandhi.

The Norwegian National Health Service

A friend from the United States asked me if it really doesn't cost anything to be sick in Norway, as many American TV networks maintain. Many Democrats point to Norway as the example of a perfect public health system. «Well, in theory that is correct», I replied. «In theory?» he asked, so I had to clarify.

One always gets help in Norway, even though one might not be able to afford treatment, and it is, generally speaking, a good system. A lot of things are excluded, however. If one has to get dental work done at a cost of fifty thousand Norwegian kroner (USD 10 000), it's your problem – there is no financial support for that from the government. Visits to the doctor are not free, either – the patient has to pay a fee for every visit, but for most people this never amounts to any more than a maximum of ten thousand kroner (USD 2 000) per year, regardless of the medical problem and regardless of whether one is chronically ill. If one can't afford even the patient fees, you will still be treated, and the system works well for many people. BUT, you get the quality that you pay for. There is always a queue to get needed help from Norwegian public hospitals; if you are diagnosed with cancer, you may have to wait in the queue for months to be operated on, and a breast reconstruction after surgery requires several years of waiting. Certain operations that could be performed immediately in a private hospital require many months of medical sick leave while the patient waits for treatment by a public hospital, and there have been cases of people becoming blind and even dying while they are waiting to be treated. There are also a lot of errors, mixups, deficiencies and cases of wrongful medication (undesirable occurrences, in governmental parlance). Personally, I have experienced being treated in both Norwegian and American hospitals, and there is a tremendous difference between the two in terms of treatment, quality assurance and the will to choose the best methods of treatment. The result is that people in Norway who can afford it often buy private health insurance, and companies that value the health of their employees pay for quick treatment.

«So you're saying that in Norway you have a health system that is differentiated by class, just like we have in the USA», he concluded. «Yes. After sixty years of social democracy in Norway, we have a dual health system, where those who can afford to purchase good private services do so, while those who are less well-off have to wait in the health queue», was my conclusion.

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I am not arguing; I am just explaining why I am right.

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