rakfisk (fermented fish) thanks to 80-proof aquavit, took the “meat bus” to Sweden for cheap salami with a crowd of knitting pensioners, and compiled his stories in In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream. He wrote about living in Modena, Italy, in Never Trust a Thin Cook and Other Lessons from Italy’s Culinary Capital. He is professor of English, journalism, and Italian at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in the summer he is director of the Italian Concordia Language Village, an experience he wrote about in You’re Sending Me Where?.
Dregni applied the “Page 99 Test” to his new book, For the Love of Cod: A Father and Son's Search for Norwegian Happiness, and reported the following:
From page 69:Learn more about For the Love of Cod at the University of Minnesota Press website.…to England because they have more specialists.” Then he admitted, “Of course the Norwegian system is better because it’s free and treats everyone.” When they say “free,” however, this means that taxes pay for it.I must say when I was asked to give my new book, For the Love of Cod, the “Page 99 Test” proposed by famed writer Ford Madox Ford, I was skeptical. I had no idea how the layout would look on that particular page – perhaps it was all blank or even a photo.
I learned that everyone in Norway has a right to a pension since the Norwegian Parliament passed a law in 1967 to establish a folketrygden, people’s insurance, even if a citizen has never worked. Odd talked about how sometimes the government even pays for people to be sent on vacation. “Yes, you can be sent to syden [the south] for more sun, especially if you live in a place like Finnmark [in northern Norway]. Most people pay their own way, of course.” He told me how his father was sent twice under medical orders to the mud baths in Yugoslavia for a restive cure.
I thought what it would have been like if my Swedish-American grandmother had had this kind of treatment in Minnesota. I remembered her telling me that when she was in her forties: “I was so sick of my teeth. One day, I just went into the dentist and I had him take them all out.”
Really? I asked as she showed off her false teeth.
“Yup, he pulled every single one. It was the best thing I ever did.”
Jarle Nesvaag told me that in Norway all dental care is covered until 20 years of age.
As Katy and I prepared to leave Norway to go home to the U.S. with baby Eilif, we had a pregnancy scare and wondered how it would look if she had come to Norway and returned home pregnant again. We considered perhaps staying longer for help with the next baby. After all, the government provided nearly free daycare and deposited about $150 each month into our bank account to help raise Eilif.
Instead, that page showed one of the key aspects of why Norwegians are “happy”: their government helps ensure their health. Norwegians pay high taxes, which ironically are just about the same as we pay in the U.S. The difference is Norway pays less than half the amount on health care than the U.S. and covers everybody. The Norwegian national insurance recognizes that the health of its citizens is the health of the country.
On page 99, I mention the child care credit of $150 that my wife and I received every month to help with our new baby. The new legislation by Pres. Biden has something similar, but only last for one year. Let’s see if the U.S. can match how Norway helps newborns with the $5,000 the Norwegian government paid us to have a baby (not mentioned on page 99).
Health care just wasn’t a source of stress in Norway, as it is in the U.S. and leads many Americans into bankruptcy. Yes, let’s all pull out all our teeth like my grandmother did rather than worry about going to a dentist!
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
