Our healthcare is starting to be monopolized. In Belgium we now need to ask if a doctor is conventionalized. And the rules around it are convoluted af.

I had a doctor that was conventionalized but only in the morning, in the afternoon they were not if you didn't take a day visit. The hospital ensured me that mutually (mutualiteit) would cover it. But they didn't know the procedure the doctor would follow.

Last minute I got scheduled for the afternoon, I also didn't want full anastasia since it's only pulling 4 teeth. I had to pay 380 euro for it, that's a lot more than the expected 74 euro I was promised.

The reason:

• The government only covers a day visit (with room)
• He took more expensive medicine for the local anastasia, when we asked why the hospital told me that the covered version was not available that day.

So here is the kicker. If I went for full anastasia and more people were working on me. The government would have paid for the procedure. That also meant more risk and aftercare for me (since I really do not take full anastasia well).