In the US, I used to cancel dental checkups so I could afford to fix my car. Now as a mom in Argentina, healthcare is much cheaper and more reliable

• I relocated to a small town in Argentina in 2009.

• My children were young at the time.

• We don't have to go bankrupt in Argentina because we have the healthcare we need.

My then-4-year-old son got kicked by a runaway horse four days after I moved to Argentina, without having been to the country before, speaking no Spanish, and with no local contacts or a concrete plan.

His leg was torn apart.

We went to the hospital and saw a lot of X-rays and surgeries in a language I didn't understand. He was released from the hospital with casts on his legs from the waist down and a metal bar between them so he couldn't move his broken leg.

There were no hospital bills in this picture.

At first, I thought there was an error

A kind, bilingual man explained that your son needed medical help. The hospital is here for that. He told me to go with my boy and give me instructions for rehabilitation.

I ran out of there as fast as I could before anyone changed their mind.

Raising three kids in a foreign country is no easy task. Medical care in Argentina gave me a lot of peace of mind after visiting the US.

I was able to get my kids the care they deserved and never had to cancel a dental cleaning because the car needed new brakes. I could relax and let my children do things. Our family would not drown in debt or lose our home if anything happened to them that needed medical care.

I've never had to choose between medical care or paying bills

I had a scare a couple of years ago when it looked like I would have to have surgery on my thyroid. It's hard to imagine a person cutting into your throat. I didn't have to think about how much the surgery would cost me. I wasn't given the chance to decide if a health procedure would take precedence over other bills.

My children are living all over the world. When they come to visit, the first thing they do is schedule dental checkup and cleanings, deep tissue massage, and removal of suspicious moles. My girls don't have to ask about birth control pills.

If they ever felt the need to talk privately to a therapist for mental-health issues, no matter where in the world they are, they always have the option to do so over Zoom with a professional here at a cost that even my most frugal daughter would not refuse.

It can be hard to raise kids. When I was a single mom, I chose to raise my children in a country that supported me in making sure their health and well-being were a priority.

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