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 moved from the suburbs of Michigan to a small town in Argentina in 2009.
• My kids at the time were 8, 6, and 4 years old.

Four days after moving to Argentina — without having been to the country before, speaking no Spanish, and with no local contacts or a concrete plan — my then-4-year-old son Noah got kicked by a runaway horse.

His femur was shattered into pieces.

Off to the hospital we went, entering a frantic blur of X-rays and surgeries happening in a language I didn't speak. Days later, he was released from the hospital with casts on both legs from the waist down, and a metal bar between them so he couldn't move his broken leg at all.

I shuddered at the thought of navigating this pile of hospital bills. There were no hospital bills.

At first, I thought there was an error

Initially, I thought something did not translate, but a kind, bilingual man explained: "Your son needed medical help. That's exactly what the hospital is here for." He then gave me instructions for rehab, which was also fully covered, and told me to go snuggle with my boy.

I still didn't fully trust this and bolted out of there as fast as I could before anyone could change their mind.

Raising three kids as a single mom in a foreign country is no small feat. But after experiencing the US medical system, medical care in Argentina gave me much peace of mind.

I could actually get my kids the care they deserved and never had to cancel a dental cleaning I could not afford because the car desperately needed new brakes that month. I could relax while letting my kids climb trees, go whitewater kayaking, and backcountry snowboarding. God forbid anything ever happened to them that required medical care, but it helped greatly knowing that if it came to that, our family would not drown in debt or potentially lose our home as a consequence.

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

I personally had a scare a couple of years ago, when it looked like I'd need surgery on my thyroid. It's stressful enough to imagine someone cutting into your throat. I envisioned the surgery, the recovery, the outcome — but never once had to think about how much it might set me back financially. I was not put in a position to decide if a health procedure would take priority over other important bills.

My kids are now grown and live all over the globe. But when they come to visit, the first thing they do is schedule dental checkups and cleanings, deep-tissue massages, and getting any suspicious moles removed. My girls can stock up on birth-control pills for next to nothing, no questions asked.

I rest easy knowing that 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 backpacker daughter would not balk at paying out of pocket.

Raising kids can be difficult enough. Looking back, one of the best choices I made as a single mom was to raise mine in a country that supported me in making sure their health and well-being are a priority.