[donbright]

Yes, if I am interested in European history, and after reading the novels of Sofi Oksanen, I feel as if the past is illuminated by the stories like Estonia's. It is hard for me to truly understand the massive shift in 'way of life' and worldview that occured in the early 1900s. The death of the aristocratic, monarchical, peasant-and-master way of life, which these manors represented, transformed within a few decades to the idea that more democratic style of life was normal and everyone should have it. Watching the crumbled manors is a literal embodiment of a shift in human consciousness, where the way things were for hundreds of years suddenly ceased to exist and simply rotted away. Estonians were essentially ruled by a German overclass, and its history is intertwined the Nazi history and it's obsession with restoring the "old ways". What do we have now that is considered normal that will fall away in 500 years? or 50? Will people say 'such and such building represented the old society, where poor people were not allowed to go to the doctor'

[mantas]

Joke is on you. In Estonia, everyone can visit a doctor :)

[Mirioron]

This is untrue. You need insurance to visit a doctor. You have insurance if somebody pays your "social tax." This means that you must be employed or be a child, in education, or a pensioner.

If you're unemployed and don't qualify for the unemployment program (many don't) then you don't have health insurance and have to pay out of pocket for all doctor's visits. The same applies if you are self-employed and your social tax cut isn't high enough.

Many of the people who would need it the most don't have access to healthcare in Estonia. They have access to emergency care though, but that's the same in the US.

[mantas]

How strict is the unemployment program? Over there in Lithuania, as long as you go to your appointments at the local job office (= you're not working in UK or Norway), it's really hard to get removed from the list.

[Mirioron]

You have to keep your monthly appointments and keep to their "job searching plan." This can mean that you must take part in some group events and apply for jobs based on a schedule. And if they can find a job then you can't always turn it down. Some people have said that the dealing with unemployment is almost like working a job.

To register for unemployment (benefits) you must have worked for at least 180 days in the last year. Education is included in work. So if you didn't do that then you're out of luck.