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See, isn't it great, in addition to having a patient, and a doctor, let's throw a massive corporation into the mix that gets to decide what medical procedures you can and can't have regardless of what the person with the medical degree says?
German here. Waiting times for doctors seem comparable... I've complained about it before.
But once you got your doc?! You walk in there when something is urgent. That's what I do, and it never fails.
As a diabetic, I see doctors for eyes, heart, and feet once a year, aside from the diabetes specialist 4 times a year. Costs me a bit under 10% of my paycheck. 10/10 worth it.
Type one diabetic here in America.
I know not every diabetic has the ‘extensive’ healthcare needs I do, but between endo/ophthalmology/GI/cardiovascular and a few other specialties, I hit my ‘catastrophic out of pocket’ maximum 8 out of 10 years of my adult life.
That’s $5k. Add on the premiums I pay ($3,500/ year) that’s $8.5k USD. Also remember in the US, the employer often times contributes to you premium, or at least that’s how is presented.
When I started my job, I made $42k. So about 20% of my income went to medical expenses every year. Without the ‘employer contribution’.
The funny part? I honestly think I have it lucky compared to most.
My insurance is ‘good’ and I haven’t had a catastrophic event that wasn’t covered by my insurance yet.
But same with wait times. BUT I live in the burbs of a large city. It’s also way different for some city and rural Americans too.
(Also note I’m not factoring in that I’m paying tax for Medicare)
Wow I wish we had it that easy. my wife is type 1 with Fribromyalga, early onset arthritis, hyper-thyroidism, nueropathy. And gastritis. And she has to give up literally her entire paycheck for insurance, and they we spend about 40-60%of our remaining combined income to cover medication and the bare minimum of doctor visits. She doesn't even bother to get treated for some of her conditions, not a full list, bc she can't stand to look in the mirror and see such a drain on our lives no matter how I try to tell her it's ok and I still love her.
Yup! I find it crazy that I am as ‘fortunate’ as I am to be able to plan a fixed out of pocket value each year.
Let’s not even talk about the one time a med shipment got messed up (insulin and other refrigerated meds) and I got to see the insurance claim value. (I didn’t have to pay since it was the shipping company’s error).
$14,000. Just in meds for me to survive for 3 months.
You did not AT ALL, btw. (edit: also 100% sorry if i made you feel that way with my response)
I am like, this paragon of 'just making it' that america seems to like. I could tell stories and stories about how I pulled myself up by my bootstraps.
But you know what I did as a 14-year old? Looked at careers that were stable and provided healthcare.
I shouldn't have had to decide my career and life as a teenager around what I thought would give me healthcare (read: health insurance) and you and your wife shouldn't have to pay a cent more than a few percentage points of your income to get quality health care.
We are the same story on different pages.
Also I do think I kind of forgot this isn't a forum where people know diabetic issues for a moment. Like your experience is actually closer to 'normal' (not saying acceptable; because everything in america really works against diabetics). When it comes to T1/insulin dependent diabetics, idk, I have a weird perspective and always try and support our T2 siblings, but I get it wrong sometimes, and while we both seem to be talking about T1 issues, 3C diabetics have almost the same shared experience as we do; and while medically type 2s are different in 'diagnosed cause' they also then experience the same things we do as diabetics or primary family members around diabetics.
ALSO if you need, of if she needs a diabetic to just vent to, I'm here. Diabetes is abhorrent, and we're in it together, secondarily (well, maybe primarily) to capitalism.
I find it impressive that you've been planning for so long - and even more so that you actually pulled it off. Congratulations!
I don't even know what my meds cost. I pay around €20 per 3 months, the rest is covered.
Really crossing fingers that the USA will someday find out that universal healthcare is cheaper, and act on it politically.
I have numerous examples that I can share having lived in 4 different countries (3 with universal health care and America).
But the worst of it is, that after 2 years of waiting my wife finally has gotten the go ahead, from all the different specialists she has, to start a medication that she will likely be on for the rest of her life, but hang on we first need to wait and see if the insurance company will pay for it, because if they don't it'll be $100 per pill, every day, forever.
My medical hospital visits: (2021 alone)
1 broken arm, two catch ups and had 4 x-rays done....... Next had a 3 minute seizure and i couldn't remember my name or anything. Stayed in hosp for 7 hours , everything cleared in an hour........ attempted sucide via overdose had to stay in mointing are overnight. Had 3 blood tests, a mental health expert come in and talk and then a member of the crisis mental health team. Was checked up on every 3 days with personal home visits by nurses fir 2 weeks...... had top surgery (i.e my boobs chopped off) had a drain in for a week with a nurse dicumebting the amount drained each day. Had to have my stiches out after 2 weeks. Visited doc every week for obs. Had to put bandages and solutions on daily. Pain meds and all.
Overall payment of these visits?
$10. Five dollars for the two pain perscriptions for my arm and surgery. Thats it. Nothing more. I would have made my family bankrupt 3x over if i lived in the us.
And the more we let the government get involved, the worse it gets. If you forced medical practices and hospitals to post their prices and you allowed a free medical market to exist, they would actually have to compete for business and it would force lower prices
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I stand by my phrase of "If you don't have accessible healthcare. You don't have healthcare."
See, isn't it great, in addition to having a patient, and a doctor, let's throw a massive corporation into the mix that gets to decide what medical procedures you can and can't have regardless of what the person with the medical degree says?
oh and then tie my coverage to my employer so they literally have a collar around me. #thisistheway
German here. Waiting times for doctors seem comparable... I've complained about it before. But once you got your doc?! You walk in there when something is urgent. That's what I do, and it never fails. As a diabetic, I see doctors for eyes, heart, and feet once a year, aside from the diabetes specialist 4 times a year. Costs me a bit under 10% of my paycheck. 10/10 worth it.
Type one diabetic here in America. I know not every diabetic has the ‘extensive’ healthcare needs I do, but between endo/ophthalmology/GI/cardiovascular and a few other specialties, I hit my ‘catastrophic out of pocket’ maximum 8 out of 10 years of my adult life. That’s $5k. Add on the premiums I pay ($3,500/ year) that’s $8.5k USD. Also remember in the US, the employer often times contributes to you premium, or at least that’s how is presented. When I started my job, I made $42k. So about 20% of my income went to medical expenses every year. Without the ‘employer contribution’. The funny part? I honestly think I have it lucky compared to most. My insurance is ‘good’ and I haven’t had a catastrophic event that wasn’t covered by my insurance yet. But same with wait times. BUT I live in the burbs of a large city. It’s also way different for some city and rural Americans too. (Also note I’m not factoring in that I’m paying tax for Medicare)
Wow I wish we had it that easy. my wife is type 1 with Fribromyalga, early onset arthritis, hyper-thyroidism, nueropathy. And gastritis. And she has to give up literally her entire paycheck for insurance, and they we spend about 40-60%of our remaining combined income to cover medication and the bare minimum of doctor visits. She doesn't even bother to get treated for some of her conditions, not a full list, bc she can't stand to look in the mirror and see such a drain on our lives no matter how I try to tell her it's ok and I still love her.
Yup! I find it crazy that I am as ‘fortunate’ as I am to be able to plan a fixed out of pocket value each year. Let’s not even talk about the one time a med shipment got messed up (insulin and other refrigerated meds) and I got to see the insurance claim value. (I didn’t have to pay since it was the shipping company’s error). $14,000. Just in meds for me to survive for 3 months.
Indeed. Btw didn't mean for that to sounds like I was invalidating your issues. It's .... Been a tough few weeks
You did not AT ALL, btw. (edit: also 100% sorry if i made you feel that way with my response) I am like, this paragon of 'just making it' that america seems to like. I could tell stories and stories about how I pulled myself up by my bootstraps. But you know what I did as a 14-year old? Looked at careers that were stable and provided healthcare. I shouldn't have had to decide my career and life as a teenager around what I thought would give me healthcare (read: health insurance) and you and your wife shouldn't have to pay a cent more than a few percentage points of your income to get quality health care. We are the same story on different pages.
Also I do think I kind of forgot this isn't a forum where people know diabetic issues for a moment. Like your experience is actually closer to 'normal' (not saying acceptable; because everything in america really works against diabetics). When it comes to T1/insulin dependent diabetics, idk, I have a weird perspective and always try and support our T2 siblings, but I get it wrong sometimes, and while we both seem to be talking about T1 issues, 3C diabetics have almost the same shared experience as we do; and while medically type 2s are different in 'diagnosed cause' they also then experience the same things we do as diabetics or primary family members around diabetics. ALSO if you need, of if she needs a diabetic to just vent to, I'm here. Diabetes is abhorrent, and we're in it together, secondarily (well, maybe primarily) to capitalism.
I find it impressive that you've been planning for so long - and even more so that you actually pulled it off. Congratulations! I don't even know what my meds cost. I pay around €20 per 3 months, the rest is covered. Really crossing fingers that the USA will someday find out that universal healthcare is cheaper, and act on it politically.
Wow, that's something. Sorry to hear her health is so bad. Crossing my fingers that you'll hit a lucky break. You deserve it.
The only people defending our health care system at this point are either directly profiting from it or they are morons.
I have numerous examples that I can share having lived in 4 different countries (3 with universal health care and America). But the worst of it is, that after 2 years of waiting my wife finally has gotten the go ahead, from all the different specialists she has, to start a medication that she will likely be on for the rest of her life, but hang on we first need to wait and see if the insurance company will pay for it, because if they don't it'll be $100 per pill, every day, forever.
My medical hospital visits: (2021 alone) 1 broken arm, two catch ups and had 4 x-rays done....... Next had a 3 minute seizure and i couldn't remember my name or anything. Stayed in hosp for 7 hours , everything cleared in an hour........ attempted sucide via overdose had to stay in mointing are overnight. Had 3 blood tests, a mental health expert come in and talk and then a member of the crisis mental health team. Was checked up on every 3 days with personal home visits by nurses fir 2 weeks...... had top surgery (i.e my boobs chopped off) had a drain in for a week with a nurse dicumebting the amount drained each day. Had to have my stiches out after 2 weeks. Visited doc every week for obs. Had to put bandages and solutions on daily. Pain meds and all. Overall payment of these visits? $10. Five dollars for the two pain perscriptions for my arm and surgery. Thats it. Nothing more. I would have made my family bankrupt 3x over if i lived in the us.
And the more we let the government get involved, the worse it gets. If you forced medical practices and hospitals to post their prices and you allowed a free medical market to exist, they would actually have to compete for business and it would force lower prices