I was just curious about the costing of Medicines needed by Diabetics in America. I have heard a few horror stories here on Tudiabetes about folks not being able to afford insulin, needles, test strips ect.
As an American, I was lucky enough to be diagnose here in Australia with Type 1. ( I know lucky sounds strange, but hear me out) First of all, the public health care system in Australia is free. You can basically walk into any hospital here and not be refused treatment. In some cases you may have to wait a very long time for the treatment but you do get it. Secondly, the cost associated with your medicine is subsidised significantly. For example, I received a script for 6 boxes of 5 Nova Lantas insulin pens and 6 boxes of 5 Nova Rapid insulin pens for well under $60. This also came with a script to re-fill when empty. The disposable needles for the insulin pens are free and the test strips for my meter cost around $14 per box of 100.
Diabetes educator are free unless you wish to pay for specialist, in this case you are refunded half the cost after each visit.
These cost to me ease a heavy burden of knowing that I may have to pay for these items for the rest of my life. I can't imagine at this stage having to worry about whether or not I can afford to pay for my next lot of insulin.
If the U.S system is not like the Australian system, can someone please get the politicians over there to look into something like this. It would make life a lot easier for people with a burden like ours.
I wish we would do something similar. If we all pay taxes, we can all benefit from the services provided. Now we pay taxes but also pay a huge amount of our income to insurance companies. Steal. That’s kind of harsh. I look at paying my taxes and my contribution to the common good. You approach this like it’s just a one way street. At least with health care you’re getting some return on your investment if it is tax-funded.
I have similar feelings. I am a US citizen living in Hungary. Health care was a huge factor in our decision to settle in Hungary. It does feel ironic though that I chose to settle in a country with 1/3 the GDP per capita because of the health care system.
The vast majority of Americans who don’t have diabetes/some other chronic illness don’t see the ones who do as having any social relation to them, as the most recently election has borne out. I am not sure why the U.S. is so culturally backward, but it is.
Thanks for the comments. It seems that a majority of us feel that governments paying for the health care system think that it is the right thing to do. I can’t understand the logic of a few people who feel that their tax money should not pay for the well being of other people in their own country. Let’s face it, some of the tax money spent on other services in a economy, some of us have never used nor have the intention of using. But it is good to know that those services are there just in case we ever need to use them. Duck, the idea of Paul stealing from John is absurd as my name is Tim and I pay my own taxes!.. Just think about the majority of people who don’t agree with the war. Their tax money is still used on the fight. No choice in the matter regardless of tax bracket. Let’s make love not war, also let’s heal people and not leave them sick.
I couldn't agree more with this....until the profit motive is removed from healthcare, there is ALWAYS going to be a group that suffers...aka sick people. Let's face it....health insurance companies LOSE money on sick individuals, so if the profit motive isn't removed, people are always going to suffer.
