Warning to USA Diabetics....Admin--help

I have no idea how to categorize this. I realize Politics is a big taboo–But–this must be said. We just had a USA election. When the new administration is sworn-in in January, Healthcare will be severely limited–including, perhaps especially, care for chronic illnesses. This will not be a priority. Period. As diabetics, we will need to study up on new rules and regulations and stock up however we see fit, including finding new sources if necessary…Good luck to us all…Judith Catterall in Portland

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And maybe a few cures will suddenly be found and the genocide will be no more.

My concern is the changes in Medicare and Social Security benefits. We rely heavily on both these programs. I have a pension, but my SS and my wife’s SS is more than the monthly pension.

Things at risk as I see it from a medical point of view:

  1. Changes in the co-pay for Dexcom.
  2. Changes in the co-pay for insulin and prescription drugs.
  3. Changes in the co-pay for infusion sets.
  4. Changes in the co-pay for PCP and specialist doctors.
  5. Changes in the co-pay for ostomy supplies.
  6. Increased cost of any and all products that are imported because of the incoming administration’s promise of heavy import tariffs.

Be careful what you wish for, the consequences may not be nice.

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You need to be more specific as to cures, if it is type 1, well that is a complex problem dealing with trying to reprogram the immune system without the problems that immunosuppressant drugs carry.

People through the word genocide at so many things that the word has lost meaning. It has a specific meaning:
Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as:

… any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

— Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 2[8]
Genocide Convention - Wikipedia

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Fearmongering will bring nothing but added anxiety, which is detrimental to anyone, especially diabetics. Let’s see what happens and hope and pray for the best. We may be thrilled with what comes our way under the new administration. Let’s remain positive and address any challenges as they arise. Negative thoughts often lead to negative results. Peace to all!!!

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With all respect, there are bigger fish to fry and this was not in his agenda.

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We change presidents all the time. If you work on policy, you can’t get sucked into partisan politics. Policy demands that you work with both parties. Its a very different game that partisan politics. Here’s the link to the most recent hearings.

It might reduce anxiety to recognize that this stuff continues over many years and over many different administrations and involves lawmakers from both parties. If you want to read about how I currently perceive the policy process, I have a post here: What i think i learned

If you have ideas about policy that might help, you can always write about it here. Ideas get harvested off of this forum by lots of advocates and policy people. What’s great about the forum is that you can quickly collect a wide variety of perspectives and experiences on an issue. People challenge your perspective and improve your understanding of an issue. It’s really helpful because when you try to move policy, people are going to challenge you in every possible way. You might as well be prepared for that.

You have to be prepared for that on a personal and emotional level as well because sometimes diabetics have really impactful experiences that influence those personal perspectives. It can be tough to look someone in the eye when they tell you that you aren’t deserving of this or that. You have be able to look them in the eye, without getting stressed out, and explain, rationally, why you are deserving. You have to believe it.

If you want to engage with partisan politics, go down to your local precinct caucus. You’ll find all sorts of people talking about how lizards taking human form control the government. That’s where you work on partisan stuff like winning elections and fundraising. People who work with policy (and who have moved up the ladder) have had to fight their way through that lizard people stuff. It gets better as you move up the chain (although you still have difficult partisans at a Federal level and its worth knowing how to speak with them). I have not yet found an ideal way to discuss “reptoids” and Pharmacy Benefit Manager policy, but I’m working on it. This guy comes about as close as anyone could, I think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rw4kNHNZyk

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The new administration has one goal. To create misery for the non-rich. PERIOD.

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Politics are taboo for a reason.

Medicare did not suffer before when Trump was President and in fact he tried to put a limit on insulin costs. There is no reason to assume it will be bad. Presidents change all the time, let it play out and if you want, get proactive and write letters to your representatives and get involved in politics.

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I’ll tell you, reading this is all a stark reminder of how happy I am to have moved to New Zealand 2 years ago. I gave up; I just can’t continue buying in to the ceaseless optimism that things will get better while there are decades of evidence to the contrary.

An arch conservative coalition were elected here in the last general election and nobody is threatening to take away public healthcare (though there have been budget cuts to services)

I pay nothing out of pocket for any of my diabetic medications supplies, including T:slim x2 cartridges and infusion sets and Dexcom G7. The longer I live here, the more absurd and distant the situation in the US seems.

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@schleima It all depends what kind of insurance you have here. We have traditional Medicare with a supplemental. Because of my husbands past employer we don’t pay for Medicare or copays in retirement. We pay $40 for a 3 month supply for most medications (Afrezza is $100) for about half the year and then it’s free. I get choices like Omnipods, (or any other pump approved in US) Lyumjev, Afrezza, Dexcoms. Before retirement we paid a total of $200 a month and had small copays for the same coverage. We have a lot more choices here than in government run health systems. You would not be able to supply Medicare for all here, the costs would be too high. It would be vastly different. Our insurance coverage costs are offset by a past employer. Our health system is also one reason we have more cancer drugs to fit specific cancers here than other countries.

We purposely made choices through our work lives to ensure health and benefit packages. That is paying off in spades. I am in certain groups that are based in other countries. I prefer my wider range of drug choices and DME, it’s easier/faster to get procedures/treatments done here and what our health system in the US provides.

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Hi @Marie20

Here in New Zealand some people opt to purchase private health insurance which reduces or eliminates the problem with wait lists on the public system. Private insurance also lets you choose your doctor freely, and covers medications that are not ordinarily funded (covered) by the public system. I have a top tier health insurance that covers almost all of my costs and I pay $340 NZD ($203 USD) per month in premiums. There are no costs and no coinsurance; claims are covered at 100%. A big reason why costs for insurance are so affordable is 1. The public health system covers pre-existing conditions 2. Costs for drugs are negotiated through a tender system. The government says to all drug competitors “if you want 5 million new Zealand customers, give us your best price”. The company that receives the tender knows that their drug will be provided free with the government paying the negotiated rate for the drugs. Companies that lose the tender can still sell their drug but it will not be free and therefore they won’t have as many customers. So it is in the company’s best interests to put their best for forward.

Regarding not having wait lists in America, I disagree. Try to be seen by a specialist within a week and you’ll see what I mean. My wife suffers from GI pain which tends to flare up when she’s stressed. In the US every gastroenterologist we tried was booked out 3 months in advance, and by that time whatever acute pain she experienced had subsided. So this idea that there’s no waiting lists in America is not true. It depends where you live and what providers are available to your community.

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I’m not saying there aren’t wait lists and I agree it can be area driven. But the total average time to say get a hip replacement is within months here versus 6-12 months plus in another country. I understand paying for private insurance offsets a lot of the issues in New Zealands health system and I believe the government actually urges citizens to get it. But that is a monthly cost, not free. If you don’t get private insurance there, and it depends on what policy you purchase, you have a much slower system, you go on wait lists, if you aren’t low income you pay something towards visits and don’t get to choose your doctor etc. I still prefer the choices of products here. For example I’ve had a Dexcom covered for many years now, I believe it was just accepted in NZ. I can get Afrezza and Lyumjev here, I believe those aren’t available in NZ.

I’m not saying there aren’t benefits to New Zealand’s health system. And there is definitely some revamping needed here. But I paid $200 a month before retirement with some small copays and the wider choices here, and after retirement my plan turned into a supplemental with no costs but copays on the wider range of meds and DME. I’m just saying there are pros and cons to each country and I prefer the US’s choices and Health System.

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There are definitely issues with waiting times for major surgeries like hip replacements on the public system here. But again these are offset with private insurance at nominal cost (compared with premiums you would pay in the US for the same 100% cover)

I’ve never heard the government encourage people to get private insurance here. Some people feel it’s cheating, that you’re jumping the queue. But in effect you’re giving up your spot in the public system for someone who can’t afford private insurance.

Also it’s worth noting that private doctors very often also work in the public system as well. So you’re getting the same standard of care public vs private. The private facilities can be nicer with more amenities but in the end you’re getting the same doctors. Private insurance buys
you choice, and drastically reduces or eliminates wait times.

You’re right that the modern insulins are not available here, but Humalog, novorapud and Lantus are. This isn’t necessarily because of the government; I looked into Afrezza and they’ve never applied for a tender in New Zealand. So this is a choice by the company (or an oversight). That doesn’t mean it won’t be available one day. And in the end I’d say that ensuring 100% of NZ diabetics never have to worry about affording insulin, pumps, CGMs and oral meds is a huge benefit to the society as a whole.

Also the NZ system is quite generous in covering public healthcare at 100%. Not all countries do this. Australia has a hybrid public/private model that relies more heavily on the private system. If you don’t have private insurance your costs can get quite expensive. And even if you do, insurance does not cover 100% of costs. For example I now get my Dexcom and Tslim at no cost, but in Australia pumps are not covered and cost about $8000 while Dexcom costs about $70/month. They are a bigger population and have more options in their healthcare system than NZ for sure. But again, I cannot tell you the relief I feel from never having to worry about where my insulin is coming from again. I’ve been unemployed in America without insurance and had to go to free clinics and beg drug companies for vouchers. That is not sustainable and there’s always going to be a large number of people in this situation, for various reasons. It’s simply not fair nor realistic to expect 100% of people in need to be able to cover themselves. I’ll give up lyumjev for that (besides, it makes my infusion sites burn!)

Also I think it’s quite interesting that the systems which rely more heavily on private insurance always seem to pass more costs on to the patient. Do it for long enough and suddenly people feel lucky their “good” insurance covers 80% of costs, or that insulin costs are covered at $35/month for certain people. While over here in NZ people don’t understand why Americans think it’s such a good deal.

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Great thing about America; we vote every 4 years for president.

Inflation along with a massive strategic presidential election misstep was too much for the demacratics to over come.

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Every 4 years? I recall someone telling us that we would never have to vote again… call it a joke if you will. But I believe him when he says it.

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Of course he means he’s never leaving once he has set up shop (quite literally in his case) in our White House. That is featured heavily in his/heritage foundation’s 2025 Plan. Nice and neat for all to read. Diabetics, stock up!

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LOL—His agenda is whatever falls in his face when he staggers out of bed on any given day. Always has been. Besides–the agenda is Project 2025’s.

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Just noting that the Mods prefer not to interfere on a topic as long as it remains civil, but obviously there are a lot of 3rd-rails out there when it comes to this topic. Policy discussion is ok, but policy can get personal and people can get alienated and leave the community, which goes against the point of having a community. So we’re aware of that potential here, but would prefer that members use their own judgment and exercise an appropriate level of restraint.

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Ouch. That hits home. My wife has a good job at a large corporation and I definitely feel lucky to be covered by her plan. Every month, hundreds are deducted from her paycheck because we chose the highest end option and every year we spend thousands on medical care on top of that because of deductibles etc and every once in a while something unexpectedly is not covered and we’re hit with a big unexpected bill. And we do feel lucky to have this coverage. It’s sort of nuts and the standard of “good insurance” just means less and less coverage. I felt lucky that they paid for 80% of my Tandem Mobi and my 20% was “only” a cool $1,000+ (put the exact figure out of my head).
Can’t really remember, but probably got my first Animas 100% covered back in the day.

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