Potentially the longest thread in history...

[PP Mguire]

How is insulin for you guys ? I heard you get charged a fortune for it - though I guess it depends what cover you get off your insurance. I hope I don't have to go straight to insulin but my levels were pretty damn high so i'm half expecting them to suggest I do so.




NHS is a blessing and a curse. It's absolutely amazing that you can turn up to the doctors every week, get all sorts of hospital treatment, and there is nothing to sign, no paperwork to fill in, no bills to pay. Just tell the receptionist your name and who you're booked in with and that's all the admin you have to do. The downside is it's chronically underfunded, every doctors office and hospital has a different IT system that really isn't that well integrated with each other. There should be an app to just view your NHS profile but there isn't, except at like two hospitals that are trialling it. It gets about $180bn a year in funding but it needs a great deal more to be up there with the best.

At the end of the day you will get the treatment you need but there is going to be more waiting around than there is in countries with private healthcare systems. A lot of people like me that work for decent companies have private healthcare as well now if you want a faster process and it only costs me £8 a month as a taxable benefit on my paycheck, so I will probably go down that route for long term management of diabetes - but they will only support you once you have an initial referal from the NHS.

Just read this statistic: The cost of diabetes to the NHS is over £1.5m an hour or 10% of the NHS budget for England and Wales. This equates to over £25,000 being spent on diabetes every minute.

Yikes. Ohwell I pay tax and now I get my money's worth.

These numbers and greed is why this country doesn't do that. On the flip side, I've seen the tech hospitals and clinics have here and it's not bad.

 

[kmanmx]

$140 is pretty manageable I guess so long as you have a half decent income.

These numbers and greed is why this country doesn't do that. On the flip side, I've seen the tech hospitals and clinics have here and it's not bad.

There are some of the more advanced things that take a while to come to the NHS. Like proton beam therapy took 10 years longer to arrive here than it did in the US, Germany etc. But on the plus side, if the NHS think you will benefit via a treatment not available in the UK, they will pay for you to go abroad to wherever and get care there. But I think 95% of the stuff you are likely to need is at a hospital somewhere in the UK.

But yeah our hospitals never look fancy. They won't spend a dime on nice decor or interior. Even some of the best hospitals with really good equipment and kit will look have a reception waiting area reminiscent of 1980's USSR.

 

[kmanmx]

Wow they actually found my blood test results. Confirms my first one. Blood is in diabetic range and my liver is doing something wrong too, so I have an appointment a diabetes specialist next Monday and one with a doctor for tomorrow.

 

[PP Mguire]

$140 is pretty manageable I guess so long as you have a half decent income.



There are some of the more advanced things that take a while to come to the NHS. Like proton beam therapy took 10 years longer to arrive here than it did in the US, Germany etc. But on the plus side, if the NHS think you will benefit via a treatment not available in the UK, they will pay for you to go abroad to wherever and get care there. But I think 95% of the stuff you are likely to need is at a hospital somewhere in the UK.

But yeah our hospitals never look fancy. They won't spend a dime on nice decor or interior. Even some of the best hospitals with really good equipment and kit will look have a reception waiting area reminiscent of 1980's USSR.

140 bucks is great because they have half decent insurance, but insulin shouldn't be 600/m to begin with. It's like they really want diabetics to just die over here with how high the cost is for those without insurance or help of any kind.

Wow they actually found my blood test results. Confirms my first one. Blood is in diabetic range and my liver is doing something wrong too, so I have an appointment a diabetes specialist next Monday and one with a doctor for tomorrow.

That's good they found it, but kinda ironic that my spouse had a similar issue in her clinic yesterday. Her normal lab person was out sick yesterday, the cover drew 10 tubes of blood from a person getting tests done and put them in the fridge that doesn't work (mind you it's in an empty room nobody uses, nobody knows why the blood was put in there to begin with).

 

[Joe C]

10 test tubes really is not a lot of blood. When you donate blood (and I have on several occasions) they get about a quart, and feed you some cookies and give you some o.j. when your done. The problem is.... if the person who was getting tested has to go back and give another 10 blood samples, the insurance might not cover you a second time and refuse to pay for the blood draw.

 

[PP Mguire]

10 test tubes really is not a lot of blood. When you donate blood (and I have on several occasions) they get about a quart, and feed you some cookies and give you some o.j. when your done. The problem is.... if the person who was getting tested has to go back and give another 10 blood samples, the insurance might not cover you a second time and refuse to pay for the blood draw.

Yes they do because it wasn't chilled, and this particular person is problematic on a large scale.

 

[Joe C]

Yes they do because it wasn't chilled, and this particular person is problematic on a large scale.

Not sure that will matter because the health industry in the only business that I know of that can get away with royally screwing something up and they can make you pay for their screw up.

 

[strollin]

How is insulin for you guys ? I heard you get charged a fortune for it - though I guess it depends what cover you get off your insurance. I hope I don't have to go straight to insulin but my levels were pretty damn high so i'm half expecting them to suggest I do so.

I have pretty good insurance (in addition to Medicare). My insulin costs $90 for a 3-month supply. I don't take any additional meds for my diabetes.

My wife is Asian and about 10lbs overweight. She developed diabetes and takes Metformin and is told to manage her diet. Her Metformin costs $20 for a 3-month supply.

 

[Wallaby Dan]

Trotter, I can't say for the other folks, But i am lucky. I am a military Veteran so my meds are free. One of the perks of serving my country.

 

[PP Mguire]

Not sure that will matter because the health industry in the only business that I know of that can get away with royally screwing something up and they can make you pay for their screw up.

To the clinic it wouldn't matter, the Dr already approved dropping her as a patient as because like I said she's extremely problematic. I just thought it was funny that Kman had his blood "lost" then a day later a fill in lab tech puts 10 vials of blood in a clearly non working fridge lol.
What I didn't like about the situation is my spouse was saying she had to make that awkward call, when to me it shouldn't be up to the manager to call a patient to come back in but the front desk.