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All At Once-The Fray-How To Save A Life |
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"Diabetic treatment requiring medication is completely free in the UK on the NHS regardless of income. Additionally,any other medical treatment you require is completely free, because you're a diabetic. I mentioned this in another post but yours is asking the question directly, so I'm replying here too. I'm like you, type 1. All the stuff you describe is free, including checkups at hospital and at the GP. It's been this way for years and years. I take lantus and novorapid (here we call it insulin glargine and insulin aspart) and use pens that take cartridges. I can phone or email the surgery for renewals, drop the script off at the chemist and it's done. My regular, local pharmacist knows me (I'm registered on their system which serves all branches and is nationwide) but if I were to go into another pharmacist (different company) all I'd need to bring apart from my script is the exemption certificate which is a plastic thing the size of a credit card, renewed every 5 years.
I've remembered another reason why we have this system for diabetes in particular. It is relatively cheap and easy to maintain a diabetic. However, the consequenses of having badly-controlled diabetes are horrific and expensive. Most amputations are a result of this. Charcot foot, leg ulcers, retinopathy and blindness, sclerotic arteries, kidney disease, neuropathy, premature death. Aside from humanistic principles, an economy doesn't want this to happen to its workers - it wants them still working so it can tax them. A great way to have lots of poorly controlled diabetics is to charge them all for everything. I can't understand why the USA has no UHC really, considering it is still the worlds richest country."
"I pay $118 a paycheck for my family's healthcare premiums. I get paid weekly meaning I pay a little more than $6000 a year just in premiums. When my wife has a baby this December I'll owe somewhere in the range of $4000 out of pocket anyway. Assuming she doesn't have to get a C-section again or there's any other sort of complications.
My wife and I combined gross around $50000 a year. We are going to spend 20% of our gross income on healthcare this year. And I can't wait until January when my premiums go up because I add a second child."
"I'm 26 years old and I owe doctors over $60k because of diabetes-related expenses that my insurance company refuses to pay since type I diabetes is a "pre-existing condition." I have to forgo food sometimes, which is fucking dangerous, to buy testing supplies. I let my car insurance/inspection lapse because I can't pay for them and my health's more important. Insulin's not an option.
This has pretty much wrecked my self-esteem and made me feel like a burden on my family. I hate having to ask for money and I feel like the most useless person in the world because I can't even afford to take care of myself. I know that's stupid, but years of fighting with doctors and insurance companies has left me feeling like nobody gives a fuck and that I brought this on myself somehow. So now, on top of feeling sick and horrible because of diabetes, I get panic attacks constantly because I don't know how to fucking pay for it."
"Prozac 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%
Xanax 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%
And people wonder why so many people go untreated for depression, this shit's fucking heinous."
"n case anybody gives a shit, here was that actual conversation I swear to fuck I'm not making up:
"Hello. Thank you for calling [drug insurance company]. How can I help you?"
"Hi. Yes. I'm [Prince of PURRsia]. My wife, Mrs. [PURRsia] just got a letter in the mail saying you couldn't refill her prescription for blood test strips."
[Back and forth about her insurance ID number.]
"Yes. We tried calling her doctor, but we got no response."
"Right. Well, he's on vacation."
"And when he gets back from vacation, if he calls us and confirms she needs a prescription refill, we'll send your wife the strips."
"Um... you understand she's a Type 1 diabetic, right?"
"Yes, sir. We do."
"To your knowledge, has there been a cure for diabetes since her last prescription six months ago?"
"No. There hasn't been."
"OK. So you understand that diabetics need to test their blood on a regular basis or else cause permanent damage to just about all their vital organs, right?"
"Yes, sir. We do."
"So she needs test strips to do that. Why do you need to confirm she still needs test strips if you know she has a disease for which there is no cure?"
"We just need to speak with her doctor."
"Why? What's he going to say? That he double-checked and, oops, she didn't have diabetes all along? These last 35 years of her jabbing herself with needles were all a horrible mistake?"
"No, sir. We just need to confirm she has a legitimate need for the prescription."
"She's a diabetic. Of course she has a legitimate need for them. What do you think, we're holding parties where we test people's blood sugar recreationally?"
"Sir, with all prescriptions, we need to ensure there is a legitimate need for a refill, and we can only do that with a doctor."
"Ma'am, there is a legitimate need. I promise you. She needs test strips."
"Then she should buy them from a drug store while she waits for her prescription to be refilled."
"We have a child. An eight-year-old child, and most of our money goes to her care and feeding."
"Is the child a diabetic?"
"No."
"Then you need to make a decision whether you're more concerned about the child or your wife."*
*DIRECT FUCKING QUOTE
"Fuck you, ma'am." *hangs up*"
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pissed off