If you're a type 1 diabetic like me, you'd be forced to choose between spending that money on something fun like a much needed new pair of winter shoes or spending it on your diabetes: prescription co-pays, little out-of-pocket expenses for diabetes that add up like glucose tablets, juice, that $40 flu shot, insoles for your shoes, etc. I figured it out and I spend about $500 a month or about $125/week on diabetes related costs.
That does not include the cost of insurance, mind you, which I currently have through COBRA (from my last employer) and my father, who has spent more than $6,000 keeping me insured while I've been teaching abroad and between jobs with good insurance in the US. Most of that cost is just "in case." I haven't used my US insurance here in Taiwan at all, except to get a few prescription supplies sent to me such as insulin and test strips. But being left without insurance is too damn risky for a type 1 diabetic, and often times future employers have a mandatory one (or two) year pre-existing clause attached to their insurance policies, which precludes covering any diabetic-related costs.
When I was a substitute teacher in Wisconsin, I was without insurance and had to pay out-of-pocket for all expenses, and even though my father did reimburse all costs eventually, the wait time was often long enough that I had to face a choice--spend $100 on that box of test strips, or go without testing enough. I always paid for my insulin (Humalog/Lantus), but sometimes the staggering cost of test strips was too much to afford making a mere $85/day as a substitute teacher (before taxes), and I had to go without.
While I do admit that my personal life choices (quitting my stressful inner-city teaching job with good insurance, substitute teaching, teaching abroad and working for a non-profit) have made it much more challenging to manage and pay for my diabetes care, there's something inherently wrong about our system of health-care in the United States, and I really hope that whoever the new president is will initiate much needed changes in the American health care system.
5 comments:
I could not agree more.
I wish you could have spent that money on something fun!!
amen sister!
I so agree with you in regards to the american health care system!! Healthy people tend to take it for granted. When do you head back to the states???
I can't believe it's been fifteen years since the Clintons swore up and down they'd figure out health care reform. Not much has changed. That's unfortunate.
(BTW, the feed I was using on bloglines wasn't updating your blog. WTF...anyways.)
It's sad that diabetes controls so much of our lives. My parents can't really afford to help me much. They just simply don't have the money. And when I wasn't re-hired for my teaching job, I went without insurance for 5 months. It took me nearly a year to pay off all the bills.
I would like to see some kind of health care reform, but I worry about socialized medicine. I don't want it to end up like your care in Taiwan was! I currenly have doctors who will sit down and talk to me and discuss with me and HELP me if I ask. I would hate for that to change.
If it wasn't for the lack of insurance, I would quit my job and open a child care center. That's what I've always wanted to do. But, alas, no can do. Not if I want to live, anyway.
Reform is desperatly needed in the US. I guess that was an obvious statement.
It really turnes my stomach and makes me realize a little bit more about the American Government and how far behind they are (even behind some 3rd world countries) in that spectrum.
I pray for everyones sake that you see changes not only in your lifetime but very soon.
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