I really wonder at US politicians who are against full socialized medicine(on both sides of the party fence). I'm a US expat living in Canada, soon to be a Canadian citizen and become dual. I have nothing but good things to say about the socialized medicine here. I have had better care here then I have had in the US. So I know that you can do socialized medicine right.

I don't understand how people can believe that insurance is somehow optional and that those that can't afford it shouldn't have it. It really feels like backhanded eugenics to me. If your too poor to pay for proper medical care then there's something wrong with you and you should just die and make way for the "better people."

I just saw that "tips" last night, posted at Kerrie's facebook. I LOVE IT! I had not seen it before. :-D

Re: health care costs... as someone with a chronic (expensive) condition as well, I definitely resent that it will always keep me in a position to need a partially job-funded health care plan. :( (Working for a nonprofit the health plan is only partially funded, but it's great for a small nonprofit, and I feel very fortunate. I couldn't get by without it.)

::sigh::

I know - we talked about this on my journal and your amazing offer is so appreciated.

What sucks is that my husband *has* good insurance. If we were without it, I would be in much worse shape, and probably have to get divorced/use public assistance just to be able to control one of my chronic illnesses (Texas allows 3 prescriptions a month on Medicaid. Yes, three. We learned that when my daughter with cancer was told that she couldn't fill all of her chemotherapy meds and which ones did we want.)

Fail.

It is kind of amazing how little awareness most insured folk have of how much they'd be spending without their insurance. Maybe sending everyone an annual "bill" would give them a chance to be sympathetic toward those who don't have access to well-funded health care.

Such a frustrating situation. :(

I wonder how many full-time writers and artists and sculptors and dancers we'd have in this country if everyone didn't need their day jobs for the insurance? How many brilliant creative works are we missing?

Health care is VERY expensive. Being unemployed and my insurance benefits will shortly be ending, I am getting very worried because at retail my son's meds will cost about the same as my mortgage and unemployment will cover one, but not both. I still haven't figured out why they think someone without a job can afford COBRA - it costs over 5 times what my employer-supplied health insurance cost.
I really don't understand why Congress, et.al. are so afraid of universal health care instead of all the silly insurance reforms they keep arguing about. Unfortunately, with all the brangling going on in Congress, nothing will be done in time to help a lot of us who are out of work.
/rant

I've been reading people's invisible disease posts this week and thinking about it, too.

I'm diabetic, but I'm on diet restrictions and oral meds, so mine is virtually invisible to others.

I have no medical insurance currently because I was displaced from my permanent job by the economy and am working temp accounting jobs right now. They pay well enough, but you're right. Being diabetic is expensive. People don't see that.

I can still get my meds thanks to Walmart's $4 prescriptions, but in two months, when my last refill is done, I'm not sure what I'll do. I can't afford the doctor appointments and blood tests. I haven't been to see my doctor since February 2008.

I have no test strips or lancets because that prescription ran out quite a while back. That's very frightening, as I'm sure you can imagine.

To think of people worse off, to think of all the conditions we can't see, but that people suffer with...it's mind-boggling, isn't it?

Cancer doesn't cost me anything on a monthly recurring basis, but last year my medical bills were $100,000. This year they'll be at least $25,000, assuming I don't start chemo in November. Like you, most of that is covered by decent workplace-sponsored insurance, but my out of pocket last year was over $6,000.

These idiots demonstrating against healthcare reform have no idea what the hell they're talking about. I'm one layoff away from bankruptcy and a death sentence. So are many of them.

I have to say that those numbers are sobering, and terrifying.

I've always been very appreciative of my job and the health insurance that it provides. When I was married, the first thing I did was make sure that I changed to the family plan. When my oldest son was born, one of the many revelations that came to me, was the fact that I'd never be able to leave my job willingly. His rare genetic defect meant that I'd never be able to get him covered under anyone else's plan. That was 20 years ago, and still true. Good insurance (hell even bad and poor insurance) means you're chained to a job or career, especially if one of your family members has a life sustaining need for the benefits provided by that insurance. I even know of people who put of divorcing because of insurance. I was one of them. My ex-wife needed the benefits of my insurance and we put off our divorce for two years as she got the treatments that she needed. It shouldn't be that way. Quality health care should not have to be a perk of the rich, the lucky, or the politically connected.

Right now my biggest fear is that when my state elects a new governor, he may decide to fire everyone over a certain level or so many years close to retirement, just to put his politically connected cronies in a decent paying job. Then my son's insurance is gone.

My sister has type 2 diabetes as well, and my husband is on meds for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I don't even want to know what either of those costs without insurance.

My mom didn't have insurance at one point. She's on a cocktail of meds for bipolar, anxiety, manic depression, and a few other things I'm sure she hasn't mentioned, plus her husband takes meds for something or other. I remember at one point they were spending about $600 every week or two on just medication. Plus they both smoke two packs a day (healthy, right?). I probably don't need to tell you, but they don't make a lot of money, and they don't own their own home. They've moved a lot in the last decade just trying to get by.

I'm very lucky with my insurance. All preventative care is 100% covered, which generally prevents or helps detect major problems before they become major wallet problems. My guess is that's what the gov intends with this universal healthcare thing... get people in before they get seriously ill so they DON'T get seriously ill, therefore saving money.

We won't go into my case (full of ills) but my daughter in law. She has MS. She is/was on ssi and sdi (I think I have the letters sort of right) She was just informed that since her husband (my son) is receiving unimployment checks (due to run out tomorrow) they are cancelling all of her medical insurance. Can't have any income at all to receive any benefits.

Talk about pre existing conditions.

I'm lucky. My husband is a custodian for the public schools in Michigan, and I know people that would kill to have our insurance.

Frankly, everyone should have our insurance.

I grew up on welfare, and Medicaid was a nightmare in the 80s. My mom had lupus and was bipolar as well. To save costs, Medicaid had her rheumatoid doctor prescribing her bipolar meds. This doctor OD'd my mom on lithium; those weeks are some of the worst memories of my life.

I firmly believe that health care needs to be reformed. I firmly believe that there must be a public option. However, any health care plan--government run or not--must avoid making the sort of mistakes that led to my mom's overdose.

$200 a month asthma meds. Plus allergy meds. No prescription coverage. I skimp too. I know I'm damaging my lungs. Long term, the inflammation is causing remodelling.

I have often wondered how the job market would change if the US had universal (affordable) health care. How many people would quit their jobs and go full-time freelance? I know a lot of folks in the publishing industry who freelance on the side, and the only thing keeping them in a salaried position is that pesky need to see a doctor once in a while.

It would be fascinating to see that happen. Imagine companies not being able to hire staff because people were already insured? They might have to offer actual perks!

And the doctor visits, are those to monitor the diabetes by itself, or to also monitor the peripheral areas affected--eyes, joints, extremities, kidneys, etc?
So many people protesting against health care reform have no idea *how much* treating a disease as common as diabetes *costs*; it's not just the insulin, and the test strips, and the doctor's visits: it's regular visits to a qualified eye doctor to monitor the health of your eyes to make sure the diabetes doesn't blind you, trips to a renal specialist to check your kidneys, and so many other thigs.

NYS has a public health insurance option that includes sliding fees.

But we as a nation are (and have always been) in desperate need of a National Healthcare system. I remember during Clinton's first campaign, he talked about that selfsame need, and he mentioned "spiraling costs," etc.

Meanwhile, we've had 16 years of inflation, and healthcare in particular has continued to spiral. Anyone with a chronic medical condition is hurting. You're talking in the case of diabetes about $6000 a year, just to stay healthy. There are programs that will give you a glucometer for free, but not the test strips, oh, no...

Then there are the folks with disabilities, or multiple medical issues (what doctors call "complex patients.")

On top of that, there's the simple person who's injured in an accident. A fall while hiking, a hit-and-run while biking, a misfiring nailgun while working on your house... Emergency care you might get, but what about followup? What about residual problems.

We're totally ignoring that, had the President's mother been able to get routine checkups, as well as treatment early and often, she might well be alive today, to see her son in the White House.

I agree 100 percent. I have always been very good at managing money, keeping money, saving money, and so forth. But I was born with a heart defect, and over the years it's really built up, costing up to 20k a year sometimes to deal with. So, as you can imagine, I'm constantly broke. The only money I owe is to doctors and hospitals, and I owe enough I can never have any saved. And insurance won't touch me, since I was born with a defect. I got dental, that is all.

I understand where you're coming from. I feel cheated, but I guess it could be a lot worse.

Here from seanan_mcguire

Here in Australia, even with socialised Health Care (Medicare, here) and subsidisation, diabetic costs are huge. Cap that with other medical issues, and it makes for a hefty monthly bill (mine's close to $300/month, but only because I reuse my lancets until they go blunt enough to hurt, and my pen tip needles are free. It also doesn't include any other medications I might need over the month, like cold meds or asthma inhalers or pain relief or any vitamins or supplements I use to try and keep me healthier). I can't even begin to think what I would do if I needed an insulin pump (starting price $5,000, not subsidised at all, and with consumables costing upwards of $150 per month) Not to mention waiting periods for surgery and specialist visits that can can stretch into years (I waited five years on a waiting list to see an orthopaedic surgeon, then another three for the ankle reconstruction I had needed for more than ten years at that point). Or I could have taken out a personal loan for the $27,000 to pay for the surgery privately - as if any bank in their right mind would have given an unemployed, unemployable woman a loan for $27, let alone $27,000.

And don't get me started on Dental. It isn't covered by Medicare. I fractured a single front tooth a few years back, and it cost me $6000 for that single tooth to be replaced with a ceramic/titanium implant.

Socialised health care isn't the be-all and end-all. And if we could afford private health insurance, we'd get it, but the out-of-pocket expenses (co-pays) are often more prohibitive than staying on Medicare alone. My MIL had breast cancer in 2005. She has top tier private health insurance, and her out-of-pocket/co-pay expenses for her diagnosis, surgery, chemo and radiotherapy were well over $12,000 in the first year, and around $7,000 in her second year. When she got her itemised statement form her insurance company, she noticed the full cost of her treatments over that first year totalled more than $150,000. Now she has lymphodema, and her ongoing medication, treatment and laser therapy co-pay costs are somewhere in the $2000's after her insurance company pays their share.

One of the best pieces of advice I have ever run across was soemthing about not quitting your day job, in Writers Digsst. It not only gives you a chance to interact with people (or see/overhear interactinos with others), which gives you fodder for characterization, it can also serve as a springboard for story ideas (that sometimes hit you in the face when you neither want, nor need them: so you write them in your plot ideas book, in the hopes that they will go away and leave you alone).

Seriously, though, balancing both writing and family and your job, budgeting the time, is probably one of the best writing motivators.

Of course, typing more than 25 wpm,, and without too, too many errors, also helps ^_^ (this, from the Imperial Monarch of the Typo, of course).

Insulin treatment is free over here (as it's long-term illness), so I am genuinely boggled that there are people being charged $586.50 a month to not die. What the fuck? I can't think of any moral code outside of Randian Objectivism where this can be justified.