Too Many Meds

[Mug]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

Why didn't the NHS cover it? I'm not 100% familiar with the UK health system, so I do not know where prescription drugs fall, in terms of who pays for what.

Prescription charges were introduced in the 2000s, it's not to cover the charge but to stop people abusing the system and getting things like cold meds off the NHS which could be bought from the supermarket for like 40p.

 

There's a form you can fill in to get free prescriptions if you earn under a certain amount or are in full time education (such as me) but unfortunately I have inheritance from my grandparents so I'm over the asset limit. It's like £8-9 per prescription which isn't too bad but you can buy a 3 month pass which is £35 if you have a recurring prescription. There are a bunch of terms for it, I researched it a while back but unfortunately qualify for none

[dalekphalm]

7 minutes ago, Mug said:

Prescription charges were introduced in the 2000s, it's not to cover the charge but to stop people abusing the system and getting things like cold meds off the NHS which could be bought from the supermarket for like 40p.

 

There's a form you can fill in to get free prescriptions if you earn under a certain amount or are in full time education (such as me) but unfortunately I have inheritance from my grandparents so I'm over the asset limit. It's like £8-9 per prescription which isn't too bad but you can buy a 3 month pass which is £35 if you have a recurring prescription. There are a bunch of terms for it, I researched it a while back but unfortunately qualify for none

Do you by any chance have health insurance that can cover the prescriptions?

 

My employer provided health insurance would pretty much cover any prescription costs - Many schools (University or College, anyway) also provide health insurance (in Canada, at any rate).

 

Either way, sucks, but at least it's not that expensive. Some meds cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

[Mug]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

Do you by any chance have health insurance that can cover the prescriptions?

 

My employer provided health insurance would pretty much cover any prescription costs - Many schools (University or College, anyway) also provide health insurance (in Canada, at any rate).

 

Either way, sucks, but at least it's not that expensive. Some meds cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

No university does here because 95% of the cover in this country is covered by the state. I know my mum has an employer insurance scheme but that's for non-emergency hospital care only, few employers provide this.

I don't reckon there are any private GP clinics in my area either, the nearest private hospital is over 10 miles away; it's quite a poor area. I'll just be stuck paying about a tenner a month for a short while. It's fine though, I can afford it.

[Dylanc1500]

29 minutes ago, Mug said:

I take some anti-inflammatory for my foot but that's temporary

 

Really pissed off though, it cost the NHS like £2 for a month of it and I paid £8

 

Fucking hate paying for prescriptions.

What is the NHS if you don't mind me asking?

I hear that. I go through my max out of pocket ($7500) with insurance in the first month of the year. Every bit which I have to pay out of pocket, luckily my most expensive med has Co-pay assistance, however it still costs my insurance $32,000 a month just for it, so its not all bad lol. I would (pardon my language) shit bricks if I payed that out of pocket.

[Dylanc1500]

23 minutes ago, Mug said:

Prescription charges were introduced in the 2000s, it's not to cover the charge but to stop people abusing the system and getting things like cold meds off the NHS which could be bought from the supermarket for like 40p.

 

There's a form you can fill in to get free prescriptions if you earn under a certain amount or are in full time education (such as me) but unfortunately I have inheritance from my grandparents so I'm over the asset limit. It's like £8-9 per prescription which isn't too bad but you can buy a 3 month pass which is £35 if you have a recurring prescription. There are a bunch of terms for it, I researched it a while back but unfortunately qualify for none

Are there any Co-pay type programs available?

[dalekphalm]

16 minutes ago, Dylanc1500 said:

What is the NHS if you don't mind me asking?

I hear that. I go through my max out of pocket ($7500) with insurance in the first month of the year. Every bit which I have to pay out of pocket, luckily my most expensive med has Co-pay assistance, however it still costs my insurance $32,000 a month just for it, so its not all bad lol. I would (pardon my language) shit bricks if I payed that out of pocket.

NHS is the National Health Service - It's the single payer, tax funded health care system in the UK. Think Medicaid but for everyone (and generally, better). The NHS is by no means perfect, but it's not a terrible way to do things.

[Dylanc1500]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

NHS is the National Health Service - It's the single payer, tax funded health care system in the UK. Think Medicaid but for everyone (and generally, better). The NHS is by no means perfect, but it's not a terrible way to do things.

Oh I see, ya from what I have heard they seem to cover CF patients much better than Medicaid. Medicaid isn't even an option for me, since they don't cover the five most important meds I take or any of my equipment for that matter. Hey, It forces me to work full time doing something I enjoy so there's that!

[Mug]

58 minutes ago, Dylanc1500 said:

What is the NHS if you don't mind me asking?

I hear that. I go through my max out of pocket ($7500) with insurance in the first month of the year. Every bit which I have to pay out of pocket, luckily my most expensive med has Co-pay assistance, however it still costs my insurance $32,000 a month just for it, so its not all bad lol. I would (pardon my language) shit bricks if I payed that out of pocket.

The NHS is our healthcare system. it's 100% state-owned, state-run and state-funded. Everyone gets heathcare free at the point of need no matter how rich or poor with exception of dental care and eye care and prescriptions, which are all subsidised. In the case of prescriptions, the cost per prescription is like 8 quid each, that's for any prescription even if it costs the NHS £2000/mo, it'll only cost you £8 per issue or £35 per 3 months

 

Basically nobody needs to care about the cost of medical care ever, the government has it covered. there are private insurers but literally nobody uses them unless they're ridiculously rich. Private medical care is almost frowned upon, people using it are seen as almost snobby. Bit like private schools.

1 hour ago, Dylanc1500 said:

Are there any Co-pay type programs available?

The £8 is a co-payer plan, just that with cheaper prescriptions it works against people.

 

50 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

The NHS is by no means perfect, but it's not a terrible way to do things

I reckon it's a knee-jerk reaction to an issue. It's not a logical solution to healthcare, it's an ideological one. Other countries have far more efficient and cheaper private systems, we have one of the worst systems in the developed world but to us it's everything. Just look at the Olympic opening ceremony in 2012, a good while dedicated to celebrating the NHS. I bet there were a good few people sitting at home crying because of how proud they were.

[WindirBear]

i take a bag of chips once a month or week.

[yathis]

Well its been that way for eons. Oh you got a sniffle, here is a pill. Oh you feel sad, here is a pill. Oh you got ache, here is a pill.

All the while they dont treat the underlying problems, which in most cases is diet.

[Atmos]

For the first couple months in too damn long a time none actually. (Aside from the occasional ibuprofen for the rsi) I'm off the opiates now that I was on for a good long time after my car wreck back in 2015. My chiropractor has been a major factor in that improvement. Sitting for extended periods of time and working while bent over and still pretty uncomfortable, but its a far cry from collapsing and being unable to get back up, just from trying to grab your shoes. Two herniated disc's will do that though... And considering what happened to my car, I'm fucking glad I got out of it with just that for the long term injury.

 

Really sucks to hear about your condition though @Dylanc1500. I can't begin to image the kind of stress that puts on you, but damn right you seem to be handling it stride, good on you man; you set a darn fine example.

[Urishima]

12 hours ago, Dylanc1500 said:

Go big or go home! Lol

Remember the giant suppository Professor Farnsworth made the crew take that one time?

[RuffRuffmcgruff]

Only sweet sweet sweet mary jane

[Nup]

Hope that they're making your life as trouble free as possible. 

 

I'm heading into this industry, so im always hearing of things they do, but never the people. Stay strong!  

[Dylanc1500]

4 hours ago, WindirBear said:

i take a bag of chips once a month or week.

Hey, gotta have nutrition! No joke my doctors try to force me to eat stuff like that but I have a hard time shoving crap like that down my throat every day.

[Tech_Dreamer]

17 hours ago, deXxterlab97 said:

I take vitamins  

 

17 hours ago, Dylanc1500 said:

Lol nothing wrong with that.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

5 hours ago, Mug said:

Other countries have far more efficient and cheaper private systems, we have one of the worst systems in the developed world but to us it's everything. 

Private systems can be better are reducing waiting times (at least for those covered, of course), but I'm yet to see a private system that doesn't cost more than public ones for comparable coverage (that is, the sum of public and private health expenditures per covered patient).

[Dylanc1500]

4 hours ago, yathis said:

Well its been that way for eons. Oh you got a sniffle, here is a pill. Oh you feel sad, here is a pill. Oh you got ache, here is a pill.

All the while they dont treat the underlying problems, which in most cases is diet.

Believe me I know, my general practitioner never reconized the symptoms and constantly thought it was due to chronic asthma and bronchitis. He would perscribe amoxicillin for two weeks almost every month. I didn't get diagnosed till age 14.

[Urishima]

31 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

Private systems can be better are reducing waiting times (at least for those covered, of course), but I'm yet to see a private system that doesn't cost more than public ones for comparable coverage (that is, the sum of public and private health expenditures per covered patient).

You can have it both ways, you know? In Germany, healthcare isn't provided directly by the state, but by health insurance companies that are classified as 'corporations under public law'. These corporations compete with each other, mostly by providing additional services or benefits on top of the usual stuff that is mandated.

 

And we don't have to wait for an appointment. We make our appointments directly with our doctors. There is an incentivize to go to your GP first, who will then refer you to a specialist (not a specific one, though he may have recommendations), but that is not necessarily required. Though most specialist insist on a referral.

 

There is of course fully privatized insurance here as well, who usually provide better/more services/benefits for higher rates. The way that works is that once your income goes above a certain level, you are required to seek out private insurance OR explicitly state that you want to stay on the regular, public insurance.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

5 minutes ago, Urishima said:

You can have it both ways, you know? In Germany, healthcare isn't provided directly by the state, but by health insurance companies that are classified as 'corporations under public law'. These corporations compete with each other, mostly by providing additional services or benefits on top of the usual stuff that is mandated.

I'm pretty familiar with the German system, being a user myself

For all purposes and intents, it is a public system. It's not ran by the State directly, but it dictates 1) who gets coverage, 2) how much they pay, 3) what services they get. This means that providers can't compete in price or services, nor can they reject users (they do "compete" offering trillions of plans which are extremely hard to screen, that only differ marginally in the cost and add a gimmick or two, because all the important stuff is regulated).

5 minutes ago, Urishima said:

 

And we don't have to wait for an appointment. We make our appointments directly with our doctors. There is an incentivize to go to your GP first, who will then refer you to a specialist (not a specific one, though he may have recommendations), but that is not necessarily required. Though most specialist insist on a referral.

Waiting for a GP appointment is not the issue. Waiting for surgery or other important treatment is, and that does happen in Germany as well. I know people whose operable cancer became inoperable while they waited (months) for a surgery appointment.

5 minutes ago, Urishima said:

There is of course fully privatized insurance here as well, who usually provide better/more services/benefits for higher rates. The way that works is that once your income goes above a certain level, you are required to seek out private insurance OR explicitly state that you want to stay on the regular, public insurance.

Yes, if your income is high enough you can full private. As a whole, though, the German system is mostly a public health system, and it shares the general advantages and disadvantages of other public systems. The particular implementation Germany uses can also have specific advantages and disadvantages compared to other, but when we speak of public vs private in terms of efficiency and cost, we are talking about Germany vs Switzerland or UK vs USA. 

 

 

[Dylanc1500]

3 hours ago, Atmos said:

For the first couple months in too damn long a time none actually. (Aside from the occasional ibuprofen for the rsi) I'm off the opiates now that I was on for a good long time after my car wreck back in 2015. My chiropractor has been a major factor in that improvement. Sitting for extended periods of time and working while bent over and still pretty uncomfortable, but its a far cry from collapsing and being unable to get back up, just from trying to grab your shoes. Two herniated disc's will do that though... And considering what happened to my car, I'm fucking glad I got out of it with just that for the long term injury.

 

Really sucks to hear about your condition though @Dylanc1500. I can't begin to image the kind of stress that puts on you, but damn right you seem to be handling it stride, good on you man; you set a darn fine example.

Im terribly sorry to hear that. I'm glad to hear that you are well enough to ween of the opioids. Have they mentioned disc replacement at all?

 

Honestly I think staying busy doing things you love and working full time getting to travel has helped a lot. Keeps you from starting to overthink things. Plus I have learned that you can't worry about things that are out of your control. It is greatly appreciated though, so thank you.

[Dylanc1500]

1 hour ago, Nup said:

Hope that they're making your life as trouble free as possible. 

 

I'm heading into this industry, so im always hearing of things they do, but never the people. Stay strong!  

Which industry exactly? Medical, or specifically Pulmonary? I try, thank you!

[Dylanc1500]

1 hour ago, Tech_Dreamer said:

-snip-

Lol I'm not going to lie that made me laugh.

[Mug]

1 hour ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

Waiting for a GP appointment is not the issue. Waiting for surgery or other important treatment is, and that does happen in Germany as well. I know people whose operable cancer became inoperable while they waited (months) for a surgery appointment.

Whilst cancer care isn't an issue in the NHS (we have some of the best cancer care in the world), cancer screening is as NHS trusts are trying to save money by screening less people. This is a false economy though because it ends up costing more.

 

Like if I wanted to book a doctr's appointment I either phone up at 8AM on the day and there's a half-hour window or I book online which might get me an appointment in mid april.

 

The biggest issue with the NHS is mismanagement really, we culd have a much better service if funds were appropriated properly.

[Urishima]

9 minutes ago, Mug said:

Whilst cancer care isn't an issue in the NHS (we have some of the best cancer care in the world), cancer screening is as NHS trusts are trying to save money by screening less people. This is a false economy though because it ends up costing more.

 

Like if I wanted to book a doctr's appointment I either phone up at 8AM on the day and there's a half-hour window or I book online which might get me an appointment in mid april.

 

The biggest issue with the NHS is mismanagement really, we culd have a much better service if funds were appropriated properly.

The main issue and money burner is bureaucracy, and there is no bigger bureaucracy than government.