Big changes in the life of Nikolai

[Nikolai]

I'm happy I live in a functioning welfare state.

[pchang]

All systems have rationing of some sort. In a functioning welfare state, rationing is done by 1 authority: the government. For instance, the UK's NHS will not authorize the use of Kadcyla (highly effective cancer drug for those with Her2+ breast cancer) because it is too expensive (1 round of treatment costs $150,000+). In the US, rationing is done by many authorities: the various insurance and health care companies.

[Dr Strangelove]

All systems have rationing of some sort. In a functioning welfare state, rationing is done by 1 authority: the government. For instance, the UK's NHS will not authorize the use of Kadcyla (highly effective cancer drug for those with Her2+ breast cancer) because it is too expensive (1 round of treatment costs $150,000+). In the US, rationing is done by many authorities: the various insurance and health care companies.

In the US you have hundreds, no thousands of rationing systems almost all of which have one primary goal - to boost the earnings of the stockholders. Even the public plans now utilize private for-profit prescription insurance providers.

[My Wife Hates CIV]

so..... "I used ca 300 IE of insulin each day"... how much is that.

i remember going to walmart and getting a bottle of humalin. it's not very big. but that would last her a bit... i mean, couple of shots a day for a bit. whats your blood sugar when you take that much.

what gets me - you still have to wait 30 minutes. i mean, it's right there in the cooler.

[Nikolai]

300 IE is one whole one time use syringe. It's a LOT. I used 60-70 IE for dinner. My mum, who has the same type of diabetes but no insulin resistance uses 3-4 IE.

What do you mean by wait 30 minutes? That part makes no sense to me.

[Ben Kenobi]

Socialised medicine is great - except that someone is paying for it even if it's not Nikolai. Part of why things cost so much in Norway is because of the medicare.

[Nikolai]

Compared to what we earn, it's not that expensive.

[Ben Kenobi]

Compared to what we earn, it's not that expensive.

We've had this discussion before.

[Nikolai]

Yeah. And we found out Texas and Norway were quite similar, when compared.

[Ben Kenobi]

Yeah. And we found out Texas and Norway were quite similar, when compared.

Still not a fan of socialized medicine that forces me to pay for birth control but doesn't pay for glasses, optometrists or hearing aids and audiologists.

[Dr Strangelove]

The not paying for hearing aides really makes me angry. I used to do disability physicals. Young people who might have been able to lead normal productive lives are forced into disability because they can't get the devices that would restore their hearing. That's a minimum of $7200 / year instead of a single cost of $5000 for hearing aides that might be repeated once every 5 to 10 years. OTOH I don't see why hearing aides have to be that expensive.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

I should punish myself for opening posts from Ben! There - done.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

The not paying for hearing aides really makes me angry. I used to do disability physicals. Young people who might have been able to lead normal productive lives are forced into disability because they can't get the devices that would restore their hearing. That's a minimum of $7200 / year instead of a single cost of $5000 for hearing aides that might be repeated once every 5 to 10 years. OTOH I don't see why hearing aides have to be that expensive.

Hearing aides, glasses/optical stuff, dentists etc... are all covered here on our social system which is in a medium income country - I highly doubt those would not have been covered in Norway.

You can go private as well if you have the money and be done faster, but general population is still covered.

[N35t0r]

Socialised medicine is great - except that someone is paying for it even if it's not Nikolai. Part of why things cost so much in Norway is because of the medicare.

no.

[Ben Kenobi]

The not paying for hearing aides really makes me angry. I used to do disability physicals. Young people who might have been able to lead normal productive lives are forced into disability because they can't get the devices that would restore their hearing

Want something that will really make you mad, Doc? The average person with my hearing reads at a 3rd grade level. Think of what that means for their earnings potential over the course of their lives. These are not stupid people, they are just not getting taught the basic things they need to know.

That's a minimum of $7200 / year instead of a single cost of $5000 for hearing aides that might be repeated once every 5 to 10 years. OTOH I don't see why hearing aides have to be that expensive.

It's not just the hearing aids, it's the things that weren't done with them when they were 5, 6 and 7. Even if you were to pay for the aids, it would be difficult to have them be as productive as they could be without the therapy when they are little. I was lucky, I did speech therapy when I was little. Was it covered? No.