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Then all of a sudden out of the blue, the pharmacist said:
"Well here are her 10 pills, she need to take one every eight hours. That will be $368.95."
The rest was all a blur.
Kaled.
You're a good son-in-law.
Far less expensive, and many say more effective.
WBF
We also talked to her surgeon's assistant today and she said when she had chemo, the only thing that worked for her was Demerol and benadryl. That would be much cheaper.
I had to go on some pills and searched on the internet for things (BTW - not a good idea - you just end up reading about horrible side effects) - I was amazed at the prices that were quoted on the sites though.
I know that form personal experience. I have a chronic pain condition.
On grounds of medical costs, I'm only too pleased that I live in the UK - In many other countries, my medical bills would have made me destitute and uninsurable.
someone pays for that anyway, money doesn't grow on trees. They tax you more so you can wait 6 months for a "free" dental appointment.
The NHS is a highly inefficient way of delivering medical services. Despite having some of the best doctors, nurses and other staff UK medical care lags the rest of the developed world in many respects. We pay an average of £2,000 per person into the NHS every year for every man, woman and baby (over £100 billion annual budget) whether we use any NHS services or not. As not everyone is an earner that burden is likely about £6,000-£8,000 per working person per year.
£65 in every £100 of that goes towards management/admin.
I've moved to a new town and haven't been able to get a dentist for the last year. That's despite the fact that I pay for all my treatments. I desperately need some fillings and am considering going to France to get them done. I suspect the NHS/UK government won't give me a refund of my costs. That's a pretty sorry state of affairs. And my problem is pretty minor.
someone pays for that anyway, money doesn't grow on trees. They tax you more so you can wait 6 months for a "free" dental appointment.
I just had treatment for periodontal disease, and that was $1100 out-of-pocket after insurance. :(
It only took the dentist 30 minutes...
The NHS is a highly inefficient way of delivering medical services.
I know from a previous field of employment that the NHS obtains the vast majority of medicines and medical devices at very substantial discounts from the manufaturers. A certain implantable device is sold at about 4 times the price to the US, and 7 times the price to Japan when measured against the NHS. Not only that - but there is no such thing as waiting for your insurance to approve a medicine - a doctor can prescribe any medicine which is authorised as safe. Then don't forget that there are no shareholders. Interestingly, and certainly not unrelated, the UK alone contributes about one third of all published medical research - I don't call that inefficient!
<edit>Just to clarify - the reason for the price difference is because the whole country purchases in bulk, instead of individual hospitals - I didn't meant to imply any bias on the part of a company</edit>
[edited by: vincevincevince at 6:43 pm (utc) on Dec. 15, 2005]
I think there are problems with both systems
In the UK because it's free it's abused and some health care workers forget that the people needing treatment are paying customers through ( National Insurance Deductions ) .
In the US no cover is given free for children unless people are willing to jump through hoops and made to feel like low class citizens. and the poorest in society do not have access to a fair health system for all. and One last comment due to a free market economy the price of Medicine is not justifiable when the same medicines are sold in other countries at a much lower cost by the same companies
just my 2 cents worth having been the recipient of healthcare in both countries
steve
That is certainly not the case now at my GP. The level of service really is 1st class.
However, this might depend on GP to GP.
Dentist on the other hand are very very hard to get in to.
I'll be the first to admit emergency treatment is pretty good (though I've seen better. 3-4 hour waits in A&E are quite normal here). But, the NHS does get volume discounts however, the downside is that they are very cosy with some manufacturers. I can list various questionable buying policies from powderject to live polio vaccines. But I certainly don't think that funding a third of worldwide medical research is a good way of spending UK taxpayers' money. I'm paying for all these doctors to play with test tubes, am I? When the local GP will see you only if you've had the decency to plan your illness two weeks in advance and your urgent operation could be rescheduled 8 times in a year? Ah, that's OK, at least we've published 3% more papers this year? C'mon!
ganderla, $368.95 is small change compared to the $500,000 average cost per person over a normal working life .... for an NHS. (Unless your average annual medical insurance is more than $12K per working person).
as far as paying $1100 after the insurance: it happens. You could've paid $1000 a year in taxes for a service you use once very 10 years, and hope the teeth don't fall off while waiting for a periodontist to schedule you.
I am not in Oregon, but I have a friend who smoked for his chemo here in Ontario, it worked like a charm. All with his doctors blessings. Made him less depressed too. Seems like the way to go if you ask me, and it is legal here for that purpose.
He is healthy now.
I.e I pay for them and when I need to use it someone pays for me.
Its not perfect, unlike me, but hell its a lot better than most other health services.
i've known two people--first hand--who have endured chemo. vaporizing is the safest means, smoking will do. nausea is immediately eliminated allowing for the ingestion of food and necessary medication. only a little is needed, unless you like the 'side effect'.
I desperately need some fillings and am considering going to France to get them done. I suspect the NHS/UK government won't give me a refund of my costs.
Much of mainland Europe has issued pan-European Medical cards for cross-border use. In the UK, you still (I believe) need to use Form 111 (available from the Post Office) when seeking medical assistance within EU member states. I also believe that you are entitled to claim back any costs incurred - although you would need to investigate further to find out exactly what entitlements are.
Try the European Commission [europa.eu.int] for more information - it is worth looking into.
Syzygy
I suspect the NHS/UK government won't give me a refund of my costs.
There are schemes that allow you to have some the work done abroad or at a private facility, but you have to try to have it at your local facility first so you can show that it wasn't available on the NHS.
