re: To the Uninsured:

We just.dont go to the doctor. I go without.medicine.and use natural remedies. We are rarely sick amd when we do, we treat.it.at home with.herbs. If I.ever.got sick sick, I would.probably.just die at home imstead.of wracking up a ton in med bills.

My SO is diabetic & uninsured. He sees a sliding scale doctor and was getting his insulin on a big discount. They stopped doing the discounts though and he applied for his insulin for free from Eli Lily which thank GOD he qualified. So, he gets his meds for free for now. Any hospital visits we have to report and on his account, they also give him discounts. He pays MUCH less than he would have to. He's had a few bills go into collection, especially from before we learned about all these discounts and such. We manage but it's taken us time to learn of the programs he's qualified for.

<blockquote><b>Quoting ❥ Meℓi:</b>" When my DD was born, she has no insurance, I thought she would eb covere under mine but she wasn't...well ... [snip!] ... was like 30 bucks..i was like WTF. I am never going back to CVS, the co-pays are rite aid are like 5 bucks which is awesome."</blockquote>




Oh my god! That is so expensive.

My head spins thinking about that.

If there are complications and babies need the nicu they go to the big hospitals, which are all public. It's free. The only thing you pay for is parking.

Then you have charity's like Ronald McDonald house that sometimes have accommodation for families far away from home with sick kids.

I can not imagine owing that much money on something free in our country.

I go to bulk bill doctors (which means I don't pay, it gets billed to Medicare) here in Australia - I would go to the free doctors services that we have, but the closest to me is nearly a 2 hour public transport trip away. I would prefer to have private health insurance but I cannot afford it the earnings from my job, however, my partner has private health and is currently looking to get me put on his policy.

I honestly could not imagine avoiding going to the doctors/hospital if something was wrong with myself or someone that I care about.

Quoting Back to Noob Status:" How the smurf do you guys survive without health insurance/medicaid? The other day, I was picking up my ... [snip!] ... do it? Do you just not see the doctor and pray you don't get sick? I swear....one hospital bill can screw someone up BIG time."

Normally I'd be smurfed but since I go to school I can go to the campus health clinic and I see the campus psychiatrist and counselors and it's already paid for in my tuition. Thank smurfing god. Luckily I'm pretty healthy minus the mental issues but when I got sick before I was in school I just dealt with it.
And my prescriptions are relatively cheap. I pay like $30 for my Klonopin, Xanax and Zoloft all together for a month supply. My Abilify I get on patient assistance because of my income. I'm really lucky.

My insurance said they would no longer cover the inpatient mental hospitalizations, and it scares the crap out of me. I have a friend who is still paying medical bills from over two years ago. That alone scares me. I can't even imagine how difficult it must be for the uninsured person.  

i have a ton in medical bills from before hand..when i got super sick i would just go to a clinic for 50 bucks.. but with the hospitals.. eek.. i dont even keep track of my medical debt anymore.. its one of those debts i really could care less about because if i gotta go i gotta go

<blockquote><b>Quoting für immer:</b>" I go to bulk bill doctors (which means I don't pay, it gets billed to Medicare) here in Australia - I ... [snip!] ... could not imagine avoiding going to the doctors/hospital if something was wrong with myself or someone that I care about."</blockquote>



I know right!

I don't use bulk billed because usually you can't book in for the appointment. Even so, Medicare rebates $35 for the $60 consult. That's reasonable to me.

If I didn't want to pay though, I could go elsewhere

I'm thankful to have insurance now. My meds run about $400 a month.   Then the EGDs 2-3 times a year at around 6k a procedure.

Lovely.

I have good insurance but I need surgery that my insurance won't cover. Luckily I found a doctor who charges self payers $4,500 (for a $30,000 surgery) that includes hospital, anesthesia, everything. There are a lot of doctors that have deals with hospitals for self pay rates.

i'll go on SOs insurence this summer when we get married.. i think noah will go on it before that.. and my daughter will go on it when i go on it.. but until then i'll be on medicaid

Quoting Saffy Sly:" I'm thankful to have insurance now. My meds run about $400 a month.   Then the EGDs 2-3 times a year at around 6k a procedure. Lovely."

 

Even though I'm from America, it still boggles my mind to hear people skipping out on meds or cutting them into halves b/c of just how expensive they are!

but sometimes you have to.. i rememeber cutting pills in half to make it last longer

<blockquote><b>Quoting Back to Noob Status:</b>"   Even though I'm from America, it still boggles my mind to hear people skipping out on meds or cutting them into halves b/c of just how expensive they are! "</blockquote>



I have not had any meds forbmy HBP for... probably like 18 months. It's made me work harder to keep it low naturally rather than depend on a pill.

Luckily my girls get Medicaid because Michigan doesn't let children go uninsured.