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I usually go without. After a lifetime, you get used to it. There's a million health issues I need taken care of. But its not going to happen. The one time I've been to the doctor in the past 4 years was when I ripped the tendons in my ankle. After 3 days of using our old crutches my grandma finally decided to pay for my visit out of pocket. It was only 400, but I'd never have gone otherwise.
In Massachusetts people will sometimes defer food expense by using a food pantry, then using the grocery budget to pay for their medicine. That's getting tricky, though, since so many people have caught on and the food pantries are stretched a bit thin. (Hmm, maybe it's time to whip out the ol' plastic and visit http://gbfb.org/ - things are going OK right now...)
Another thing you can do is ask a friend to fill your car up for you, in exchange for a return of the favor when you're doing well and they're not, and use the gas money for medicine.
There are also lots of places you can buy medicine online to get around the "she's American, she must be rich" surcharge. I used pillstrust.com when I hurt my back, and had my Flexeril before the covered supply ran out.
Love, Columbine
We pay $270 per month for my step-son's medication ... AFTER our insurance pays some of it. It's crazy.
My son and I didn't have health insurance for ten years ... thank goodness we are both very healthy and nothing bad happened. It's such a frightening risk to take ... but sometimes there is nothing that can be done about it. I am self-employed and getting insurance for us was no where near my price range.
My parents are on dozens of prescription medications, as I'm sure most elderly people are. If it weren't for my dad's former employer's good retirement plan which pays for prescriptions, they would be dead, I'm sure.
I am withot health insurance. :( And I have 3 prescriptions. #1 I have always been able to get samples of from the DR. #2 is inexpensive, so when samples are not available I can just get at a pharmacy. #3 I receive through a patient assistance plan.
For me it is the Dr. VISITS that kill me monetarily. :(
This is all shocking to us poor Aussies......it shouldn't be that way for people.Quote:
Originally Posted by jenluckenbach
Here it costs $35.00 to visit a doctor........and you claim back about $25.00
Wombat
Partnership for Prescription Assistance is a great program for people who do not have insurance. That's how I got my meds before I qualified for Title 19. I highly recommend it to anyone!!
I do without any meds... My insurance is coming, but I needed it a loooooooong time ago...
This whole insurance thing is just crazy! When I lived overseas I got all of my medical care on base so I had no idea what civilian clinics charged! Now that I am in the states I am seeing a civilian OB and am SHOCKED at the amounts they are trying to charge my "insurance company". With one particular bill, the clinic billed them over $700 for some blood tests. I was even more surprised when my company payed them less than $200 of that and "disallowed" the rest. My doc isn't allowed to charge me a penny over what Tricare gives them but is perfectly fine with that. It makes me wonder how much the tests actually cost the clinic to perform if they don't mind a $500 mark off?!?!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirrahsim
It would be interesting to see how much the tests would have cost if you were paying cash for them instead of through insurance.
I had to have 6 blood tests after one of my OBGYN appts. They had a price book and they had price for insurance and price for cash. It was going to cost over $500 if we had insurance.... but we were paying cash.... it cost us $140. What a difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Twisterdog
A retirement plan like that is almost impossible to find anymore.
Oh yeah....everybody loves insurance companies....lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by sparks19
I think the doctors do that here to.
But everyone I know who deals with insurance companies always charge them a higher price. And so do I.....if I do building work or consultancy reports for them, the price is DOUBLE what I would charge a householder.
And I think the insurance companies are very aware of that....after all....by their very own admittance (I know many underwriters).....they charge out their premiums to make HUGE profits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wombat2u2004
LOL Oh Iknow they are aware of it... sneaky buggers. But I have to be honest.... I had no idea until I had this series of bloodtests and saw what the difference in price was.
I don't have any insurance. I don't take my medicines like I should because I can't afford them and I don't go to the doctor very much unless I am very sick.
It sucks. I can't wait till I get out of school and get a full-time job with benefits..
It is very hard living without insurance.
The last time I went for a routine physical, my NP saw me at the front desk paying for it with a blank check my mother had sent me, looked at the bill, and crossed out a couple of "errors." :) My doctor's a total nothing, a harried family practitioner who doesn't find anybody but mothers and young children interesting and doesn't know me from Eve - but I stay with her because I love my NP! When I went to have what I thought might be a deer tick bite checked, he asked if I knew what a deer tick looked like, and when I said no, he showed me one scotch taped to a sheet of paper, and explained that Lyme disease is really pretty rare, and that my lesion looked nothing like a tick bite anyway.
Love, Colujmbine