Diabetic Recipes
I don't know a lot about the Canadian universal health care. What I have learned has been in dribs and drabs, culled from friends and from the few Canadian posters to the Children With Diabetes parents email list. I knew it varied from province to province but assumed that most diabetes supplies were covered.
And then I read this post by Andrea, over at A Garden of Na Mmoy. She has type 1 diabetes, although she doesn't post about it very often. She has a few other posts about diabetes and she's an eloquent writer no matter what the subject - you should check her out regardless. But that post really opened my eyes to the limits that any insurance, universal or private, puts on our health.
It astounded me that Andrea had to pay so much out of pocket for her supplies. She spends $350 a month on supplies. This? Is ridiculous.
I know why they do it. Insurance companies (and, apparently, the Canadian government) are short-sighted and would rather save $5 now rather than $5,000 down the road. Those test strips, that insulin, those pump infusion sites, those could potentially save insurance companies (and the Canadian government) hundreds of thousands of dollars in possible complications down the road. So why not cover them? It would make it easier, and cheaper, on everyone concerned.
I find it hard to fathom that insurance companies (and the Canadian government) are that short-sighted. Why on earth would they rather pay out for neuropathy, eye problems, circulations problems, possible amputations, than cover two or three hundred test strips a month? What's the point?
Andrea has some great entries on the subject, from a Canadian point of view. Go. Read. Maybe, if we all agitate enough, we can get these stupid rules overturned, make insurance companies (and the Canadian government) see just how dumb they're being in their treatment of people with diabetes.
Remember that Universal Health Care is based on "the greatest good for the greatest number". That means that more expensive chronic medical conditions, such as T1 diabetes and cancer, will get less attention and less support than the common cold, the current year's strain of 'flu, arthritis, and (if you're lucky) car-accident trauma. Anything above and beyond the basic level is at one's own cost -- if one is even allowed to spend that money on one's own medical care (or if there is even a separate for-pay tier of services).
I should add: the point is not $5 prevention is worth $50,000 of cure -- but rather, that triage requires that limited facilities and materials favor the skewing of services towards those likely to survive at least cost... so those amputations, etc. might eventually not be covered _at all_. (Cross-reference the Tudiabetes thread, "Being Diabetic is your own fault?" at http://tudiabetes.com/forum/topic/show?id=583967%3ATopic%3A196681&x=1&page=1
While it's not perfect, I can't complain (too much) with the system. It doesn't always pay for the newest gadgets, but it gives the basic's. As for good news, Ontario has decided to cover the price of a pump & supplies for T1 diabetic adults starting in sept (kids under 18 are already covered). Part of the reasoning behind the coverage is to avoid complications down the road .... seems like maybe someone is listening after all. Not perfect but getting better.
Constant - only 1500 adults in Ontario are going to have their pumps covered, not everyone.
I don't know about Canada, but I strongly believe the insurance companies in the US are too strongly influenced by having to show profits THIS QUARTER for Wall Street. They're betting that by the time the complications come about, you will be some other insurance company's problem - or be uninsured. $5000 saved 10 or 20 years from now could cost today's CEO his/her job.
Another great post, Julia, thanks.
Oh, and PS - Wall Street is why Facebook.com is worth more than Ford Motor Company - how CRAZY is that?