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.