rough week!

[Don Halter]

I think half the city is sick down here! Two people I work with's children are hospitalized with pneumonia. Our 11 month old is on antibiotics with a respiratory infection. Our five yr old had to go in last night, he has a systemic strep infection and is on medication now (better than the meningitis we thought he might have!). My wife is out with flu and strep throat! I'm the only one in the house not on antibiotics...I think I'll go get a level A chemical suit from work to wear around the house! I can handle one set of diapers...but cleaning up after three is wearing me out!

[hammerdownnow]

I been down for two weeks. I was thinking day before yeasterday, "If it is gonna kill me I wish it would hurry up". Yesterday I felt that I might get over it. Glad your little boy is gonna be ok. Nothing scares me more than when my six year old get sick. Hang in there.

[TexasJack]

Seems to be at least 3 different varieties going around: a short one (few days), a long one (a week or more), and the really bad one (pneumonia/respiratory infection). At the moment, I'm suffering from the first one. Been doubling up at work because of those down with the longer varieties.

Picturing Donny with a Tyvek chemical suit - complete with midievel helmet - hammering away in the shop is pretty funny. Sorry the kids and better half are sick, amigo. That's no fun to see them go through that.

Nyquil is starting to kick in. Back to bed.

[Don Halter]

I never thought it would feel so nice to be back at work! We had one more emergency run Sunday morning. Our 11 month old started having a severe allergic reaction to the amoxicillin. Odd that it took about 4 days for it to start. I guess his body just decided it had enough! I figured something bad would happen since he actually *liked* the taste of it! Of course the non-"cillin" antibiotics re $90 per bottle! Everyone is doing fine now. We're giving the house a good lysol/chlorox wipe down. I coulda bought a lot of grinding belts for what we spent in insurance co-pays last week.

[TexasJack]

My ex developed a severe reaction to amoxicillin after being on it 4 or 5 days. Severe rash from head to toe. The doc - fearing lawsuit - tried to tell her she must have had a reaction to seafood. Fortunately, another doc told her to carry a warning that she was allergic to 'cillin because another dose could throw her into shock.

When my kid was little, the pediatrician would always prescribe amoxicillin - and it never would work. My wife got to where she would just stand there and nag at them (and MAN could she nag!) until they would prescribe the next level of antibiotic. (Which I now forget the name of.)

Don't even get me started on insurance and the price of meds! My wife has chronic problems and has a whole bag full of prescriptions that I have to maintain. There is a special pit in hell just for insurance company lawyers.

Well, hope everyone's health improves in Casa Halter!

[BrB]

Geez man.. health costs can be painfull anywhere in the world.

I know a lot of people in the USA buy their medicine from Canada through EMS to avoid the exorbitant prices caused by taxes.

In Brazil, by federal law, all drugstores must have at least two options on every major kind of medicine (there is a big list). One option can be any brand from any laboratory (e.g Tylenol) and the other has to be what they call a "generic" option, that is labaled as just the substance inside (e.g paracetamol). Of course generics cost much less, and they have much lower taxes on, and in some cases any at all.

If I were in the USA I would start writing some letters to congress people.

[TexasJack]

Jeff, we have the generic brands as well, but the cost differential isn't that much. The complete answer is too long and off-topic. Suffice it to say that the battle is Don and his sick kids versus the pharmaceutical companies, legions of lawyers, the insurance industry, and an incredible array of politicians. Getting drugs from Canada or Mexico can be risky and not so easy to do. It's a mess.

It just doesn't pay to get sick.

[Don Halter]

Our plan used to be great. It was essentially $50 to have a child, $10 copay per office visit including outpatient surgeries with free followup visits, $25 emergency room(waived if admitted to hospital and no hospital fees) at area hospital, free eye exam twice/year, free dental cleaning exam 3 times/yr and $5/10 prescription s for gneric/name brand. Now it's $25 per office visit, $100 emergency, $100 per day if admitted up to $1000-3000 total depending on what/where, $300 base for pregnancy+$200 hospital stay ($300 for private room)+$200 optional epidural, $10/15/50 prescriptions generic/name brand/premium plus a $100 deductible per person, no more dental, and greatly reduced eye care. That's just the basics and these changes have been made just in the last couple years. It's still a better plan that the other options here for state emplyees.


We're all feeling much better, except Evan is congested with a gunky chest and now has a bad ear infection. It seems to be clearing.

We have another $25 appointment this afternoon. ($25 for the first appointment two weeks back, $25 for the urgent care treatment last Sunday, $25 today and $25 in two weeks for 1 year check up-booster shots, $8 generic amoxicillin, $86 generic ceph...? antibiotic)

I cut my hand open a couple days before our wedding out in Boulder City, NV. That cost about $450. $50 emergency room and $395 for a follow up doctor visit with a othopedic. I had extensive nerve damage to the side of my hand and was told to see a orthopedic within 48 hrs. Our HMO felt that was enough time to come back to College Station, TX and see one of their doctors so they denied the claim.

When I come into physical contact with poison ivy/oak or aromatic cedar (western red juniper) I usually end up on cortico-steroids (deltasone). I buy these from Canada without a prescription for $20 for 200. lasts a year. For here, it's $25 for the doctor plus $20-30 for one treatment's worth of medicine (~20 pills).

I can't imagine having to deal with daily medications and such!

[J.Arthur Loose]

Originally Posted by BrB

If I were in the USA I would start writing some letters to congress people.

HA HA HA HA HA HA! No, seriou.. HA HA HA HA HA! Hold, on, let me compose mys HA HA HA HA!!!! Oh, man, it hurts!!!

Whew.

Those *&^#ers don't care. They have the best socialized medicine one can get in this country. The rest of us can eat cake. Or something. Of course, in Vermont we have the best coverage in the nation, but even so, due to tax issues I wasn't covered until I moved in with a girlfriend who works for one of the aforementioned insurance companies. Luckily they cover domestic partners, since neither one of us ever wants to get married!

We spend the most per capita here in the US on health care we and get the least. Them's the facts.

Anyway, sounds like you guys have some kind of epidemic over on the West coast, Don.

Stay healthy!

[TexasJack]

It's pretty much the same as your numbers, except multiplied by the number of days. Oh, yeah, and the constant fighting over just what they'll pay for from month to month.

[whv]

that's about right, jon. it's some kind of upper respiratory flu. i had to miss work for the first time in 14 years with mine. even went to the hospital when it tried to turn into pneumonia. wife's case is going on 3 weeks, she can't shake the cough.
best part is that we got a call from the dr's office the day we both came down with it to hurry in for a flu shot as they now had plenty of vaccine
wayne

[fitzo]

Well, much as it hurts me, someone should oughtta speak up that the system works ok for some. I am seriously chronically ill. I spent 30 years in pharmaceutical research working as a prostitute/wage slave in order to have those benefits. I had to take retirement at 50 to try and stay alive, and I chose to take a 70% reduction (regular early-retirement pension) in monthly income by eschewing disability pension and staying off Medicare, all to keep that medical insurance. Nowadays I make 20% of what I used to.

Nowadays, I pay $75/month for medical insurance. Other than $20/visit co-pays I have a $3000/year out-of-pocket and a $2000 yearly perscription out-of-pocket.

I take $40,000 of medications a year to stay alive and use up another $5-10k in testing and such.

For me both the medicine and insurance is a godsend. Without it I will have the "other" option of dying.

While it may be exorbitant, we do have the benefit of having the best medical care and best pharma research anywhere. That costs a lot of money, and like any other industry that provides us with high quality, we pay through the nose for it. There are other industries where the profit margins are much, much higher.

Other than taxes, medical costs are the largest expense in my life. I'm not ready for the alternative, yet, so I pay gladly.

Don, sorry to hear the family has suffered so much with their health recently. Hope you and yours heal up and have a long healthy period.

[J.Arthur Loose]

It's good that the system works for you, Fitzo, and I'm not being facetious. But it really doesn't work very well for most people. It isn't the best care or the best research, as profit is always the primary motive. The leading cause of death in America is mis-prescription / adverse reactions to pharmaceuticals:

http://www.nutritioninstituteofameri...yMedicine1.htm

And the Pharmaceutical industry has the highest profit margin in the US. We, the taxpayer pay for the research, too, so there's no excuse save greed;

http://bernie.house.gov/prescriptions/profits.asp

Great collection of relevant articles:

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/He...lth_watch.html

The World Health Organization data:

http://www.who.int/whr/2004/annex/en/

Me? Besides glasses, dental & injuries I'm sticking to herbal medicine... Anyway, as if you couldn't tell, I think that most people here *should* be angry.

[Don Halter]

Our plan isn't the best, but it's not bad. It's through an HMO, though. My wife had a herniated disc a while back. She was having tingling and numbness up and down her lower left side. We first had to go see our primary care physician(PCP), then they ordered a CT of the lumbar area. After reviewing that and scheduling another appt with here PCP he had her schedule an MRI (MRIs cost too much so all patients must go to CT first to be evaluated on whether they need the MRI). The MRI showed a ruptured disc which was impinging the spinal cord. We then had to drive to Temple, TX where the HMO is based to se their specialist. We were then told "We could have operated to relieve pressure if you had come here when this fist happened. Now, there's nothing we could do that would help. it will get better over time, butyou will always have some wealkness there." I was livid to say the least and we certainly let them know what we thought of their system!

[fitzo]

Jonathon,

To be honest, in a time gone by I would be sufficiently interested to go out and dig up counter statistics and all that to make this a fun argument. I enjoy those sorts of things, because statistics can always be meant to say almost anything people want. We both know that. I especially enjoyed the claims by that Congressman. Unfortunately the links that backed up the claims were unavailable. I would love to argue the medicine versus herbal supplements debate, because it is in the supplement industry where I think the real crooks are. I'm not going to do that, though.

To be honest, I just don't have the energy for this right now.

I should not have entered this thread. Pardon my intrusion, for I cannot carry my load on this one.

There is one thing that is most certain, though. The very best way to deal with things is to do everything one can to stay healthy in the first place.