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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Diabetic‏ Son - Finding medicine during troubled times

Hello Fernando,

I was reading about how your son was lactose intolerant and had some medical issues.

My son was diagnosed with Type1 diabetes. Here in America there isn't an insurance company that will touch him because he has been "pre-diagnosed" or had an existing illness. So he is on the state system and that is what pays for his doctor visits, insulin, needles ect.

Our "plan B"  is if that goes down we can go to Mexico to purchase Insulin and supplies, but there is no "plan C."

Following the 3 is 2, 2 is 1, 1 is 0 rule we have our current supply and then there is Mexico.

How did people in your country deal with an issue like this?

Were drugs like insulin hard to get hold of?

How many people died due to not being able to get their treatments?

Thanks for answering my question. I loved the book. I got it last week and already finished it and I am reading again. I subscribed to your videos also. Good stuff.

R

Hi R, yes, my son has a very mild lactose intolerance. That was the problem, it was so mild no one ( none of the dozens of Doctors we went to) detected that he had this problem, so he would drink a lot of milk each day and after a few months, for no apparent reason he had gastroenteritis. We didn't give up until we found one of these Docs, that did a real detective work (Mater Dai Hospital) and did a list of each and every possibility, and we checked them all until we found this mild lactose intolerance.
Here in Argentina you need a private medical care plan. I have Swiss Medical Group, which is pretty good and covers all these things, including unlimited hospitalzation if needed. Like you, we plan on ABC, Argentina would be our plan C once we move to USA, Spain and our EU citizenship would be B (free medicine), and our medical plan in USA would be A. 
If you didn't have such a private health plan, you depended on the public health, which is free, but is unbelievably bad. There was a scandal not long ago about placebos being sold to the state health plans for cancer patients, many died of course. Oh yes, THAT bad. Not to mention the lack of basic medication for everything. Public health in Argentina is worse than you can imagine in your worst nightmare.
About finding meds after the crisis, for most common problems like finding insulin and other common supplies, if you had a good health plan and the money to pay for teh medicine, you usually find it.
For other more rare meds, it can be a bit more complicated. My father in law, may be rest in peace, sometimes had difficulties finding a medication he needed for Alzheimer. When these things happen, its important to have a friend or someone that you know that travels to Europe or USA often, usually a pilot or crew personal, that can get them for you abroad.
As usual, money makes things easier. Unfortunately it applies here as well.

"How many people died due to not being able to get their treatments?"
We’ll never know. Those in the government, public hospital directors, doctors and nurses, they all make sure that no one will ever know that. Its' in their best interest. All I can tell you is that here in Argentina, if you can't afford to get private medical care, either by paying from your pocket or as a work contract package, you're considered sub human and I promise you, you'll get sub-human medical care.

FerFAL

6 comments:

Loquisimo said...

The psychiatrist who treats my autism is so good that he only accepts cash. He has a tiny number of "free" clients, like me, that he uses to show the public what a great stand up guy and pillar of the community he is-he is very prominent, speaks at conferences, etc. Usually the free clients are the most difficult to treat, I'm on 7 or 8 psychiatric medications. If somebody in the USA can get one of these concierge doctors, and they don't advertise and they're mostly known to the wealthy, that would be best, and simply pay them in cash, that would be best.

I however still rely on the national health care plan to PAY for all those medications. Paying for the medications is no easy task without insurance-America has a two tiered system, one for those with a health plan and the other much more expensive one for those paying cash. Health plans cut special deals with drug companies to supply medication at bargain prices unavailable to those paying cash.

Lately the fashion has been for hospitals to ignore the health plan system and attempt to extort extremely large fees from people through thuggery, since the health plans pay so little. Even if you have a health plan, if you go to a hospital you WILL get billed $50,000 or more in an attempt to get you to pay. The media actually urges people not to seek treatment if they get sick, that's how bad it is here.

I've heard of the elderly being told by their advisors to "bite the silver bullet", ie blow their brains out, if they get too sick. I suspect that legal suicide will become the preferred option of those needing long term care for chronic conditions under Obamacare, and it will be encouraged by the government. Obamacare contains a provision that would require the old and sick to attend seminars where they are encouraged and taught how to commit suicide!

The American system seems to be defaulting to extorting money out of someone for medical care, then celebrating when they kill themselves (with official encouragement) to escape the crushing burden. The Obama administration is full of people who support euthanasia. America has always had a soft spot for the Final Solution.

Many doctors are going to retire or Go Galt and only accept cash rather than belong to Obamacare.

Joseph said...

I suspect that what will happen in the US is that for full Social Security you will have to work full time to an ever-increasing age. This fulfills two purposes: Wage earners paying taxes for more years, and fewer of them living long enough to collect it all back.

Anonymous said...

There may be alternatives, as a start, in this article they talk about a small Doctors office that charges only $20 per visit. More of these will probably pop up all over the nation, well, maybe except for california, probably new jersey too and places like that that can't seem to get enough regulation in their lives.

Declare Your Medical Independence
Patients and doctors don't have to submit to Obamacare

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/watson-g1.1.1.html

It looked like a very nice post-SHTF business opportunity too.

Next up, cheap disposable in-home virtual surgery? What else are all those doctors who quit going to do?

Anonymous said...

It is unfortunate, but medical insurance coverage for mental illness is very bad in the USA. It's a tragedy, considering the wealth of the country.

But it is not true that anything has changed, or will change, as a result of the health insurance reform recently passed into law. The insurance companies practically wrote the law; their practices and profits will remain unchanged. The largest organization of doctors- the American Medical Association (A.M.A.) was fully behind it. No doctor is going to "go galt" instead of remaining in the top 5% of income earners.

Healthcare in the USA isn't so different than Argentina. If you have money, you will be taken care of. If you don't have money, you must navigate the byzantine maze of government programs and corporate give-aways to procure the treatment and medicine you need.

Anyone who believes that Obama has radically changed the healthcare delivery system in the USA is misguided. The changes are cosmetic only and the partisans on each side are using them as public relations material to inflame their constituents before the next election.

Anonymous said...

F.Y.I. Right Now in the U.S. there are doctors who will no longer accept Medicare Or Medicade as a result of the recent lawmaking - is that cosmetic?

I just read a story about how some doctors at a U.S. hospital (JH?) were surprised to learn they will get a 50% cut in pay as a result of the new Obama-corporatist plan... and that's just one example, I suspect there are many others. The ripples to the latest have just begun to radiate.

People react according to what's in their best interest, are there jobs outside the care system which pay higher salaries? If so, that may be where any smart doctor will go after a 50% pay cut, not some ditch.

Shortages of doctors don't affect the rich in other countries?

"The American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association are both enamored of the Obama administration's quest to socialize medicine. This position would seem curious, given the large majority of clinical physicians is strongly and vocally opposed....

For those of us who can see clearly what lies ahead, we must prepare ourselves. Opt out of government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid while you still have a choice. Cancel membership in the AMA. Join and support organizations that defend our right to practice medicine voluntarily, such as the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/scott-m2.1.1.html

And... doctors offices use IT people, having a contract with a few of those might be valuable? Undercut the current price of the competition, it may be tomorrows top price? Can you golf or caddy?

Anonymous said...

To the person with the diabetic son:
I believe that your son will have great trouble finding medications in the future. I don't know much about this, but save up the medications if possible. If you remember the Katrina survivors were in great need of drugs for a long while afterward.
There are some alternative solutions. Again, I don't know much about diabetes, so do your due diligence and be very careful. NaturalNews is a good start for research. If it's not working, try something else, be vigilant of adverse reactions.
Get out of the government dole, if possible. Very difficult as the "safety net" only keeps us in poverty as the vast holes let thousands into poverty every year.
Best wishes