7 ms·

Always wanted to move to the US, but having: Crohn's disease MEN-1 [0] and medications for them, and bi-yearly MRIs and CTs as well as expected surguries to

Always wanted to move to the US, but having: Crohn's disease MEN-1 [0] and medications for them, and bi-yearly MRIs and CTs as well as expected surguries to remove tumours now and then I have just dismissed the possibility of ever moving there. Here in Sweden I pay less per earned dollar in taxes towards healthcare, and my total healthcare costs (all inclusive) are <$270/year (~half for maxing out pharmacy costs, other half for maxing out medical treatments/doctor's visits etc). How much would insurance cost me per month in the US to make me covered so that I never had to worry about not being able to afford medications or a surgury? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_endocrine_neoplasia_type_1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_endocrine_neoplasia_t...

pbourke 8y ago
> How much would insurance cost me per month in the US to make me covered so that I never had to worry about not being able to afford medications or a surgury? It’s not the right question. The reality is that you’d never be free from worry due to insurer denials, changes to laws that may affect your coverage, provider network status changes and rate increases, job loss, employer changing insurers, etc. There is no end to your risk in the long run, even when you have “good insurance” at a particular point in time.
DoreenMichele 8y ago
Yeah, the system here is such utter shit. I would like to see us start gradually expanding the existing system of "socialized medicine" in the US: The military medical system. I think an extremely moderate position would be to expand medical benefits for life to anyone who has served on active duty, even if they didn't stay in long enough to retire. Currently, you have to stay in twenty years -- or be the dependent of someone who has done so -- to remain in the system. This screws over a lot of veterans and is a travesty. The American military medical system is an excellent system with a lot going for it. We have no need to look at how other countries handle "socialized medicine." We have a perfectly functional system within our own borders already run by our own government. We just need to find a politically viable and practical means to start expanding access to it. Another possible step: If you qualify for Medicaid/Medicare, instead of the current fucked up system, we move you to having access to the military medical system.
matchagaucho 8y ago
Depends on your insurance / employment benefits. Treating CD/IBD in U.S. could easily cost $250+ month. But pre-existing condition exclusions might help to secure insurance with comparable treatment.
sbenitoj 8y ago
Fix your diet and your symptoms will greatly improved, you won’t find the right advice among typical doctors either. Check this guy out — https://www.instagram.com/p/BuJkJILA_8I/utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=g8iwco2g9um0 https://www.instagram.com/p/BuJkJILA_8I/utm_source=ig_share_... EDIT: If you’re going to downvote, at least have the respect to state why. My post is a serious one, I’m not trolling — people have freed themselves of Crohns with carnivore diets.
- wpasc 8y ago
  Hello, I downvoted and will tell you why. I don't have crohn's or UC, but I do have ankylosing spondylitis which is a related autoimmune issue which is very correlated with crohn's/uc especially in the genetic incidence (HLA-b27 positive). I am entirely sympathetic to the idea that certain diets do really help symptoms at times. Examples that have been studied include Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Low FODMAPS, etc. These diets do NOT work for everyone and thus are highly variable. I've spoken to many rheumatologists who openly say that they are open to patients experimenting. HOWEVER, that broken instagram link you posted is likely one of the few success stories that filters to the top. All the people who try these diets and fail you do not hear about. The role of the gut and diet in autoimmune is being researched and further elucidated. Patients should safely experiment with the role of diet. But for you to say "Fix your diet"?! As if you KNOW that other diets are simply BROKEN and that an all carnivore diet is fixing it?? It is not supported by the data at all. It runs contrary to most of the research done on dieting. I'll agree that plenty of research in dieting is flawed (often centered around mediterranean diet), but your tone of "Fix" is why you earned my downvote as a person who has an autoimmune but I don't think you are guilty of trolling. No hard feelings but be a bit more humble around these things when there's so much unknown and ANYONE telling you that they have a perfect FIX is not telling the truth.
  - sbenitoj 8y ago
    Fair point on the tone, I added an updated edit to reflect this. Most people’s diets ARE broken though, even 50 years ago we didn’t have hardly the level of autoimmune disease that we have today. The standard medical approach to chronic/autoimmune disease is to tell people the best that can do is manage it, not heal it. There are plenty of people who have in fact healed themselves from autoimmune diseases and there’s a very common theme — avoid all processed foods, avoid most grains, avoid most sugar, etc. Focusing primarily on animal products (which is where the nasty majority of people got the majority of their calories over until just a few thousand years ago has been shown to ameliorate autoimmune — you have to test it out for yourself, if you wait until the medical establishment comes around you’re going to be waiting your whole life, it is completely against their incentive to find a dietary method of healing Crohn’s or any other autoimmune disease).
coryrc 8y ago
Worse case? About $1000/mo. Likely case with an established employer? <$400/mo. You're likely to earn enough more in the US to cover that cost.
- PopeDotNinja 8y ago
  And if you lose your job, you're screwed.
  - testpostpls 8y ago
    What? You can buy insurance or go on Medi-Cal, right? Am I missing something? You’re only screwed if you don’t do those things, but at that point it feels more like a medical literacy problem—you’re also screwed if you don’t go to the doctor.
    - fucking_tragedy 8y ago
      > You can buy insurance or go on Medi-Cal, right? You can continue your exact insurance plan via COBRA and pay both your portion and your employer's portion of expenses. Having done this, I paid nearly $3k a month in premiums alone for continued individual coverage. That is not feasible for everyone who were just laid off and still have bills to pay. To be eligible for Medi-Cal, you must make under 138% of the federal poverty line, or be disabled or elderly[1]. A tech worker who was just laid off would not be eligible for Medi-Cal unless they were recognized as disabled by the state, and the program they'd be eligible for during that tax year would require them to spend a significant portion of medical costs out of pocket before Medi-Cal kicked in. There are special provisions to purchase health insurance on the individual private market if you're laid off. However, anyone with a chronic condition can attest to the problems that arise when you're forced to switch health insurance plans and continue treatment at the same time. [1] https://ca.db101.org/ca/programs/health_coverage/medi_cal/program2.htm https://ca.db101.org/ca/programs/health_coverage/medi_cal/pr...
    - PopeDotNinja 8y ago
      I tried Medical when I finished a contract job in 2014. I immediately found that a medical doctor wouldn't prescribe a prescription I needed at the time (an ADHD medication), and I couldn't see my own doctor to get the prescription. You are correct that some coverage is available to some people, but it' a bureaucratic nightmare, slow, and you're going to be limited to coverage other people think you need. Maybe it's pretty good once you learn the system, but you have to learn it, and I had to spend hours navigating the system when I really needed to be looking for a new job.
aantix 8y ago
Assuming you're an engineer and a decent one at that? Move to SV, get a job with Google/FB/etc. If you're single, you'll have a max-out-of-pocket of a few thousand dollars, but that will more than be made up for by the increase in salary. And you will have good insurance subsidized by your employer.
- aantix 8y ago
  If you’re on a group plan, which you would be with your employer, they’ll cover your preexisting conditions. You will have so much more leverage to negotiate for your skill set. They Truly value your skills. Kick your safety net to the side, jump the pond and make a good business decision for yourself.
- raverbashing 8y ago
  > Move to SV, get a job with Google/FB/etc. I'm not sure americans understand how annoying it is the process of getting an H1B (or any other visa to be honest)
  - dcarmo 8y ago
    And it's a lottery in the end. You can't count on it until you're selected.
- robjan 8y ago
  Do insurance companies in the US pay out for preexisting conditions?
  - ianai 8y ago
    Not if they can help it. Iirc, that portion of the ACA was just repealed in the courts. Group insurance for a large employer will though.
  - rubidium 8y ago
    They do now
- 8y ago

pbourke 8y ago

> How much would insurance cost me per month in the US to make me covered so that I never had to worry about not being able to afford medications or a surgury? It’s not the right question. The reality is that you’d never be free from worry due to insurer denials, changes to laws that may affect your coverage, provider network status changes and rate increases, job loss, employer changing insurers, etc. There is no end to your risk in the long run, even when you have “good insurance” at a particular point in time.

DoreenMichele 8y ago

Yeah, the system here is such utter shit. I would like to see us start gradually expanding the existing system of "socialized medicine" in the US: The military medical system. I think an extremely moderate position would be to expand medical benefits for life to anyone who has served on active duty, even if they didn't stay in long enough to retire. Currently, you have to stay in twenty years -- or be the dependent of someone who has done so -- to remain in the system. This screws over a lot of veterans and is a travesty. The American military medical system is an excellent system with a lot going for it. We have no need to look at how other countries handle "socialized medicine." We have a perfectly functional system within our own borders already run by our own government. We just need to find a politically viable and practical means to start expanding access to it. Another possible step: If you qualify for Medicaid/Medicare, instead of the current fucked up system, we move you to having access to the military medical system.

matchagaucho 8y ago

Depends on your insurance / employment benefits. Treating CD/IBD in U.S. could easily cost $250+ month. But pre-existing condition exclusions might help to secure insurance with comparable treatment.

sbenitoj 8y ago

Fix your diet and your symptoms will greatly improved, you won’t find the right advice among typical doctors either. Check this guy out — https://www.instagram.com/p/BuJkJILA_8I/utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=g8iwco2g9um0 https://www.instagram.com/p/BuJkJILA_8I/utm_source=ig_share_... EDIT: If you’re going to downvote, at least have the respect to state why. My post is a serious one, I’m not trolling — people have freed themselves of Crohns with carnivore diets.

wpasc 8y ago
Hello, I downvoted and will tell you why. I don't have crohn's or UC, but I do have ankylosing spondylitis which is a related autoimmune issue which is very correlated with crohn's/uc especially in the genetic incidence (HLA-b27 positive). I am entirely sympathetic to the idea that certain diets do really help symptoms at times. Examples that have been studied include Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Low FODMAPS, etc. These diets do NOT work for everyone and thus are highly variable. I've spoken to many rheumatologists who openly say that they are open to patients experimenting. HOWEVER, that broken instagram link you posted is likely one of the few success stories that filters to the top. All the people who try these diets and fail you do not hear about. The role of the gut and diet in autoimmune is being researched and further elucidated. Patients should safely experiment with the role of diet. But for you to say "Fix your diet"?! As if you KNOW that other diets are simply BROKEN and that an all carnivore diet is fixing it?? It is not supported by the data at all. It runs contrary to most of the research done on dieting. I'll agree that plenty of research in dieting is flawed (often centered around mediterranean diet), but your tone of "Fix" is why you earned my downvote as a person who has an autoimmune but I don't think you are guilty of trolling. No hard feelings but be a bit more humble around these things when there's so much unknown and ANYONE telling you that they have a perfect FIX is not telling the truth.
- sbenitoj 8y ago
  Fair point on the tone, I added an updated edit to reflect this. Most people’s diets ARE broken though, even 50 years ago we didn’t have hardly the level of autoimmune disease that we have today. The standard medical approach to chronic/autoimmune disease is to tell people the best that can do is manage it, not heal it. There are plenty of people who have in fact healed themselves from autoimmune diseases and there’s a very common theme — avoid all processed foods, avoid most grains, avoid most sugar, etc. Focusing primarily on animal products (which is where the nasty majority of people got the majority of their calories over until just a few thousand years ago has been shown to ameliorate autoimmune — you have to test it out for yourself, if you wait until the medical establishment comes around you’re going to be waiting your whole life, it is completely against their incentive to find a dietary method of healing Crohn’s or any other autoimmune disease).

coryrc 8y ago

Worse case? About $1000/mo. Likely case with an established employer? <$400/mo. You're likely to earn enough more in the US to cover that cost.

PopeDotNinja 8y ago
And if you lose your job, you're screwed.
- testpostpls 8y ago
  What? You can buy insurance or go on Medi-Cal, right? Am I missing something? You’re only screwed if you don’t do those things, but at that point it feels more like a medical literacy problem—you’re also screwed if you don’t go to the doctor.
  - fucking_tragedy 8y ago
    > You can buy insurance or go on Medi-Cal, right? You can continue your exact insurance plan via COBRA and pay both your portion and your employer's portion of expenses. Having done this, I paid nearly $3k a month in premiums alone for continued individual coverage. That is not feasible for everyone who were just laid off and still have bills to pay. To be eligible for Medi-Cal, you must make under 138% of the federal poverty line, or be disabled or elderly[1]. A tech worker who was just laid off would not be eligible for Medi-Cal unless they were recognized as disabled by the state, and the program they'd be eligible for during that tax year would require them to spend a significant portion of medical costs out of pocket before Medi-Cal kicked in. There are special provisions to purchase health insurance on the individual private market if you're laid off. However, anyone with a chronic condition can attest to the problems that arise when you're forced to switch health insurance plans and continue treatment at the same time. [1] https://ca.db101.org/ca/programs/health_coverage/medi_cal/program2.htm https://ca.db101.org/ca/programs/health_coverage/medi_cal/pr...
  - PopeDotNinja 8y ago
    I tried Medical when I finished a contract job in 2014. I immediately found that a medical doctor wouldn't prescribe a prescription I needed at the time (an ADHD medication), and I couldn't see my own doctor to get the prescription. You are correct that some coverage is available to some people, but it' a bureaucratic nightmare, slow, and you're going to be limited to coverage other people think you need. Maybe it's pretty good once you learn the system, but you have to learn it, and I had to spend hours navigating the system when I really needed to be looking for a new job.

aantix 8y ago

Assuming you're an engineer and a decent one at that? Move to SV, get a job with Google/FB/etc. If you're single, you'll have a max-out-of-pocket of a few thousand dollars, but that will more than be made up for by the increase in salary. And you will have good insurance subsidized by your employer.

aantix 8y ago
If you’re on a group plan, which you would be with your employer, they’ll cover your preexisting conditions. You will have so much more leverage to negotiate for your skill set. They Truly value your skills. Kick your safety net to the side, jump the pond and make a good business decision for yourself.
raverbashing 8y ago
> Move to SV, get a job with Google/FB/etc. I'm not sure americans understand how annoying it is the process of getting an H1B (or any other visa to be honest)
- dcarmo 8y ago
  And it's a lottery in the end. You can't count on it until you're selected.
robjan 8y ago
Do insurance companies in the US pay out for preexisting conditions?
- ianai 8y ago
  Not if they can help it. Iirc, that portion of the ACA was just repealed in the courts. Group insurance for a large employer will though.
- rubidium 8y ago
  They do now
8y ago