Insulin Wars: How insurance companies farm out dirty work to doctors patients

Re:Insulin Wars: How insurance companies farm out dirty work... by amriksohata on Monday January 21, 2019 @03:21PM (#18963278)

I always say this, but reading that makes me think thank God for the NHS in the UK. Health and education should never be a business. The pharmaceutical companies are so strong and greedy in the US they want people on their drugs, rather than look for preventing the problems. They often lambast and send confusing scientific studies out to ensure no alternative therapies succeed over their drugs.

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Re:Insulin Wars: How insurance companies farm out dirty work... by ninjin on Monday January 21, 2019 @05:05PM (#18964051)

As a Type 1 diabetic in the UK I feel inclined to agree and disagree. Yes, the drug price negotiation is great and keeps my insulin affordable. However, the NHS comes with its own ailments that we should admit.

For Type 1 diabetics in particular, technological support in the form of insulin pumps, continuous glucose metres, and closed-loop systems are only handed out readily to children, while in the US they are far more commonplace since they are covered by insurance. Personally, it took me 3 1/2 years of fighting to get my pump – something that I would have had in months if I would have remained in Japan. One week ago I finally got it and what a difference it makes in terms of control. However, a continuous glucose monitor is nowhere in sight and I frankly do not expect to get one within a decade. Perhaps a pseudo-continuous glucose monitor like the FreeStyle Libre if I am lucky. My diabetes team in London is great and pro technology, but I can only imagine those that are less well-informed on how to make the system (NHS) work or live out in the country. Do they receive the technology they need to manage this disease?

For those of us with Type 1 diabetes that seek technological support, do read up over at Insulin Pumpers UK [1]. Also, never feel ashamed to seek the technology that would help you live longer and less constrained by our illness.

[1]: http://www.insulin-pumpers.org.uk/

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Re:Insulin Wars: How insurance companies farm out dirty work... by amriksohata on Monday January 21, 2019 @05:45PM (#18964352)

Agreed lots of flaws, what I like is because it's state based it's in their interest to cut costs of medicine rather than try give as much medicine as they can to increase profits

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Re:Insulin Wars: How insurance companies farm out dirty work... by maxerickson on Monday January 21, 2019 @10:08PM (#18965701)

In the US, dental and vision care are much more business-like than healthcare in general. Prices are reasonable and care is quite advanced. If there was no protection racket, dentistry would be even cheaper.

Which isn't to say that running them as businesses is necessarily the right idea, but the regulatory morass that is broader US healthcare probably doesn't teach us everything there is to know about healthcare as a business.

(people get angry when you do things like call a $200 filling "cheap", but it lasts for 15+ years and you get to keep the tooth. It's cheap!)

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Re:Insulin Wars: How insurance companies farm out dirty work... by jorvi on Tuesday January 22, 2019 @03:57AM (#18966989)

Even in most universal healthcare countries dentistry and vision are only covered for minors, because they’re seen as care that can be budgeted ahead of time (you know a tooth is sensitive waayy before you actually have it filled, so you can save up for the cost). Dentists and opticians are run like businesses.

And yes, $200 is still ridiculously expensive for a filling. Here in The Netherlands I’d pay ~$104 for a multi-sided composite filling (the most complicated filling you can get). For the cheapest (one-sided amalgam) I’d pay ~$25. Local anesthesia would be ~$8.

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Re:Insulin Wars: How insurance companies farm out dirty work... by dotuser on Tuesday January 22, 2019 @01:14PM (#18970650)

I agree, the pharmaceutical companies in the US use dirty tactics to get their products to market. They put out these clinical trials claiming their product is superior or worse, are behind bogus claims of a cancer link to a drug - I was suspicious when my insurance stopped covering lantus and forced me to switch to levemir.

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