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Autoimmune Disorder and German health care system

My parents who are from California and Tennessee came to live in Germany in 1971 to pursue their academic careers. Thus, my older sister and I were born and raised in Germany, but have only U.S. citizenship. At the time of my parents’ immigration my mother was already very ill with juvenile diabetes, slowly losing her eyesight. During my childhood she had almost a dozen eye surgeries which were all paid for by the universal health care system of Germany and helped maintain her eyesight a little longer. Sadly, also other aspects of my mother’s health declined over the years and she became dependent on nursing staff to come to her apartment several times a day to check her blood sugar levels for her. Although we had fights with our health insurance over the amount of care they would pay for, we were glad that we lived in Germany and were able to afford the care that was needed. When my mother was diagnosed with end-stage ovarian cancer in May 2003, she was so ill that she died in hospital within three weeks after diagnosis. As hard as it was for us to deal with losing our mother and making funeral arrangements etc. we can be grateful that she received excellent care at the university hospital and that we did not have to pay any bills related to her hospital stay.

Not only our mother was highly dependent on the German universal healthcare system, at the age of 20 I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder and spent several weeks in the university hospital in the city where I was attending university. A myriad of diagnostic tests was performed, and no one ever said that certain tests could not be done due to high cost, and I never had to pay more than the normal amount of health insurance and prescription fees. Unfortunately, due to this pre-existing condition even in Germany I could no longer buy life-insurance. Already at that time I realized that I would probably never be able to afford life in the U.S. given my health issues. No one expected what happened less than five years later. At the age of 25, I suffered a stroke to the brainstem and cerebellum which left me in intensive care and then in a wheelchair for weeks. My health insurance paid for 8 days on the stroke unit, 5 weeks in a university hospital neurology unit, transfer to and 9 weeks in a highly specialized neurology rehabilitation facility, another 7 weeks in an outpatient rehabilitation facility in my hometown, and finally 2 more years of physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. They never put a limit as to how long they would pay for it as long as the doctors said that the therapy was required. I was highly motivated and practised a lot, otherwise my rehabilitation would have taken much longer I’m sure.

In the year after my stroke I required major abdominal surgery and have had health problems ever since. However, due to the great rehabilitation program I went through after my stroke and the high-quality diagnostics and therapy I am getting for my continued health problems, I have been able to go back to working full-time, although in a different line of work. I am able to continue (and afford) my hobbies of riding horses and travelling and consider myself to have a high quality of life. From what I hear from friends and relatives who live in the U.S., I am quite certain that I would not be able to maintain this life standard there regarding the cost of doctor’s visits, medications etc. that I need every year.

Natalie
Germany
Kern County, California

National Health Care Paid for Premature twins

In 1999, my twins were born in a hospital in Japan, 14 weeks premature. My first thought, after I found out that they had been stabilized in the NICU, where basic costs were 80,000 yen per day, was that my husband and I would have to sell our house and that we would probably be forever in debt. As a native of a country without universal healthcare, this was the only outcome I could imagine.

Happily, national and supplemental insurance covered my twins' four and five month hospital stays. Japanese national insurance also covered my daughter's subsequent hospital stays (she was hospitalized at least ten times after she got out of the USA due to hermias, and respiratory infections which required stays in the very expensive ICU, HCU and CCU.)

Although I love my country, I believe that my family can not afford to live there. Without the Japanese national healthcare system, my family would have been rendered impoverished.

Suzanne Kamata
Japan
South Carolina

National Health Care--No wait, easy sign up, cheap

In praise of universal coverage

The issue of health care is front and center these days due in large part to Michael Moore's new film. His documentary, "Sicko" shines a light on a dysfunctional health care system that does more to serve the interests of for-profit insurers than it does for the average American citizen. One of the most absurd features of the US for-profit health care system is denying someone access to treatment or a procedure based on a pre-existing condition.

I recall trying to explain the concept of pre-existing condition to a friend from another country. This person could not fully grasp the concept as applied to health care because in his reality it did not exist - a reality where every citizen has access to high quality and affordable medical and dental care and would never be denied treatment based on past treatment, or a present medical condition - isn't that when people would most need care - to treat a present medical condition? Of course it is.

I am privileged to be able to share a view on this issue as a resident of a country that has an excellent universal heath care system, and thankfully NO pre-exisiting condition exclusions. In Japan, where I work and live, I am fully covered under a comprehensive universal coverage scheme through my city office. The process of enrolling was straightforward and painless. I presented myself at the city office, answered a few questions regarding visa status (I hold a work visa), last year's income in Japan (I had none as I had been in the US) and then I waited for a few minutes. The clerk came back with a new health insurance certificate for my family and informed me that I would receive my insurance premium invoice in a few weeks.

Sure enough, in a few weeks I received my insurance premium invoice in the mail. The annual premium was approximately $300.00 US dollars. I had to look again and confirm this with a Japanese friend - there was no mistake. I had the option of paying in ten installments or in a lump sum. At that premium I opted to take care of it all at once and viola, our health insurance was paid up for a year. Of course, our premiums were nominal due to not having any income to report in Japan for the previous year; this year they are higher but still much lower (around $230.00 per month for two people) than what I would pay for a private policy for my family in the US - another excellent feature of this plan is that the premium also includes long-term care insurance for adults over the age of 40.

There is nothing like the feeling of security that comes from knowing that when necessary, you and your family have access to affordable medical and dental treatment. Having been without such coverage in the US and having experienced the accompanying anxiety, I feel fortunate to be able to participate in a system that is, unfortunately, and sadly, out of reach for 47 million Americans, many of whom are children.

Gregory
Japan
Seattle, Washington

See the original post here
http://broaderview.blogspot.com/2007/07/in-praise-of-universal-coverage.html

When our twins were born, we received a cash payment ...

In Japan, when our children, twin girls, were born, we received a direct cash payment equal to the full amount a typical hospital would charge for each birth, not some unrealistic fraction of the amount. Our daughters, now toddlers, will receive free health care until their mid teens -- vaccinations, coughs and colds, emergency care, major care if they need it.

We can use virtually any doctor or hospital, and their regular pediatrician is a Japanese version of a Normal Rockwell small town family doctor.

I feel like we get something worthwhile for my tax money in Japan -- not just the Rumsfeld-Cheney war.

Eric W. Sedlak
Tokyo

I'm over 70, so my costs are 10% of the total...

As a long-term American resident of Japan, I cannot praise the national health care system too highly. Though I have had the usual experiences of long waits and inexperienced young doctors at a large public hospital in Tokyo, the quality of care and inexpensive medicine and services I now receive is exemplary. At 71, I have the expected range of geriatric problems—osteo-arthritis in feet and hands, cranky knees, cataracts, prostate hyperplasia— plus Hepatitis C. Only the latter can be life threatening. The local public hospital in the small rural own where I live was limited in its ability (read unable) to treat the Hep C. After a nasty fall that injured a shoulder rotator cuff for which the local hospital rehab person was not able to cope, I was recommended to a private clinic in the next prefecture. The doctor there practices both Western and Oriental medicine, and he cured a friend's chronic lung condition almost overnight. His clinic is covered by the national health care. His intelligent and careful regimen for the Hep C has brought the viral count down almost to the point of defeating it, and that may still happen. Acupuncture is also available there under the health care system; this helps the arthritic pain greatly and probably slows the progress of the disease. The acupuncture also treated the pain and helped effect the use of the injured shoulder.

The rambling, anecdotal comment is to illustrate that one is able choose one's doctor in Japan and that the quality of medical treatment, if carefully chosen, can be excellent. Also, since I am over 70, my medical and medicine costs are only 10 percent, repeat 10 percent, of the total cost. For example, recently a CT scan cost me only ¥2,000 (roughly US$18). This quality of medical treatment and the low cost under the national health care system is one of the major reasons why I feel that a return to the US would be a disaster for me medically. I could not expect to find a doctor with the same intelligent application of two medical traditions and certainly could not afford the increasing cost of treatment, etc. as my body ages.

Kim Schuefftan
Gumma, Japan

Today's visit to the doctor...in Japan

National Health Care--no reservations required

My experiences here in Japan are the same. Dental care is also included, which is an issue that also needs to be addressed in the U.S., where dental care is separate for some reason.

There are no reservations needed - just walk into any clinic near you. They are almost all private - not run by the government. So you have complete choice.

When I had bronchitis recently, I just asked a neighbor which doctor she recommended and walked right over.

Doug Lerner
Tokyo

My coverage is more comprehensive and more transparent...

I also use the Japanese Universal Health Care system and love it. It's easy to use, I can go to any hospital/clinic I want (most are private), and it actually costs me less than what my friends pay in the US. Yet my coverage is more comprehensive, more transparent, and for the most part stress free. I also put my employees on it. It takes about 30 minutes to enroll them and then I never worry about it again. All I need to do is make sure there's enough $ to pay each month. It's dead easy.

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