Hi community. I am struggling here and hoping to find some guidance. I am in my late 20’s and coping with coming to terms with throwing my dreams away to have financial stability to pay for my diabetes and having a steady job that provides insurance. I do not want to go into debt and have a bunch of looming credit my whole life.
I know that living in America I don’t have much choice. I just cannot live with myself being part of this “system”. I want to learn more about moving to another country where I can get cheaper healthcare and not become a slave to my Diabetes.
Does anyone know anything about this topic? I am desperate to learn about this and cannot find much of anything on the internet about this. I am open to all information, be it country suggestions, the way healthcare works abroad, living in abroad longterm in general, etc.
@marooned222. This a real tough question for any kind of direct answer.
What’s the dream you are giving up? Many times I have found difficulties and roadblocks are a test to see how bad I want something. It’s the test that can be more of the decider than what I think I want. If I had a life lesson to share it’s this: nothing good is easy.
There are European countries where health care is paid for by the government by taxes. You would apply for citizenship and once in, you’d have the same access to healthcare as any citizen. I must comment that there are precautions made by these countries to stop people from gaming their systems and that these are indeed “systems” as well. Many times the choices for the type of insulin and insulin delivery are chosen from what is available and considered “good enough “ by the equivalent ministries of health and not you. I’m not saying it’ll be better or worse, but your flexibility may be limited and we don’t know what kind of insulin or delivery system you are using now.
Anyway good luck, I hope things improve for you. Beware the wish for things to be different you don’t always know the full deal until you are well into the full deal.
Hello, I’m 47, T1D for 25yrs now. I have often thought of living outside the country in hopes of receiving government paid healthcare. I understand the allure of this idea and the fantasy of something ‘different’. As mentioned though, in Joe’s reply, with paid care, you are giving up the option for staying up with the newest and improved treatments. In my 25yrs of T1D, I have gone from 10xdaily urine tests for blood/sugar levels to the CGM which I wear today. I’ve gone from painful 8xday needle injections to the Insulin pump I now use.
Being that you are young, I can only assume many further advances in care for T1D will come in your lifetime. Without the individual health care we have in the U.S., you will most likely not be eligible for these advances in other countries. Just as many other countries now offering paid care, are not offering the CGMs and Pumps which I have come to depend upon.
I fully understand the financial burden, and I too feel tied to my current job due to the the insurance I receive. I have often felt diabetes has been a leash i’ve worn, keeping me from freely living the life I ‘could’ have lead.
As I get older, I am coming to realize that I may have fell into the trap of using diabetes as an ‘alibi’ for the life I could have lead.
Yes, innately, life is different and more demanding with diabetes. There were options closed to me earlier in life because of the disease. I only wish I hadn’t dwelled on the limits of the disease, and put more thought and energy into the ultimate challenges I had in overcoming whatever obsticles came my way.
All lives have obstacles; it’s how we deal with them that define us We, T1D, are not unique in that regard. Though another country will offer a different life, do not confuse different with better. Find improvement with what is, rather than wish for improvement in what could be.
I have decided to be present, and not to be come part of the ‘woulda, coulda, shoulda’ population, waiting out my exit. At 47yrs old, and with the advantages of the new health care technology, I weigh my particular baggage against the alternative.
I don’t mean this to be a Hallmark card reply; diabetes sucks. I will always wish I was never diagnosed with this disease. Yes, it has altered my life, but I will not let it define me. Thought not politically correct, diabetes is not my friend. But as they say, ‘keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.’
Good luck to you,
john
Hi “C” @marooned222, both @Joe and @jdsnyc1421 have given you much food for thought so I’ll only supplement a little based upon what I’ve discovered. Unlike the “colonial style immigration” laws of the United States, many civilized countries require a significant “buy in” for permanent residency; a country that I considered required that my wife and I each post six figure bonds to cover our retirement [medical] costs. Also, and I do not want to turn this forum into “politics”, the tax rates of EU countries far exceed taxes in the U.S. - so, although some government sponsored healthcare for all is good, it comes at significant cost, sacrifice and long waiting time just for what we refer to as routine. When I was in business I regularly talked with a woman in the EU who had diabetes and she had more difficulty getting the government healthcare - thankfully her husband was able to buy her care from “private” providers.
First, really identify your dream and investigate by traveling to the country on a temporary basis and see if you reach some satisfaction. I too was in a position where I could not afford “tools” for diabetes - one glass syringe and two stainless steel needles had to last me more than ten years - and then with my first disposable syringes and needles, I had to make them last for as many as 20 injections. Etc. And there wasn’t any way 60+ years ago that I could afford the materials to test my urine for sugar 10 times a day - a couple of test a week had to do. But somehow I lived through it all and have led a successful and productive life and reached My Dream.
