matt`n`shaz

My 5 year old son suffers from asthma, hayfever, eczma etc etc.

I spent 5 hours at the hospital yesterday only to find he is highly allergic to nuts as well as lots of other things. He is at high risk of anaphylaxic shock (severe allergic reaction if he eats nuts) and therefore we have been given EpiPens to carry at all times, and for the school to have them as well.

I think, here in the UK, we do take the NHS for granted. The amount of hospital appointments, allergy testing, skin and asthma clinics and medication my son requires is hugh. The repeat prescription is enormous.

My concern is that if we do apply for PR in Australia and leave the NHS behind, we will be crippled with medical costs and the extra cost of private medical insurance which we don't budget for at the moment.

Is anyone out there in a similar situation.

Thanks

Sharon

jad n rich

There is a safety net, if you get up to a certain amount in prescriptions, think its about $1000 a family the rest are only charged at about $6 each, someone else may verify the amounts. So its not as bad as it may first seem.

Our private health cover is $2500 a year for a family of 5, there are cheaper ones but basically the limits are set according to what you pay, so say you had a $1000 insurance it wont pay much % of your costs.

Childrens prescriptions are not free in OZ, but as above there is a limit to what you pay.

Specialists are rarely free unless you can get one at a state hospital, if your son is severe that may be the case, but you can imagine the demand for free care here its not easy to qualify.

Dental for kids is not free, however some states Qld has dental vans in state schools to 16 for basic fillings and extractions not braces etc, think hevs said there was a similar programme in VIc for primary school.

With 3 kids, we pay $2500 private and usually end up with about $3000 out of pocket expenses.

Medicare is a odd system where you pay the amount to the doc for eg, then you take your receipt to medicare, who then pay a % of the fee back to you. EG, visit docs, $45.00 medicare rebates 85% of schedule fee, note what the schedule is is usually less than the doc etc charges, for eg again we paid $300 for a specialist but the schedule fee was $65.

Asthma in OZ is one in 4 kids.

Hope that helps a bit.

logan

Hi Sharon,
I don't suffer from allergies but I googled on the aussie Google, and came up with this.
http://www.pca.com.au/articles.php?rc=188
you may want to google (on the aussie version) as there may be other articles that are more up to date etc. www.australia.gov.au may also help if you type in health into the search box.

matt`n`shaz

Thanks very much, gives us something to seriously think about. Do the other benefits of OZ outweigh the cost of private medical insurance?

Is dental treatment covered by Medicare?

Thanks again

Sharon

Pollyana

I don't want to worry you, but apparently asthma in children is a growing problem over here; also I think you should choose your State carefully - extremes of humidity, either too hot or too low, play havoc with eczema, so I would rule out Qld.
Also the packaging on foods here is been discussed a few times, and it seems that Australia lags behind England in its labelling policies at times. Warnings of possible peanut content don't seem to be as universal here. (willing to hear other views in this, its just my own observations)

mulvers

Slightly off topic but....
Hayfever sufferer for the last 12 years.After reading article on internet re. apple cider vinegar gave it a try and as if by magic ,symptoms massively reduced.
www.earthclinic.com ,look under 'Folk remedies' re. apple cider vinegar.

matt`n`shaz

Thanks for that info - we were considering QLD, so perhaps we should rethink!

Is there anyone in QLD that is a sufferer and could comment on how the humidity has affected them?

I think our "bubble" has been burst now, do we apply or not??
and if so, what State do we opt for.

Depressed.

Sharon

Zan

Sharon, good luck! Just one thing, I never had hayfever or asthma in Australia (left in '89 aged 20), after 2 years in London I started to suffer with hayfever and within a year asthma. Whenever I go back to Oz my hayfever and asthma disappear (guess due to the different pollens). I am hoping that I don't be come sensitised when we move back in January and the change in country cures the hayfever and asthma.
This was discussed on another forum and several people all noted that their allergies and/or asthma had greatly improved (or that of their children) with noone saying the opposite. So you never know the move could help.
I'm from Sydney if that helps.
Zan

Bella Donna

Don't be depressed, Sharon. Look at it this way - it's not going to get any better in the UK with air pollution getting worse. We've just had a trip to WA and my husband and I both found our asthma was much better there because of the drier atmosphere; the humidity in England plays havoc with mine normally. Also the air is so much cleaner and clearer - no polluted haze. Sydney was more humid and more polluted, but still better than England.

I can understand your concern and I wish you luck with your decision. I feel you would be best going for WA where it is drier. It would also mean being less clammy, which might be preferable for his eczema.

BTW, have you thought of any other therapeutic approaches such as herbalism or homeopathy to help your son?

Robbo2

Hi Zan and Sharon,
All four of us in our family have asthma! My youngest daughter has eczema, and three of us have hayfever!
I have to say though that we really couldn't be much worse off than we are here. March to June is a really bad time of year for my children with runny noses, itchy watery eyes etc. It is a nightmare. A consultant paediatrician who I work with has told me that we certainly won't be any worse in Aus, but probably alot better. It is more barren over there and less pollens etc. Also, no central heating will do wonders for my little ones eczema, as the winter is usually a bad time due to the dry atmosphere indoors.
Sharon, please do not despair.....it may not be a problem.
Claire. x

Pollyana

Hi Sharon,
Don't get too down or depressed - after all, Australia is so diverse that because one place seems out, it doesn't rule out the whole country.
When I spend time in Melbourne or Tassie my skin is much much beter, and after all Tassie has the cleanest air in the world.
In Brisbane on the other hand its not so good - this weeks rain was heavenly, but now its dry again, humidity dropping to 30% and I can feel my skin drying out minute by minute - not a pleasant feeling and makes for a constant itch. In the height of the summer when you have extreme heat as well as high humidity, it can be equally uncomfortable. Eczema doesn't like the extremes.
Also air con can be as bad as central heting for drying out the air, and in Qld you get air con everywhere.

I really don't want to depress you, but I know what your little one will go through here. Another State could be a better choice

Daffy

Hello there.

We have been in SA for two years now. My youngest son (8) has asthma. In the UK he would get this for about 4 - 6 weeks every year in Spring - nothing for the rest of the year. Since we've been here he has had asthma all year round. He is now under an asthma care plan at a clinic where once a month for 4 months he is assessed. We are moving to Qld in two weeks time and I discussed this with the asthma nurse last week, asking might my son get better or worse up there. She explained that he could go either way all depending on what triggers his asthma. She said people come to Australia believing that with such a low population Oz is less polluted than most other countries and therefore low pollution means low ashma. But in reality, there's so much native plant life here not found elsewhere that people get here and find they are allergic to it. She also told me that SA is the driest state in the country (which I knew) meaning lots of dust which also triggers off asthma in some people. So moving up to the moist air in Qld might be better for him (depending on what triggers it).

Over the past two years of visiting the doctor for my son's asthma care I haven't been charged a thing because it's asthma he's been treated for. But I'm not red hot on all of this and so another practitioner might charge, I'm really not sure.

Anyway personally we will have to see how things go up there. I'm just crossing my fingers that it is the dry air down here that's triggering it.

Good luck with your decisions!

Pollyana

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=300863

Interesting thread from a while back - you might like a read.

anya4oz

Sharon,

Sorry to hear about your lad's eczema & asthma - it must be very tough for him.

Depending on what your son's allergen triggers are (apart from the nuts, of course) you may wish to consider Melbourne (or other parts of Vic). Depending on where you live in the city, it's generally cooler, there's hardly any humidity, even on very hot days, & it's quite windy. The sea air can work wonders for asthma sufferers, too.

Personally, I've been loads better since we moved here nearly a year ago, but I guess you would need to visit & see how it works out for your son, as everyone's different.

Good luck,
Cheers
Anya.

jad n rich

Hi again,

Dental treatment is not covered by medicare, you need private to cover that the $2500 I quoted for us is hospital and dental tho. Its hard to comment overall as its so individual for each family, the only thing I would definately say is OZ is no longer a cheap option compared to the UK because UK has so much price competition, you dont really get that here, overall it probably is a similar cost of living.


I would not rule out emigrating to OZ cause of asthma, it is bad in this country but different things trigger it in different people, melbourne and sydney have extremely high pollution levels so much so occasionally they advise people to stay inside in summer, but what about the country areas of any state, the air should be clean there unless its a crop area, some chemicals are allowed here that are banned overseas. Were in qld and one of ours had asthma, in the uk, melbourne and here, we changed his diet to natural foods and he hasnt had any attacks for almost 2 years. Kids do get used to it, my kids will not touch maccas, husband will tho

I would consider a organic diet for your kids if you come here, or at least as natural as possilble, so many kids here are hypo and I personally put it down to the food, its full of sugar, additives and colour, there are 2 sweets here that are advertised as healthy one has 95% sugar but the 5% fruit juice allows them to advertise it as healthy child option