Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
#1
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Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
I have a question I want to ask about major medical coverage because I would like to gain a better understanding of what might not be covered in the National Health Care System in the UK. And if buying private health care insurance could be a smart decision just in case something (God Forbid) were to happen.Some friends of mine were having a conversation about medical coverage in America versus the UK and other major western countries like Germany, France and Spain. The conversation went to, what if a person needed Immune therapy to fight cancer which is very expensive in the States. Treatments can cost upwards of $30K-$50K per month. And I do know some of those drugs are less expensive in Europe because the governments have forced some pharma companies to lower their prices.
Is Immune Therapy covered in the National Health Care System or would a person need to have private health insurance?
Is Immune Therapy covered in the National Health Care System or would a person need to have private health insurance?
#2
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Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
The therapy is still under consideration, but the following article says that it has been approved in England, but that, at the moment, only a small select band of patients are likely to receive it - mainly due to its costs....
https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk...the-nhs-ready/
I doubt whether any private health insurance company is going to include this treatment - again due to costs. But you should ask the question of any private health insurer you are considering
https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk...the-nhs-ready/
I doubt whether any private health insurance company is going to include this treatment - again due to costs. But you should ask the question of any private health insurer you are considering
#3
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Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
The therapy is still under consideration, but the following article says that it has been approved in England, but that, at the moment, only a small select band of patients are likely to receive it - mainly due to its costs....
https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk...the-nhs-ready/
I doubt whether any private health insurance company is going to include this treatment - again due to costs. But you should ask the question of any private health insurer you are considering
https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk...the-nhs-ready/
I doubt whether any private health insurance company is going to include this treatment - again due to costs. But you should ask the question of any private health insurer you are considering
#4
Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
#5
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Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
On a brighter note - Deaths from strokes has halved in the last 10 years in England.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/...e_iOSApp_Other
https://www.theguardian.com/society/...e_iOSApp_Other
Last edited by durham_lad; May 23rd 2019 at 1:39 pm.
#6
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Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
I wonder what country in Europe has the highest standard of healthcare? I've heard France mentioned as the best but I'm not sure.
Last edited by UkWinds5353; May 23rd 2019 at 8:59 pm.
#7
Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
I very much agree with you. That is the reason why I do support many forms of socialize healthcare because at the end of the day no one's health should be used as a means for companies to profit. In America the healthcare system is all about profit. Our system in the States is very high quality, and maybe the highest in the world but some of the treatments with various drugs and care in general is only affordable to those that have wealth, and in my opinion that is shameful. I applaud western Europe for officially saying for years healthcare is a right, and not a luxury regardless of a person's financial status.
I wonder what country in Europe has the highest standard of healthcare? I've heard France mentioned as the best but I'm not sure.
I wonder what country in Europe has the highest standard of healthcare? I've heard France mentioned as the best but I'm not sure.
#8
Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
We don’t have the best healthcare system here in the states, though it is by far the most profitable. Our maternal fetal mortality rate, for example, is appalling and far higher than the maternal fetal mortality rate in the UK. Healthcare looks glitzy and pharmaceutical companies are boastful, but it is a veneer. Plenty of nations have better records. A proper socialised healthcare system is decades overdue in the states—the private sector can find a niche too, as it does int he UK and in the rest of Europe, but the current system should absolutely be abolished. It’s a racket.
#9
Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
In the UK the nephew of a friend developed a liver infection which ended in liver failure.
A few weeks ago he had a liver transplant but the transplant failed and the 35 year old was left with the prospect of imminent death.
Within a few days another liver was found and he received a 2nd liver transplant.
He is not out of the woods yet but so far so good with the latest liver.
He had 5 operations in a week - hours of complex surgery - and he will have lifelong post transplant care.
The cost was shared by all the citizens and foreign workers who work here and contribute to the system.
I wonder what the cost would have been in the USA?
A few weeks ago he had a liver transplant but the transplant failed and the 35 year old was left with the prospect of imminent death.
Within a few days another liver was found and he received a 2nd liver transplant.
He is not out of the woods yet but so far so good with the latest liver.
He had 5 operations in a week - hours of complex surgery - and he will have lifelong post transplant care.
The cost was shared by all the citizens and foreign workers who work here and contribute to the system.
I wonder what the cost would have been in the USA?
#10
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Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
In the UK the nephew of a friend developed a liver infection which ended in liver failure.
A few weeks ago he had a liver transplant but the transplant failed and the 35 year old was left with the prospect of imminent death.
Within a few days another liver was found and he received a 2nd liver transplant.
He is not out of the woods yet but so far so good with the latest liver.
He had 5 operations in a week - hours of complex surgery - and he will have lifelong post transplant care.
The cost was shared by all the citizens and foreign workers who work here and contribute to the system.
I wonder what the cost would have been in the USA?
A few weeks ago he had a liver transplant but the transplant failed and the 35 year old was left with the prospect of imminent death.
Within a few days another liver was found and he received a 2nd liver transplant.
He is not out of the woods yet but so far so good with the latest liver.
He had 5 operations in a week - hours of complex surgery - and he will have lifelong post transplant care.
The cost was shared by all the citizens and foreign workers who work here and contribute to the system.
I wonder what the cost would have been in the USA?
#11
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,830
Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
We don’t have the best healthcare system here in the states, though it is by far the most profitable. Our maternal fetal mortality rate, for example, is appalling and far higher than the maternal fetal mortality rate in the UK. Healthcare looks glitzy and pharmaceutical companies are boastful, but it is a veneer. Plenty of nations have better records. A proper socialised healthcare system is decades overdue in the states—the private sector can find a niche too, as it does int he UK and in the rest of Europe, but the current system should absolutely be abolished. It’s a racket.
#12
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Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
I have another health care question.
Would hospice care be fully covered in the UK without needing to jump through a bunch of red tape prior to beginning that care? Or would the UK government make that patient show months of financial records and look at what assets they might have?
I can see if a person needed long term care and the government then wanted to recoup cost from a long stay. But would a short term stay be handled the same way?
I've read some things in the States that is alarming about our care for people that need short term hospice.
Would hospice care be fully covered in the UK without needing to jump through a bunch of red tape prior to beginning that care? Or would the UK government make that patient show months of financial records and look at what assets they might have?
I can see if a person needed long term care and the government then wanted to recoup cost from a long stay. But would a short term stay be handled the same way?
I've read some things in the States that is alarming about our care for people that need short term hospice.
#13
Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
I have another health care question.
Would hospice care be fully covered in the UK without needing to jump through a bunch of red tape prior to beginning that care? Or would the UK government make that patient show months of financial records and look at what assets they might have?
I can see if a person needed long term care and the government then wanted to recoup cost from a long stay. But would a short term stay be handled the same way?
I've read some things in the States that is alarming about our care for people that need short term hospice.
Would hospice care be fully covered in the UK without needing to jump through a bunch of red tape prior to beginning that care? Or would the UK government make that patient show months of financial records and look at what assets they might have?
I can see if a person needed long term care and the government then wanted to recoup cost from a long stay. But would a short term stay be handled the same way?
I've read some things in the States that is alarming about our care for people that need short term hospice.
#14
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Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
I didn't see a cost chart for hospice care so not sure if the state comes in and ask for money for the care if you are in the national healthcare system or if there is no extra cost for hospice.
In the States we are so use to seeing bills up front that we become conditioned to looking at the fine print.
I learned today about the cost for hospice care in America that was very concerning and it made me want to see if things were handled differently in the UK.
#15
Re: Are UK citizens & Spouse covered for expensive immune therapy treatment?
"Hospice care is free, paid for through a combination of NHS funding and public donation"
HTH.