[quote=Ray1971]I have a friend and a couple of relatives that say UK, Canada, Japan and other countries' health care systems are in shambles because of socialized medical care. I disagree, but, since talking politics is not my thing I find it hard to get into the debate. [/quote]
Well there is loads to criticise about our health system, it's far from perfect and some hosptials are filthy, but I am not complaining too much, they are looking after Martin quite well. And it is free (well I give �2002.93 a month towards the National Insurance like for income tax, but everyone else who earns and pays tax pays a contribution as well). I suppose we are lucky as well that we just happened to live next to one of the best cancer hospital in the UK.

Actually I love the British accent. It sounds so proper most of the time especially compared to how our language has taken many turns for the worse.

David i would love to sit you in a room with half a dozen people from different regions of the uk.By the time you had heard a selection of our regional dialects you wouldn't know what a british accent sounded like lol.
Scouse,Mancunian,Brum,Geordie,Tyke,Scots,Welsh,Cornish,its brilliant and gives us our fantastic diverse character.As for our healthcare system......its great and i for one won't knock it.Celia that must be one well paid job for that size of NI contribution.

We have a few "different" English dialects here as well like Southern, New Yorkish, New Englandish and last but not to be left out Hoodish. They can all be a challenge depending upon where you grew up.

At $1.65US to one pound, that's $3,305/month or $39,660 per year. That's certainly not free for people with jobs!!

The NHS is "free" for everyone wether you have a job or not Presriptions are charged at �7.50 per item or free if you are on a low income or welfare or have a long term illness.The origonal intention was that everyone who worked would pay a percentage of their earnings in national insurance to cover the cost of dental,maternity and health care .Nowdays their isn't free dental care,just subsidised unless you are on welfare,but the NHS soldiers on.Income tax in the UK is charged at 18 pence in the pound on earnings over �5000 and national insurance is much less.I was gob smacked when i read how much Cecilia said she pays and i could only presume she is one of the UK top earners and in the super tax bracket.As a self employed man my husband paid approximately �25.00 per month and as an employee i used to pay about �60.00 per month.If i was to add up how much robs treatment, medication welfare rent allowance etc came to i would guess it would run into hundreds of thousands of pounds,and i think thats a good return for a very small investment.the bottom line really is that no matter who you are or what you earn or even if you don't earn anything,in the UK we NEVER have to worry about what we can and can't afford as regards health care,as we all get it without question and we all get the same unless we choose to opt out and insure ourselves privately in which case the waiting time is substantially reduced and you get a fancy private hospital,but the doctors are the same ones you see on the NHS.

Sounds like you need an accountant to figure out just where you stand. My wife and I pay $1,497.40 per month for top quality, no specialist referral needed, family medical and dental coverage with Aetna. Actually, the dental is with MetLife and is about $110 of the monthly total. My total tab to date for the BOT Tx is just over 300K and we have been out of pocket maybe 3K.

Bill D.

Unfortunately our insurance coverage is thru husband's employer. When he exhausts all medical leave the company will let him go and with that the end to our insurance. Since our income has dropped by over 50% since diagnosis it's fair to say we're bankrupt and can't file in case of a recurrence. Creditors are screaming and I've explained until I just don't answer the phone anymore. So...to add insult to injury, here we are. The kicker is that even with the lowered income, when his insurance goes, we won't qualify for state aid without a big pay down. Nothing like falling in the cracks where I'm guessing most of the middle class lands.

Cheryl Im sorry to hear of your troubles. That really stinks!!!!! Its one thing to be sick, then to have financial burdens on top of it. Your household must be really struggling thru a rough time. We all struggle with different things once a brush with this disease.

This may sound like a dumb question, is there any way your husband is able to do light duty at his former job? Its a darn shame his employer will fire him. What kind of work did he do?

Best wishes with everything.

ahhhh Christine! How did I know you'd be right here with words of support! You are a gem!!! My husband does factory work. When he left he was driving a tow motor which was ok as he has major trouble with varicose veins in his legs. However, he has been off long enough for his job to be bid and he would go back to work in the factory - on the line. Not enough stamina to be on his feet 8 hours a day (and this place works 12 hours a lot) and if he did, he would get an ulcer on his foot. Has happened 3 times in 10 years. We've tried to look from every angle and it's just not going to work out. We got lucky that the company had already let a couple of others be off longer than FMLA and medical leave as usual and now they will have to let him off that long too. Guess my point was that there's got to be something better than the health care system we have now....