There is a need for drugs, required for outpatient treatment, to be subsidized

Someone wrote to ask me to share his view and personal experience.

QUOTE The govt has shown the benefits of the Medishield plan, what the lay person may not realize is that while the plan pays for expenses during the hospital stay, it will not cover for costs incurred for the continued medication.

For example, a person suffering from heart problems can use Medishield for the surgery. However he has to be on medication for life, and the cost of the drugs is not covered by any insurance plan. It comes out of pocket and the expenses can be quite large. This is because most of the drugs are not subsidized. There should be a call to increase the list of drugs for subsidy. As it is, you will find patients paying 85% of the cost, the Govt only paying 15%. As taxpayers, we should be only be paying 15%.

Let me share my personal example. Ten years ago, I underwent bypass surgery. My employer's medical plans cover the operation and all bills until I reached aged 62. After which, I went to the MSO plan amd was given $350 for a year's claim.

I am also a diabetic, on insulin, there is no subsidy for insulin's, not the heart medications. My bills average about 250 a month, that is even when I am referred by the Outpatient Dispensary!. The only waiver for the bills is the GST. For almost all the drugs that I have to take. there is no subsidy.

The Govt needs to include more mediations in the list of drugs to be subsidized. In a population that getting old, accompanied with large numbers getting sick, these payments will be expensive for the general public.

All the fuzz about he medi shield plans do not cover out of hospital stay. There is a need to high light this problem as the hospital bills are only part of the total bill one pays to stay healthy.

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