There is often talk about what it costs to have MS on an emotional plane. People might loose partners that don’t understand, or MS can cost you your job if you can’t continue working due to immobility or severe fatigue. They encourage us to talk about these things. But we don’t often hear that is actually also costs a lot of money. It costs the person that has MS a lot, and I guess we also cost the NHS and the government a lot. But lets stick with the first thing first.
MS costs you money. My husband often jokes when I complain about living in a small house, that if we move to America we could afford a big house. Yes I say but I wouldn’t afford the health insurance, also if I would need to go on drugs you would have to pay for them out of your own pocket. Yes, but we are not in America you say. Well this is true, but once diagnosed lots of my insurance went up. I am no longer a person that is healthy. Therefor things like travel insurance rise 150%, life insurance is the same, and I don’t qualify for a critical illness cover as I already have a critical illness (sadly having MS doesn’t really keep cancer or heart problems away). It is very easy to feel like a second class citizen.
But back to the thing about moving to America. As a Swede I have always been a fan of the NHS, when I grew up in the 80′s Swedish health politics used to be the way lots of other countries wished for. Help for anyone that needed it. Sadly it is not as good as it used to be anymore. But never mind we are not talking about Sweden now, back to the UK. I was very happy to know that if I would need to go on DMT’s that thanks to the NHS and the risk sharing scheme I knew I would at least not have to worry about that.
This scheme of course costs money too. But looking at MS in the long run, if you one day end up in such bad shape as you feel need permanent care in a home you will cost a lot more. Taking DMT’s might make that path a little less likely to happen. Also treating severe relapses with other drugs also costs money of course. So all in all without going in to much on how the scheme works it seems like it is doing the job. Maybe you can compare it to buying a house that needs some work on it. In fact it needs rewiring and new plumbing and damp sorting out. To do all this at once it will cost you quite a bit. But then hopefully your house will be fine for many more years. Instead maybe you opt for the cheaper option and just slap some paint on it and hope for the best. In the years to come your house will slowly crumble and you will have to spend a total amount way way higher than in your first option. Anyway I am not great at economy. But still it is a great scheme, and a huge step forward from the so called post code lottery that used to be in place before. Or having to pay the full price for the drugs that you have to in some countries.
So yay Risk Sharing Scheme right!? Not according to MP James Gray, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on MS, He now thinks with the imminent arrival of the Oral Drugs, that the RSS isn’t working and wants to abolish it.
Great! So what do we do now? Back to post code lottery? Or call one of those dodgy loan companies that likes to call and leave recorded messages on my answer phone? Or maybe someone can set up some company, say in Poland ,that can sell cheap drugs to people from the UK. All great options I am sure you agree with me?
With a bit of help, for most people MS doesn’t need to be the end of the world. But we do need a little help. And the NHS has been giving us that. It didn’t matter if you were rich or poor.
I guess needless to say this whole thing is making me very angry. And James Gray I think you clearly need to read the research a little bit better, and maybe just maybe actually go out and see some people for who DMTs actually have changed their lives. Because James Gray, there are quite a few of them!
Tags: DMT, James Gray, new, RSS
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