I open a comm to post, and I forget what fucking comm I’m in and have to double check so I know what to look for - sometimes two or three times. Immensely irritating. This is how I’ve operated most of my life, but it’s especially frustrating now that I know it’s not how it has to fucking be. Flowers for Algernon over here.
Fucking American healthcare. “At least we’re not Canada, you might have to wait for important care!” The fuck am I doing right now, then?
Got to make a stash over time. But I get it; it’s not exactly the kind of thing we excel at.
Germany here, and I just learned that for the past month, my kid did actually not do so great at school, after his meds (Medikinet removed) were unavailable and he got a generic one with a completely different extended-release profile. Decided by pharmacist against doctor’s orders. Can’t believe it! Health insurance is EUR/USD 1100 per month here, and you’re not allowed to quit. Least I can expect is that he gets the 40 cents / day meds that help, after waiting a year to get diagnosed and treated!
If you don’t mind me asking: How did you manage to be required to pay that much for your health insurance? That seems unreasonable (unless you’re pretty well off).
Also, if Medikinet isn’t available where you are, what’s your pharmacist to do? They didn’t just decide on a whim to give your son some other med and they’ll have told you the reasons.
It’s 17% of income, capped at 1.1k, including nursing care insurance. So it sounds like you need to make good money, before you even reach the 1.1k. But the problem is that you can’t write off a lot here. E. g. I pay for my own meds, doctor and therapy entirely out of pocked, since I can’t get appointments in my insurance network, which is an additional 600 per month. And that is not a write-off, so it doesn’t reduce taxes or the 1.1k insurance. Also, you can get unlucky with other things. I have a child, but they said there was a formal error with the city-run daycare receipt, so they counted daycare costs at 0 for calculating taxes.
So what I expect is that they move heaven and hell to make the 40 cent pill for my son available, even on a health ministry level.
I’m German, I know the system. I’m going to be honest, I have no idea what you’re saying. Why do you have to pay for your own meds? “Insurance network”? Does your insurance company only allow certain doctors (change to a different company then, that sounds stupid as fuck)? I would assume they’d be obligated to either make sure you can get appointments or reimburse you. If there was an error in your Steuerbescheid, why wouldn’t you go back and ask for a revaluation using the correct figures?
I haven’t had any problems getting my Medikinet, ever, so I’m baffled at what happened there. Try a different pharmacy I suppose?
Sorry, I’m generally confused about your entire situation.
Did you get diagnosed recently? It’s now very hard to find a therapist or psychiatrist for treatment with a “Kassensitz”, even when already diagnosed. For diagnostic, it was truly hopeless; however, I should be able to switch to a psychiatrist within 6 months and a therapist within 9 months when I really try. 5 or 10 years ago, it was much easier. With a therapist, people wait many months, and if it turns out to be a bad fit, the wait starts all over.
The many contradicting experiences are just chance, I think. For example for my kid, I did ONE single call and got an appointment for ADHD diagnostic within 4 months. But I am fully aware that this is was very lucky. For his occupational therapy, I did about 10 calls, until I found one who is just opening a new practice, which was also very lucky. Paid 0 out of pocket for very good treatment. If you say it can get better than that, you are lying.
My own experience was the other extreme so far, but you are right that it is absolutely possible to get it paid for on insurance IF already diagnosed.