I know there are certain factors that make our healthcare system play out like it does. And not everyone gets a fair deal. there are many in this country who have horrible care and are constantly frustrated because of it.
Some things may just be ingrained in the way people do things here. Some factors at play in this case may be bigger than we can even see or diagnose. And, no, it's not all because "Big Pharma" is evil and greedy. Big Pharma is the reason I am still alive today.
I am blessed (and work very hard) to have excellent, well-covered health care. To get it, I have made sacrifices. I have kept the same job for 19 years, not because I love it, but because we have excellent health insurance and I won't be fired or passed over or penalized because I am sick.
Sure, I like my job and all, but if I had been healthy, I may have chosen a riskier field that I am truly passionate about. But as a Type 1, I just don't want to take those risks.
But, just because I have good health insurance, does not mean that there isn't room for improvement. So, in my ideal world, here's how it would go...
All of my prescriptions, Dexcom sensors, transmitters, and T:Slim pump supplies would be delivered to my door by drones, on schedule, and without me having to order them.
They drop the insulin in the mini-fridge on my doorstep for safe keeping and slide the others through the prescription slot (think mail slot, but slightly larger) in my front door.
They are covered in full, even the brands my insurance doesn't have a closed door agreement with.
Every three months a nurse comes to my house to draw blood on my schedule, even if that means 9:30 at night.
I meet with my doctor quarterly via Skype to review the results and he always calls right on time. He also calls the diabetic drones to renew any prescriptions needed.
Before our talk he reviews all of my Dexcom data, my Garmin workout data, my adventure plans for the year, and my current training plan to look for any tips he could give me in areas that I may have overlooked. He doesn't find any, so we discuss current diabetes research and its implications on future diabetes care.
He then makes a few nice comments about an adventure pic on my Instagram feed and mentions that he now prescribes my Instagram feed and a few other people's social media accounts to all his patients.
Every now and then, my insurance company sends me a sample of a new non-medical device to see if I can utilize it. Last month they let me beta test the Naked Fit 3D Scanner that scans my body dimensions and weight and sends it to an app to track my body composition to determine if my exercise and food choices are having a positive affect.
This month they are sending me a new Indo Board with a set of balance exercises for Stand Up Paddlers to make sure I am getting stronger and to prevent injury. All of this is, of course, automated and at no cost to me.
At the end of each year, if I have kept my a1C below a certain level that my insurance company and I have both agreed upon, a $2000 bonus will be put in my adventure fund because they would rather spend money up front to send me on an adventure, knowing that my diabetes care is ten times better when I'm planning an adventure, than to spend the money on hospital stays and care for complications from not taking care of myself.
I also get money in that account when I wear my Dexcom and when I consistently change my T:Slim pump site. Data for this is automatically sent through the bluetooth on each pump site, so I don't have to bother recording it.
I also have access to a counselor, well-versed in diabetes care, anytime I need, though I am using that less and less now that I have the budget to go on three adventures a year.
And all of this would continue for the duration of my life, no matter when I retire, or if I have to go on Medicaid when I do.
I know it's just a pie-in-the-sky kind of world, but in a lot of ways, I feel like we're getting closer.