Finland for Thought
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8.3.2009

How 1,000€ medicine can cost 11€ in Finland

Tags: Uncategorized — Author: @ 6:18 pm

I’m losing hair in strange places on the back of my head – it’s called “Alopecia areata” and is different from traditional male balding. It affects 0.1%-0.2% of the population and while most will see the hair regrow without any treatment, I haven’t been so lucky. It’s not contagious unless you read the blog of someone who suffers from the condition. :-)

I went to the dermatologist for treatment and was prescribed “Propecia” which is standard, prescription-strength hairloss pills. KELA doesn’t cover any of the costs, so I’ve been paying an insane 196€ every three months for my necessary dosage.

After a year I’ve seen slow results on my problem spot (yet my reseeding hairline has grown back! …along with some extra backhair above my ass), so I asked the doctor for an alternative, he said Propecia was the best.

I complained about the high costs and he wrote me a prescription for “Gefina” which is designed to treat the prostate, but is the exact same stuff as Propecia. They come in 500mg tablets, but I just need to cut them down into 100mg-150mg pieces and take one daily.

He gave me a prescription for 120 tablets (600 days of doses for me) which I got from the pharmacy, the total cost…11.63€ (for 100 tablets)!! The pharmacist had a funny grin on her face when she asked, “Did your doctor instruct you how to take these?”, I laughed and said, “He did. One last question, where’s your pill cutters?” LOL!!!!

propecia1

  • Winter (Go Protons, Cancer in remission, will soon be removed from “Dead Man Walking” video.)

    So, where are your pill cutters?

  • Vilja

    that’s amazing! now you’ll have 989€ to spend on other drugs

  • http://pojatitkee.blogspot.com Paavo Ojala

    It’s weird that you have to cut the pills yourself. The patent has expired, why doesn’t someone just market the smaller pills with reasonable price.

    Bulk buying is cheaper but not by that much, and making individual pills isn’t expensive. Now you have to poison pregnant women with your pill-cutting dust.

  • Baldy

    How much would it cost to transplant the hair, from above your ass, to your head? And is it covered by KELA?

  • Keksi

    It’s like sliced bread, cost more. You slice it yourself, you save money.

  • infinndel the jenkki dogg

    Here are the results of Phil taking a chemical blizzard of Propecia,
    Gefina ,and Viagra…***WARNING!***…***SCARY STUFF!***
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxtgLzi-aK0&eurl=http://www.debbieschlussel.com/

  • infinndel the jenkki dogg

    Phil as a doctor…says make a choice
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he7CTUh7eow

  • Winter (Go Protons, Cancer in remission, will soon be removed from “Dead Man Walking” video.)

    My Cancer treatment cost well above 100K. But I had good offers from the office staff of Engineers (Acting like a Nanny State) to take apart a Microwave oven and have my very own “Cheep” cure. Such nice guys.

    Lucky for me I went out and spent the same money you would need to by a Hummer. Something you can’t do in Finland, where the Nanny state gives you the microwave and says operate. Here it is free.

    Oh wait? Finland does not test mem for Cancer (PSA test is like $30 cost). My bad, you all just will not know, so no money needs to be spent. Savings????????

  • http://www.stockholmslender.blogspot.com/ mjr

    Winter, would like to compare some key national health statistics between the USA and Finland. Say, infant mortality? Average lifespan? The health care costs? The thing is that by any important measure the “socialized” health care systems of Europe (and the rest of the West) beat the hell out of the over bureacratic, over priced, inefficient American system. This is simply an empirical fact – of course, as we know, “facts on the ground” famously don’t matter. And I know, too long sentences, too long words for Winter. We’ll some oneliner about Humvees or microwave ovens as a counter “argument”. They don’t make intelligent conservatives these days, strange.

  • philtard

    I’ve concluded theres simply a metering issue at work here. In Finland healthcare is judged like this: I hurt my toe, now if you don’t operate on me right at this instant this whole system is bullshit and sucks.

    American healthcare is judged like this: I have gazillion dollars, and get great service -> everything about this system rules and is good (you can drive the hummer over the dying poor people outside).

    Goverment instance at least in theory holds the aim of keeping its citizens alive and healthy. Insurance company benefits only if they don’t treat anything ever.

  • http://www.finlandforthought.net Phil

    How much would it cost to transplant the hair, from above your ass, to your head? And is it covered by KELA?

    Hehe. “Hey Ass Face!” “Yes??”

  • http://www.finlandforthought.net Phil

    Insurance company benefits only if they don’t treat anything ever.

    The state operates in the same fashion.

  • mil

    Phil…
    Lack of sunlight is one major factor..
    When the Sun will start to shine..let affected area have good amount of sunlight..you will see improvement also stop all processed food for some time. Some preservatives and food dyes cause immune system to go crazy.

  • Dave the Revelator

    mil, Phil is not made of plant material. The sun will not make your hair grow.

  • philtard

    #12

    Yes, at times, but it could have the incentive that an insurance company never can have(because treating sick people is against their business model).
    State at least benefits from having healthy people, to a company it is indifferent.

  • philtard

    Adding to that. I think the best way to handle healthcare would be the way fire departments are handled. Nobody asks some bureaucrat which kind of fires we should put out and what to just let burn. And you give enough money and resources so the people putting the fires out can do their job.

    Now I realize theres quite a lot more factors in healthcare and varied approaches, but in principle I don’t think it can ever be a winning business either. In short we need to have values other than profit, because if we don’t and start arguing that why should I pay when its the neighbours house burning, then the whole city will be in flames before long.

  • http://www.treat-baldness.com philtard

    Adding to that. I think the best way to handle healthcare would be the way fire departments are handled. Nobody asks some bureaucrat which kind of fires we should put out and what to just let burn. And you give enough money and resources so the people putting the fires out can do their job.

    Now I realize theres quite a lot more factors in healthcare and varied approaches, but in principle I don’t think it can ever be a winning business either. In short we need to have values other than profit, because if we don’t and start arguing that why should I pay when its the neighbours house burning, then the whole city will be in flames before long.
    Oops…forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.

  • mil

    Dear Dave,
    Alopecia is caused because immune system starts attacking hair follicles. Allergy is same, an so is any other autoimmune disease.
    Sunlight helps regulating immune cells, I don’t say its a 100% cure, but it works in many patients. You must have heard that
    Psoriasis (another autoimmune disease) can be regulated by daily dose of sunlight only…no medicine needed.

    But, lets experiment on a plant named Phil ;)

  • Dave the Revelator

    AIDS is an autoimmune disease… hmmm.

    I wonder if they’ve thought of putting AIDS patients in… the… sun!

  • sepisp

    #19: D’oh. Autoimmune = the body’s own immune system attacks healthy tissue. AIDS = the HI virus destroys the immune system, so that it cannot ultimately handle even normal, ubiquitous microbes.

  • Dr. House

    Its Lupus.

  • GI Joe’s a Eunuch

    Japan has longest average lifespan in the world. Why?? Experts say they 1.Eat right and 2.Exercise. Their health care system is never attributed because it is not a primary factor.

    Do American’s eat right? No. Exercise? No.

    Life expectancy and infant mortality are the lamest strawman arguments for a state health care system. In the modernized world, diet and exercise are the primary factors affecting longevity and infant mortality. After that is substance abuse and guns. Then maybe health care.

    Now if you look at specific statistics like survival rates for heart attacks in major metropolitan areas, PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE/TESTING rates(something those heartless insurance companies promote the heck out of), cancer survival rates, etc. The U.S. kicks ass in all categories.

    Why??? Because money talks and losing it sucks. Like it or not, it’s the way the world goes around. Always has and always will.

  • Anonymous

    GI Joe, did you say that the infants would die less if they ate right and exercised?

  • El Capone

    No. What he’s saying is infants live longer when they kick crack and stop playing with loaded guns. GI Joe, you should package your ideas into a nice set of books and CDs and sell it to parents who belong to the 45 million Americans without healthcare (including my neighbor) via an elaborate infomercial. Maybe join forces with the TV pastors selling the bottles of “holy” water. You could make millions.

    Send me yo’money or burn in hell for eternity…

  • GI Joe’s a Eunuch

    Mother’s who live unhealthy lifestyle’s have babies with higher infant mortality rates. Drug use, poor diet, bad habits, smoking, etc.

    The guns remark was intended for life expectancy only.

    If you have a heart attack in the US, you are treated whether you have insurance or not. Heart attack survival rates are much higher in the U.S. do to our excellent emergency response care, lightening quick response times, and that there are always defibrillators available in areas where people congregate and in many private homes.

    Defibrillators are way to expensive for government state health care systems to have an abundance strewn about. They could also care less about where you may have your heart attack. They will come to the sporting event and attempt to revive you (if you happen not to go down during their govt. mandated coffee break) , but they are not going to have a defibrillator and trained staff on site to jolt you back to life.

    Insurance companies and private enterprise on the other hand, would prefer not have a person die in their facilities. It’s kind of a downer and a drag on profits. So they buy defibs and train staff to use them. They don’t care if the victim has insurance or not.

  • http://www.beautifulfinland.com Nkeeiuu

    Eww this sucks balls
    this is dumb stuff
    SLICKA SLICKA SHAME SADDY!!

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