Can you BELIEVE this???

[Lulika]

As most of you know, I was recently diagnosed. I live in Beijing, China, my husband is a diplomat for an Embassy and so all our healthcare is paid outright. Everything is covered.
My doctor gave me a prescription for a meter, an Accu-Chek Active along with 50 testing strips.
I took it to the private clinic pharmacy, handed over the prescription and the pharmacist gave me the goodies. I just signed the invoice and that was that.
Then Slipperyelm asked me on here, how much these things cost in China, and at the time I had no idea but said I would check it out.
This morning I was at the pharmacy again and decided to look how much a meter and strip cost. I was shocked...

The meter costs 1,450 yuan (THAT' $200 :eek: )The test strips cost 550 yuan for 50 (THAT'S $76 :eek: )
Can you imagine? Luckily, I don't have to pay anything as it's all covered but it just shows how ex-pats working here are charged WAY over the odds...what kind of profit are they making??
I asked the pharmacist how much a Chinese person would pay at a regular non- private Chinese clinic. He told me the meter would be free and the strips...$10!

Unbelievable! :eek:

[R2112]

WOW... that's expensive and it's probably made there too?

I got sick last October while working at our factory in Guangzhou. It was the sickest I've been in years. I ended up having to go to a small hospital to get checked out. Having the doctor check me out and all of the antibiotics plus some food cost about 1000 Renminbi ($140 US) I was shocked how inexpensive that was because they took a lot of time with me and medications were included.

[jacobsam622]

WOW... that's expensive and it's probably made there too?.


I hope not It would probably contain cat :eek:

[Real4]

The meter costs 1,450 yuan (THAT' $200 :eek: )The test strips cost 550 yuan for 50 (THAT'S $76 :eek: )
Can you imagine? Luckily, I don't have to pay anything as it's all covered but it just shows how ex-pats working here are charged WAY over the odds...what kind of profit are they making??
I asked the pharmacist how much a Chinese person would pay at a regular non- private Chinese clinic. He told me the meter would be free and the strips...$10!

Unbelievable! :eek:

With the Chinese health care system I expect what you say is true with one exception. Those cost likely are for a Chinese meter and strips not for imported ones. (Even though, in some cases the meter and strips might have been made in China. If they are re-imported - very expensive.)

[R2112]

I hope not It would probably contain cat :eek:

What's wrong with cat...there high in protein and low on carbs :eek:

(JK)

[Lulika]

The meter is made is Germany and so are the test strips :)
But most things are made in China these days!

Dave, I think the reason you didn't pay too much in Guangzhou is probably because Beijing, being the capital is always alot more expensive, and secondly, you probably went to a Chinese hospital. The reason these private clinics can get away with this is because 99% of their clients are either diplomats or corporate clients whose insurance pays out unconditionally.

[Cyborg]

I went for a job interview in Huntsville, AL at a company called Sanmina about 2 months ago. Being there for a job related to military communications, I did not expect to find that they make the Accu-Chek meters. I actually saw the manufacturing facility while I was there...

[alicat61]

I hope not It would probably contain cat :eek:

Do you know my husband !!! (He is alway going on about Chineese food being full of cat and Dog:D

[adiantum]

I'm often gobsmacked at the prices others have to pay for test strips.
I only pay $1 for 100 strips
This is probably because I'm on a low income being
retired & on a governement pension which

[Scrabblechick]

Yo, Cyborg! I live about 30 miles from Huntsville! Very cool that you interviewed there.

Didn't know they made the Accu-Check meters there, though. Of course, they make a LOT of stuff in HSV that no one knows about. LOL.

[parrotletzoo]

Do you know my husband !!! (He is alway going on about Chineese food being full of cat and Dog:D



Geh! that's just ethnocentric! I live in the US and one of my favorite pizza places in college was eventually shut down by the health department. Why? cats and dog carcasses in the freezer.

Best durned pizza I ever ate!

Moral of the story, unless you kill it, you can't really be sure and country of origin has little to do with it. ;)

[MaireC]

I had to pay 68 euro for 50 strips when I was originally diagnosed before my application for a Long Term Illness book went through, which took nearly three months. Thankfully the meter was free from the diabetic clinic and I was lucky enough that my doctor had the foresight to also apply for my blood pressure meds on the application form, otherwise I would be up a muddy coloured creek without a paddle. I think that anything to do with Diabetes is expensive unless you have decent insurance or a government willing to have a half decent system like we do.

[dacruzer]

Yuck:( another Urban legend i suppose

[jacobsam622]

Yuck:( another Urban legend i suppose
The paying 50 euro or the cat on a stcik meal you can gate in china:D

[jacobsam622]

Do you know my husband !!! (He is alway going on about Chineese food being full of cat and Dog:D
Why is your cat missing:eek:

[Lulika]

You relly can get cat or dog meat here, its really distressing. Its one of the things I hate about living here, especially being a vegetarian...:(

[slipperyelm]

Lulika, thanks for satisfying my curiosity about the expense of your supplies. I think I told you by email that my Chinese friend was going to try to get some surgery done while she was home early this year, because she thought that she could get it cheaper in China than she could in the US even though she has insurance here in the US which would cover most expenses. However, she found that medical costs have risen, not to mention the recent inflation China has experienced. So she came home without the surgery. (I think she also has come to think more highly of Western medicine as practiced in the west than Western med as practiced in China, so that she was weighing in a trust factor, not just the financial factors.)

However, eye-glasses are still so very much cheaper there that I am tempted to ask her to take my prescription and sizes and buy me a couple pair next time she is there! My last pair totaled to $350 and they were bottom of the line frames which have worn out in 2 years. Rrrgh.

Now about curious meats: My friend is so accustomed to Americans acting shocked or scowling in disgust at the meats that she eats that she prefers not to tell me what she is serving until after I have eaten some and assured her I like it. This is despite my telling her that she has yet to serve me anything I did not eat as a child in my mother's own kitchen--except for one thing, and that would be the cow lung. Nope, the chicken feet weren't new to me, the ear cartilage wasn't new to me, the tripe wasn't new to me, the tongue wasn't new to me, the rabbit wasn't new to me. A lot of Americans my age probably have never eaten these things, but I have eaten them, as I said, at my mother's table. The lung was new and I was taken aback, because I recognized it on the tray and know that its sale for human consumption was banned decades ago in the US when bovine tuberculosis was a big problem. I was not aware of that ban ever having been lifted, so I wondered what wheelings & dealings occurred to get cow lung into the market where she bought it....But never has she served dog or cat.

For any one in the rest of the world curious about what strips cost in the US without insurance, I get them about $96 per 100. With insurance I get them (One Touch) $35 per 100.... My insurance costs $400 per month, plus the $800 per month paid by the employer for a total of $1200 per month. That insurance covers three people in the family.

[Lulika]

Hi Slipperyelm, you are absolutely right about the eye glasses!
I only need glasses for reading but they are really expensive in the UK and Israel. here in Beijing, they are great quality but very cheap. I just paid $12 for a pair! They are very sturdy and well made and fashionable to boot! I will be taking quite afew pairs home with me when we leave!

About the meats...even in the so called Western supermarkets here (eg Carrefour which is French) there are all kinds of weird meats and all kinds of bugs, fish and snakes for sale....I just run by it all with my hand over my nose and mouth! :)

[slipperyelm]

About the meats...even in the so called Western supermarkets here (eg Carrefour which is French) there are all kinds of weird meats and all kinds of bugs, fish and snakes for sale....I just run by it all with my hand over my nose and mouth! :)

Run, Lulika, run! Ha-ha-ha! :vroam:

[R2112]

About the meats...even in the so called Western supermarkets here (eg Carrefour which is French) there are all kinds of weird meats and all kinds of bugs, fish and snakes for sale....I just run by it all with my hand over my nose and mouth! :)


Hey Lulika,

On the weekends I would travel from Guangzhou back to Hong Kong to stay with a friend. We would run to the supermarket for a good western style dinner. What I found funny (kind of sorta not really) was in the poultry section they would have chickens from New Zealand, Germany, China and the US. The US chickens were the biggest and fattest chicken. I mean it was probably triple the size of the others. All I could think about was how the US chickens were probably shot up with hormones and other things most likely not good for us. Kind of makes you wonder what the heck were eating doesn't it?

[Lulika]

Yes Dave...and THAT is why I am a veggie!! :D Even so, apparently here in China, even some of the vegetable are dubious to eat; some farmers water their crops with sewage water...
But I still feel safer eating the vegetables than the animals :D