Cost of Type 1 medication in Australia ?

[holtpe]

Hi All,

I am in the early stages of considering moving out to Australia however I have a few reservations around the cost of my medication out there.

Does Medicare cover my medication requirements as a type 1 diabetic ? If so am I likely to pay a premium for this extra cover ?

Any advice appreciated.
Paul.

 

[Synonym]

I know nothing - but I just googled "reciprocal health agreement australia uk" and suggest you do the same as you will find loads of info there. 8)

 

[Fujifilm]

I have emigrated and come back twice from Perth, medicare covered some of the costs, if you contact http://www.centrelink.gov.au/ they can help you.

Also the expats forum good source of info. http://britishexpats.com/forum/ but be warned lots of people on there with the rose tinted glasses on. :lol:

Its not cheap being diabetic in Australia, but the health service was far better than here. But if you decide to go do not sell up here until you are 100% sure you want to stay. Its not as good a life as the Australians like you to believe. :mrgreen:
.

 

[bufferz]

But if you decide to go do not sell up here until you are 100% sure you want to stay. Its not as good a life as the Australians like you to believe. :mrgreen:
.

In what way?? I personally would rather do NZ than oz, but my ultimate aim is Canada, but need to get this **** engineering degree out the way first.

 

[Fujifilm]

Where do you want me to start :lol:

There are a lot of positive things about Australia but just as many negative, its cheap when you are on £s but as expensive as here when you are earning $s.

Depending on what your trade is jobs are not easy to come by and they will offer an Australian the job no matter how much better you are qualified.

After 4 weeks of 40 degrees you get sick of the sun.

I have emigrated twice well actually three times, the first with my ex partner, I could not get work and could not stand her family so came back. Went out again on my own, had a great time :lol: happy days. 8) 8)

Had to come back because the work paid peanuts, met my wife and then went back again, neither of us could get work and she did not like it so we came back again. We worked out we can earn enough here in six months to be able to live in Australia for six months and not work, can't do that the other way around.

I would not discourage anyone from giving it a go, but loads sell up lock stock and head out there without even spending time out there thinking its UK with sun and its far from it. My experience is only from Perth and I do believe Brisbane and the Gold Coast are better in terms of work and lifestyle.

If I was single would I go back. :?: Lets just say if I could afford to go and not need to earn a lot to survive, I would probably be writing this with a tinny in one hand cooking on the barby with the other and a good looking sheila in the pool. 8)

Lets hope my wife does not read this. :lol: :lol:
.

One thing that was great is my control was so much better, sun and healthy eating make a lot of difference.

 

[Jen&Khaleb]

Aclimatising to a new country and culture is difficult for anyone. As an Aussie who has also lived in England I can see positives and negatives for both places. An English (family friendly) pub is fantastic and not something you find here.

My son was sick with some sort of cold or flu nearly every day he was in England. His body just wasn't used to the onslaught of diseases. Of course, I missed my family and friends also. I went to work in England for next to nothing by the time I paid petrol and child care fees. Child care is subsidised here.

Many from the UK find it weird that their is no village life in Australia. I hated the 2 up/2 down housing all clustered together. I also hated the traffic.

Hard to comment on the employment issue. I spent nearly 10 years working in the backpacking industry and never found those wanting to work going without. I suppose it depends on visa conditions and what you are prepared to do.

Anyway, there's a lot of pros and cons. Depends on how adaptable you are.

 

[Fujifilm]

Aclimatising to a new country and culture is difficult for anyone. As an Aussie who has also lived in England I can see positives and negatives for both places.

Bet you can see more negatives for the UK than for Australia :lol:

When I was talking about employment I was more on the lines of full time "career" type jobs not casual work. We ended up working as Mystery shoppers for Red Rooster

As for traffic !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Many an hour I have sat in traffic in Perth, the only difference being in Perth when its 40 degrees, poaching slowly in your own juices is not fun. :lol: waiting for five minutes for the traffic lights to change, the fly's, its all coming back. don't you just love a whinging pom :lol: :lol:

Still Perth is a beautiful city. Hope to go back soon and travel all over Australia.

Back to the diabetes or medical side of things, one thing you do need to check is that your current medication or brand is available in Australia, not all of them are.

.

 

[Jen&Khaleb]

As far as employment goes I think it depends whether you are skilled or unskilled. An unskilled worker isn't likely to get offered a career building position here if they are on a 12 month work visa. A skilled worker may get a year contract in their chosen profession.

Totally agree you need to check that Australia has stock of what you need T1 wise as I've seen advertisement on this site for products not available here. I don't think insulin type would be a problem as they all seem available but test strips and lancets, yes.

Bet you can see more negatives for the UK than for Australia

To be honest I really do see the good and bad in both places, with exception to the weather. I'd rather a handful of 40 deg days to 11 months of Winter any day.

 

[clearviews]

Depending on what your trade is jobs are not easy to come by and they will offer an Australian the job no matter how much better you are qualified.

One thing that was great is my control was so much better, sun and healthy eating make a lot of difference.

I have worked in Australia since 1970 as an English person and never found they offered the job to an Aussie. I was naturalised in 2002 so have chosen dual citizenship. I believe that you will not be victimised for being British! That only happens to me when Morris Dancing but I put myself up for that and I think it happens in the UK too, to morris dancers!


Healthier lifestyle has to rate highly for me and with the recent Global Economic Crisis I think you will find that our cost of living will rate so much better as our dollar is so much stronger against the pound. Fresh food is so much cheaper and varied with the massive different climatic regions. If you choose your location well you could grow your own all year round like I do. We have solar HWS and PV solar panels to make our own electricity so our power bills are dramatically reduced. Humid heat knocks me around so again choose your location (Tasmania perhaps?) and if you work indoors we have air-conditioning in the antipodes.

As a T2 I know I don't have the same dramas with test strips as the UK. Once diagnosed as diabetic (1 or 2) registration as a diabetic means I can buy any number of strips as I choose and they cost me 0.14c each or $AUS14.20 per 100.

I did not choose to come here, my father decided we all would when I was 18 years. He said if I hated it he would pay for my return air fare after 12 months. I stayed though I have re-visited the UK twice and travelled around the world for 10 months after taking early retirement. We are so lucky I feel to live here. Love the UK too, lived at all the RNAS around plus Malta and Singapore but couldn't live there these days.

 

[suzi]

Hi Clearviews,
Was interested to hear you've lived in Malta, my hubby, i and our 2 sons (youngest is T1) have plans to move there in June from N Ireland. Any tips or advise gratefully recieved,
Suzi x

 

[Fujifilm]

I believe that you will not be victimised for being British!

:shock: :shock: :shock:

Have you tried getting a job in Perth? I guess it depends on your trade but I can tell you my wife managed to get one interview in 8 months and she is considered an expert in her field. When we came back here she had a job half hour after making a phone call.

At the time I was an IT consultant and went for loads of interviews and Australians even under qualified or no experience got offered the position first. My ex partner now works for a very big organisation and she says it does happen.

We migrated on skilled visas and I went out 1999 - 2001 - 2003 so can't comment on the cost of living etc. as it is today, but when we were there it was swings and roundabouts, Australia (Perth) was no cheaper to live than UK.

Anyone going out in the 1970s unless they have lived here for a period of time can say the cost of living in Australia is cheaper.

Of course if you come over here with your plastic dollars its bloody expensive, same as if we go over there with our £s its cheap.

If petrol costs £5 a gallon and you earn £20k a year its no different to petrol costing $5 a gallon and you earning $20k a year.

The mistake I think a lot make, is they emigrate thinking they leave their problems here, or its going to be easy.

Reality is same sh*t different location. :lol:

Life is what you make it.

Although looking out the window today I know where I would rather be.