@Nyxks is from Canada, I think.
She has previously mentioned how expensive her type 1 supplies are, and I was shocked.
We rarely appreciate the NHS until faced with the situation in other countries.
Yes, I'm in Canada in Ontario ... each province has its own deal for those who have diabetes, T2 is treated differently then T1 under the canadian government i can get assistance with a pump as a T1 but the cost of the insulin for the pump is more then the check the government would cut for me every 6 months.
We can get insurance but if you have a prexisting condition its next to impossible to get it covered so one could get insurance but it wouldn't cover anything to do with diabetes if you already have it at time you get the insurance, less it is though a company or group type deal. Premiums can be really costly depending on the plans you are able to get on to, my dad pays about 260 a month for his health insurance which was great when mom was alive as with the medication she needed to live costing 1k plus a month it covered 90% of the cost so worked for him greatly but without her need for the drugs its pricy to maintain out of the pension he gets. If i get enough hours accumulated for the company I do seasonal employment for my medical coverage is 99% but unless I'm able to get the hours in to meet the minimal coverage I'm SOL for coverage.
In hospital care here in Ontario is covered 100% under OHIP so almost anything dun in hospital doesn't cost anything, but getting to the hospital via ambulance is 40 bucks (which is cheap compared to the 800 it is if you are a visitor to the province). I had a hysterectomy 8 years ago and it was 100% covered however under OHIP i only have what is called ward coverage, which means 4 to 6 people to a single room (means not great for recovering from illness or surgery) thus my folks forked out 250 a night for me to be able to have a semi private room, they would have paid for private but there was no private rooms in that ward so wasn't possible.
However, Dental care isn't covered less its emergency or other types within the hospital system itself - so a few months ago I had to have a root cane dun it cost me just over 2,000 for it out of pocket, plus 100 for the exam, and another 500 for the filling that was dun, total bill for one tooth including the reconstruction of said tooth two months later just over 3k (would have been cheaper to have pulled it n put in a false tooth - we're thinking). Now this is working with a dentist that does a form of geared to income deal but still OUCH, if it was though one of the student schools that is for training of dentists then it would be cheaper but the waiting line to get into such a program is two to four years and then having to wait for hours for an appointment once you get in to some just isn't worth the cost savings, to degrees.
Seeing the eye doctor if you have diabetes is a yearly deal that is covered 100% under ohip, but other wise you only see a eye doc every 2 to 4 years as needed that's covered under ohip. Physicals are dun every 2 to 3 years. Depends on your endro (diabetic doc) you see them every 3 to 4 months. on average depending on your control the better control the further between visits you go, some people are lucky enough only to need to see the endro every 6 months with their GP being the one who does most of their care because their diabetic doc doesn't need to see them very often.
http://www.canadian-healthcare.org actually gives a good overview of our health care system in general (at least the first few pages from reading though it are good, can't say for the entire site).
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/index-eng.php is the official Health Canada site that has everything to do with out heath care system over all and province by province including our territories.