Due in March/April/May 2013 Roll call!

[spinningmadly]

I Have to agree with Surgena 100% percent. My husband works at a big corporation and we still pay what seems like too much for healthcare every month. That's the other thing just because you are employed its not free, just cheaper because it's group. Anyway when I was pregnant and so sick there were time I should have gone to get and IV and didn't because I had to consider th cost and I regret that so much, it's not right that people have to choose health vs money. My husband and I have been considering moving to the uk (he's from there originally).

[Tiffani3]

Wow thank you suregena that was a really interesting read
It does really make me appreciate the nhs although have had some bad experiences with there care at points in my life but guess that can happen to anyone anywhere!
Do agree that in the us they should have some kind of nhs! As surely you pay taxes for police/fire department etc. (you dont hand over $1000 to the fire department before they put out your burning house?) you'd think the government would just add it on with them!
I would be so worried about getting ill or hurting myself just because of costs let alone for the children, they would be wrapped in cotton wool till they moved out lol
xx

[suregena]

I Have to agree with Surgena 100% percent. My husband works at a big corporation and we still pay what seems like too much for healthcare every month. That's the other thing just because you are employed its not free, just cheaper because it's group. Anyway when I was pregnant and so sick there were time I should have gone to get and IV and didn't because I had to consider th cost and I regret that so much, it's not right that people have to choose health vs money. My husband and I have been considering moving to the uk (he's from there originally).

Is he a UK citizen? As long as he is, you can!

And I'M the crazy one thinking about moving back home. Being away from family hurts so much and just sucks. If I could bring them all here, I would. I'm in this strange middle scenario where things here are better overall but I am still terribly lonely, awkward, and I do get down a lot, all because I have no friends or family. I've been here since 2007 and have yet to make any "friends" I could really feel close to like my friends at home.

[suregena]

Wow thank you suregena that was a really interesting read
It does really make me appreciate the nhs although have had some bad experiences with there care at points in my life but guess that can happen to anyone anywhere!
Do agree that in the us they should have some kind of nhs! As surely you pay taxes for police/fire department etc. (you dont hand over $1000 to the fire department before they put out your burning house?) you'd think the government would just add it on with them!
I would be so worried about getting ill or hurting myself just because of costs let alone for the children, they would be wrapped in cotton wool till they moved out lol
xx

Yes, nationalized US services like the fire service, public schools, etcetera, are funded by taxation and the government. So is the military, etcetera, but no one flips out at the military, do they?

I think, on a State run level, it could work possibly better than a big-wide country-level since the US is so big... because each state could work it out to how they'd need to run it effectively.
You wouldn't even have to wipe out insurance companies... but just put a public *something* in place. A lot of people die just because they have no access to healthcare. I mean, in a big, rich, "civilized" country, you'd think citizens could be taken care of better, more equally.

You still can get bad care PAYING money for it. The money doesn't factor in to whether it is top quality or not. I'm sure even my fellow Americans here have stories where they didn't feel like they had the best people looking after them.

[Tiffani3]

Is he a UK citizen? As long as he is, you can!

And I'M the crazy one thinking about moving back home. Being away from family hurts so much and just sucks. If I could bring them all here, I would. I'm in this strange middle scenario where things here are better overall but I am still terribly lonely, awkward, and I do get down a lot, all because I have no friends or family. I've been here since 2007 and have yet to make any "friends" I could really feel close to like my friends at home.

Oh hun that's really sad that you haven't met any friends, That must be so hard. Don't know that I'd be so brave like you to move away from my family and friends, even if it was for a better life. Thank god for skype!!! Do you get to see them much?
xx

[spinningmadly]

And there's no Medicaid for some people. There is for children and pregnant women where I live but not for others. I had a friend about 25 and he was a writer and doesn't make enough to buy health insurance and doesnt have a Medicaid option and he almost died because he had the flu, by the time he was in the hospital he was very ill and it ended up costing 100x more than if he had gone to the dr and gotten abx. But he had no insurance

Surgena-yup my husband is still a citizen!

[suregena]

Oh hun that's really sad that you haven't met any friends, That must be so hard. Don't know that I'd be so brave like you to move away from my family and friends, even if it was for a better life. Thank god for skype!!! Do you get to see them much?
xx

No.

I moved here in 2007. My mom visited 2007 and my dad visited (they're divorced) the end of 2007.

My grandmother died when I was 23 weeks pregnant with my son. I moved the next day to our current house after her death, and my dad visited three days later. My dad visited when I was 24 weeks pregnant for only a few days in 2009 (he was in Amsterdam for a job and quickly came over to the UK) and then my mom visited again when my son was born, in 2010. My great aunt also came after my son was born because she was coming here, anyway, because her boyfriend is from Dorset (whom she is now married to but he has gone to the US.)

I had got my first UK credit card and promptly bought plane tickets in March 2010 to finally visit home, in hopes to see my grandfather since I didn't get to see my grandmother since I moved away. I booked my tickets for September for 3 weeks. I was on maternity leave until October.

My grandfather then died (widowed by my grandmother in the months before) in June 2010 (my son was born January 2010.) So, I had those plane tickets, but he died before I saw him. I decided with my older brother that we were going to pay to have my flight changed to July 1st (they were putting the funeral back a month so I could get there for it since I didn't get to go to my grandmother's...) which cost an extra £900 to do on top of the £1,350 we already paid.

Then, my husband's dad died a week to the day LATER. So, then we had his funeral to plan, all the while I was trying to sort my flights out back to the US early. My husband's mum was giving me grief (to my husband, not direct to me) about how dare I leave him when his dad just died, and take away our son for over three months. He told her that I have my own family who is just as important and that I needed to look after myself, too. I was glad he stood up for me. It was a decision my husband and I both cried over but he knew how important it was to me since I had yet to have gone back home. I attended my father in law's funeral, then flew to the US less than a week later and attended my grandfather's the following morning. When my mother and aunt picked me up from the airport, I was so sleep deprived and overwhelmed with the feeling of "myself" being back, as weird as that sounds. We were going to my older brother's house. Little did I know, EVERYONE was there waiting to surprise me. So many people cried.

Anyway, so my husband ended up missing out my son's life, ages 5 months to 8 months.

I went back to work after we returned.

Anyway, after that long ramble... I haven't been back home since that visit, and my mother and my great aunt both have visited once since then. None of the rest of my family have still (most still don't have passports...)

We're going for Christmas and New Years for 4 weeks. It now cost us (since my son is over 2 years old now) £2,000 this time for the three of us.

So, no, it's hard to visit often.

I'm in such a rambely mood today, sheesh. I'm swamped in bills at the moment and can not pay some of them this month so I have had a big cry tonight. Really worried my toddler son. My husband is working so he has to stay the night at his mum's (when he works on weekends he has to because public transport won't get him to work on time from where we live during the weekends) so he won't be home until tomorrow night.

Either it's pregnancy hormones or something else, but I just feel swamped by life right now!

RAMBLE. RAMBLE. RAMBLE!

Well, there's my life in the UK in a nutshell - ha ha. The bad parts, anyway.

[suregena]

And there's no Medicaid for some people. There is for children and pregnant women where I live but not for others. I had a friend about 25 and he was a writer and doesn't make enough to buy health insurance and doesnt have a Medicaid option and he almost died because he had the flu, by the time he was in the hospital he was very ill and it ended up costing 100x more than if he had gone to the dr and gotten abx. But he had no insurance

Surgena-yup my husband is still a citizen!

Oh, certainly something to consider in the future... plus you could live anywhere in Europe, too!

Where is he from?

[spinningmadly]

He grew up in London (not sure where exactly, I could ask him) , his faimly moved here when he was in highschool, went back for college and went to Warick.
And then came back here to work and has been here since.
I myself have family in Taunton/Somerset and some distant family in London. My husband still has family in London.

Why did you guys decide to move there?

[suregena]

He grew up in London (not sure where exactly, I could ask him) , his faimly moved here when he was in highschool, went back for college and went to Warick.
And then came back here to work and has been here since.
I myself have family in Taunton/Somerset and some distant family in London. My husband still has family in London.

Why did you guys decide to move there?

His parents were elderly and mine are middle-aged. His parents would not have coped with him moving away and definitely wouldn't have visited.