Best country to live with IBD?

[Challenger]

Hello,

Imagine that you have IBD and can live in any country of the world, which one would you choose? The most important factor at least for me is financial, i.e. would it be possible to work, get medical treatment with insurance/out of pocket and still have enough money to live. Of course there are other country factors such as food, climate, security, overall level of medicine, etc.

I read neighbor topic "Crohns is a rich mans disease!!" and it seems that IBD treatment is good in UK, Canada, Australia, Finland, Israel, and not so good in US (depends on your work insurance).

There is also article about "Biological therapy in inflammatory bowel diseases: Access in Central and Eastern Europe" (can't post links), so it seems like situation is better in Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic and worse in other Central European countries.

One more article "Access to biologicals in Crohn’s disease in ten European countries" says that Sweden and Germany are also good candidates.

What about other countries? Have anybody heard how IBD is treated in Asia?

I personally live in Russia and have Crohn's for more than 10 years. In theory we have free medicine for everybody, but in practice you will spend enormous amount of time and nerves to prove that your are eligible for treatment, so most people just purchase drugs and pay for doctor visits. So I would not recommend Russia for people with IBD.

I'm sorry that not all countries are included in the poll, I just tried to group them in some logical way.

 

[December's flower]

I believe that no matter where you live facing a chronic illness is taugh.
It takes a lot of effort and luck with your health condition to make it through the ups and downs of life and equilibrate your wellness with a good job, money and a happy personal life.
I stay in Greece , which is a beautiful country with wonderful people.
After a lot of research I found my gastroenterologist at a local public hospital.
I usually get free appointments in the morning hours with him which last hardly 5 minutes, and I pay for my meds the 25% of their value.

 

[Scipio]

What you are really asking is not specifically about Crohn's so much as it is about which country has the best health insurance system - particularly with respect to treating expensive chronic diseases.

The US has all the latest in technology and drugs designed to provide the best outcome to individuals. The problem comes for individuals who have substandard or zero health insurance.

Canada and most of western Europe and other advanced countries with national health insurance tend be more focused on providing good or adequate care to the whole population rather than providing high-end care to those individuals who are either well-insured or rich.

So which is "best" depends on your circumstances. A rich or well-insured person in the US is probably in the best situation. Patients in Canada and other western countries are in a pretty good situation. And for the uninsured or people from poor countries things can be difficult.