How much did medical expenses actually cost in May?
A recap of May
* May 1st: Emergency hospitalization in the evening
* May 7th: Temporarily discharged due to Belspity prescription
* May 8th: Outpatient visit
* May 9th: Re-hospitalization
* May 21st: Discharged
* May 22nd: Outpatient visit
It was a month with a whirlwind schedule like that 😂
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■ How much were the medical expenses?
Since I hold a
Recipient Certificate for Designated Intractable Diseases
, my out-of-pocket medical expenses for May were
20,000 yen
. I am classified under the "General Income II" category.
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■ Belspity is expensive
The
Belspity
I am currently taking is a relatively new drug and is quite expensive.
The drug price is
about 4,774 yen per tablet
, which means about 5,000 yen 😳
Just by being prescribed 4 tablets, the cost almost reaches the out-of-pocket maximum.
⸻
■ Tests and treatments performed during hospitalization
During this hospitalization, I had:
* Colonoscopy: 1 time
* CT scan: 1 time
* Bone mineral density test: 1 time
* Blood tests: 5 times
* L-CAP: 6 times
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If these were calculated at 100% coverage, it would have been
1,935,960 yen
. It makes me shiver...
I have nothing but gratitude for Japan's medical and insurance systems 😭
⸻
■ Hospital meal costs
Meal costs fall under the
"Standard Meal Service Copayment (for patients with designated intractable diseases)"
, which is 300 yen per meal.
⸻
The total meal cost during the hospitalization period was
14,700 yen 🍚
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■ Other outpatient and medication costs
Since I am also continuing treatment for asthma, I also needed separate consultations and medication costs for:
* Oral medication
* Inhalers
This was at a 30% copayment, totaling
9,350 yen (for 3 months)
⸻
Also, I had a dental visit to manage side effects from long-term steroid use, which cost
1,340 yen 🦷
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■ Total for May
The total out-of-pocket expense so far was
45,390 yen
.
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■ Living expenses that quietly add up
However, in reality, there are other small expenses besides these 😂
⸻
Expenses incurred during hospitalization
* Refrigerator: 200 yen per day
* Laundry/Dryer: 300 yen per use
I did laundry about once every two days, totaling about 6,500 yen.
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Also, buying water at the hospital convenience store. By making full use of coupons where buying one 560ml bottle gets you one 1020ml bottle for free, I effectively got about 10L of water for free (lol).
7-Eleven sometimes puts out coupons that are way too inflated, don't they? 😂
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■ Taxi fares were also significant
For travel between the hospital and home, I used a taxi 3 times due to having a lot of luggage or bad weather. This alone cost about
5,000 yen 😭
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Furthermore, the cost of yarn for killing time ended up being more than I thought (lol). But knitting really helped me during my hospital life 🧶
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■ Truly helped by the system
If the intractable disease system and insurance system didn't exist... Thinking about that is truly scary.
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Of course, there are:
* Anxiety about taking time off work
* Anxiety about future flare-ups
* Issues with living expenses
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Even so, I feel that the peace of mind of being able to "receive the necessary treatment" is truly significant.
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I hope this will be helpful for those who are about to start treatment or those who are worried about medical expenses 🙇♀️