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It was... not great, even living here in Sфviёт Cдпдdд. So much for universal health care—lungs and brains are luxury organs, just like our teeth are luxury bones.

The referral to the sleep study was pretty straightforward, and didn't cost me anything. They sent me home with a portable machine to wear attached to my face, and it recorded my breathing overnight. Then I went back to the clinic, they told me, "Yep, you definitely have obstructive sleep apnea." And then they asked me to pay $2500 for the machine and mask (which is about triple what it's actually worth at retail prices—and that's certainly marked up substantially).

Mercifully, my partner and I were both working at the time, and we had pretty okay health insurance, so split between our plans, our "health and wellness spending accounts", and putting the whole thing on a line of credit until they reimbursed us a month later, I was able to get my CPAP machine.

It's failing now, since that was over a decade ago. I'm dreading my next doctor's visit.