Hi Nick,
Sorry to hear you have the virus. On the good news side:
- It is generally pretty simple to get rid of it
- You are unlikely to have any lasting damage from it
- You are unlikely to have given it to either your wife or children
In other words, don't panic.
In terms of access to the medications (this being government/insurance) subsidised access it depends entirely on what country you are in.
If you were in Australia you could see me this afternoon, get a prescription, and probably start treatment tomorrow.
If you are in countries like the UK, USA, and Canada then treatment is available, but it is currently rationed based on all sorts of criteria, but typically you need to be at least a bit sick with the virus to get access. The downside of this is that it means young well people with Hep C are typically being forced to wait for treatment.
So, your plan A should be to see your local doctor, get the genotype, viral load and fibrosis testing done and then work out if, in your local area, you meet the local requirements for treatment.
If you don't then a possible solution is to pay for your own treatment using self-imported generics. We do a lot of that here for patients around the world. I see patients online by video and make the correct prescription. I do need to see your blood results but the bottom line is you can get treated for under $1500 USD including all the medications and testing.
Definitely go for the "free" stuff first, but if you can't get it that way... it can be done anyway.