Wow, this hits close to home. I remember when my daughters were diagnosed w/ asthma. They were prescribed albuterol for rescue type needs and pulmacourt(steroid) for daily dosing (both nebulized). I was out of work at the time, we were declined medicaid (who knows why), and had no other insurance hopes (have you priced unsubsidized insurance?!). The uninsured price of the albuterol is ~$130/ month and the pulmacourt is ~$350... both for generic. Fortunately, the pharmacist at our local Walgreen's informed us that, for $35/yr, they have a family prescription discount card... it discounted the albuterol to ~$30/ month and the pulmacourt to ~$150/ month. We still couldn't afford to dose the pulmacourt the way we were supposed to, but it did allow us to give our girls the medicine they needed to the point that they were able to live AND stay out of the hospital.
Fast forward 3 years, I now have a pretty decent job (and my wife has been employed the entire time), but I still can't afford to insure my family from my workplace, AND, even if I could, the copays and deductibles are unrealistic. Fortunately, we have now qualified for medicaid (the irony that we make ~$30k more per year than when we were denied while in desperate need is great) for the kids, and our state offers really good insurance that is priced at ~1% of your monthly income per covered adult for qualifying homes.
I haven't ever had to resort to illegal means to obtain medicine for my family.... but healthcare in this country is severely broken. And this article proves my point that the ACA (Obamacare) is NOT the right answer. We are now required to carry insurance coverage to prevent tax time penalties, but, often, the coverage that we are able to afford still leaves requires care unaffordable..... moreso because money that could have been paid towards that care is now paid towards insurance premiums. I don't claim to know what the answer is. I've been told previously that if I don't have a better answer that I should keep my opinion to myself. Here's the thing: The "check engine" light in my vehicle tells me that there's something wrong. I usually still need to defer to someone else to repair my vehicle, but I know that SOMETHING is wrong. Using that analogy, I feel confident in stating that healthcare in this country is broken.... I still need someone else to present the solution.
Wow, this hits close to home. I remember when my daughters were diagnosed w/ asthma. They were prescribed albuterol for rescue type needs and pulmacourt(steroid) for daily dosing (both nebulized). I was out of work at the time, we were declined medicaid (who knows why), and had no other insurance hopes (have you priced unsubsidized insurance?!). The uninsured price of the albuterol is ~$130/ month and the pulmacourt is ~$350... both for generic. Fortunately, the pharmacist at our local Walgreen's informed us that, for $35/yr, they have a family prescription discount card... it discounted the albuterol to ~$30/ month and the pulmacourt to ~$150/ month. We still couldn't afford to dose the pulmacourt the way we were supposed to, but it did allow us to give our girls the medicine they needed to the point that they were able to live AND stay out of the hospital.
Fast forward 3 years, I now have a pretty decent job (and my wife has been employed the entire time), but I still can't afford to insure my family from my workplace, AND, even if I could, the copays and deductibles are unrealistic. Fortunately, we have now qualified for medicaid (the irony that we make ~$30k more per year than when we were denied while in desperate need is great) for the kids, and our state offers really good insurance that is priced at ~1% of your monthly income per covered adult for qualifying homes.
I haven't ever had to resort to illegal means to obtain medicine for my family.... but healthcare in this country is severely broken. And this article proves my point that the ACA (Obamacare) is NOT the right answer. We are now required to carry insurance coverage to prevent tax time penalties, but, often, the coverage that we are able to afford still leaves requires care unaffordable..... moreso because money that could have been paid towards that care is now paid towards insurance premiums. I don't claim to know what the answer is. I've been told previously that if I don't have a better answer that I should keep my opinion to myself. Here's the thing: The "check engine" light in my vehicle tells me that there's something wrong. I usually still need to defer to someone else to repair my vehicle, but I know that SOMETHING is wrong. Using that analogy, I feel confident in stating that healthcare in this country is broken.... I still need someone else to present the solution.