Healthcare Horrors
Today is the big day. You have been working, grinding & saving up to make this major purchase. Despite it being mid July, it feels like Christmas Day. As you step on the car lot, you can see the luster of her paint from a distance. The salesman hands you the keys for the test drive & your excitement is higher than the sticker price attached to the window. She’s equipped with all the features you know & love. The fragrance of leather takes over your nose. As you press the push button, a sweet melody of engine purr fill the air. What you are feeling is love at first touch. Now that the test drive is done, it’s time to handle the paper part of the deal. The order form is completed & you side it back to him along with the downpayment. Everything is ready to go until you he tells you, “I’m sorry but we can’t get you approved for that one BUT we can get you into something else!”
Something similar happened to John Q in 2002. His cheerful son had a serious ailment that landed him in the hospital.Nothing to fear right? Mr. Q is a hard working, tax paying, law abiding citizen that has the best health care that is offered. He’s paying for insurance so let them handle it. If you havnt’t seen that stellar film, I advise you to watch it. If you have seen it, we all know how far insurance got Mr. Q.
The reason this topic is so near & dear to my heart is because I recently went through a similar fiasco. Insurance doesn't want to cover the very medicines you need for survival. It was always a hoop to jump through. When they did locate a medicine the insurance would cover, it had to be mailed to your house in a 3 month supply so that took the price from post insurance amount times 3. Trying to fight red tape & loop holes is an ample amount of unwanted stress. Its normal to become emotionally bankrupt & have feelings of “its cheaper to die than to live!” As you know, we are here to assist you in keeping your worries low & your hopes high. Here are a few suggestions.
GoodRX is a God sent site that a lot of people recommend. They offer SOME medication at a discounted rate. While they were the selling what I needed for the same price, others have truly benefitted from them. Another avenue is contacting the manufacturer. When pharmaceutical companies purchase drugs from the factory, the prices end up UBER inflated because everyone has their hand in the pot. But contacting the maker directly, you may be able to get a discounted rate while saying ixnay to the middle man.
We have to stay vigilant while dealing with the America “healthcare” system. So many of us walk in for minor procedures or common ailments but ended up being rolled out in a bag. Supporting information is out there that our women die at alarming higher rates than white women. Dealing with this system is just like dealing with any other man made system. We are virtually playing a dangerous game that the systematic operators make the rules. They know you asthma & will ask you to run a marathon for a puff of medicine. You see what happed to John Henry (and John Q) after battling “the system”! John Henry won the fight against systematic unjust but he lost the war when he died from exhaustion.
Peace community. Stay ILL until we meet again.
