The Assurance of Insurance
When you have a chronic illness, and one that requires medications and doctor visits for survival, you need to plan carefully. Nearly every life decision Marshall and I have made since marriage has had to include the option for health insurance. Without it there’s no way we could afford the monthly expenses.
When we were first married we moved from Boston to Denver. I started graduate school, and Marshall started his business. I accepted the health care plan offered through the graduate program, there was no other choice. His company wasn’t established enough to provide any kind of insurance. As a Type 1 patient, self-employed, the cost to buy an individual health plan would be ridiculous. Pre-existing conditions are a very serious and a very pricey reality in our family.
Once Marshall’s business was stable, he and his partners worked hard to find a health plan that would work well with his medical needs. We needed a plan with a low deductible, pharmacy benefits, and accepting of his “pre-existing condition”. It was much harder to find than you’d think. Insurance companies are in the business to make money, and having a customer like us certainly doesn’t make them money. Endocrinologists, ophthalmologists and retinal specialists, primary doctors, dentists, and thousands upon thousands of dollars in insulin and durable medical costs certainly add up. In the early years we paid more in medical insurance than we did in rent and food combined.
Every life decision we make is with health care in mind. It has always been this way, and it will always be this way. We can’t move off the grid and live like hermits in the woods, nor can we quit our jobs and freelance from a coffee shop in Europe. We are tied to the reality of pharmacy copays and quarterly doctors appointments, because the alternative of paying out of pocket isn’t even an option. Pharmaceutical companies have inflated prices to the point of absurdity. In order to afford the costs associated with insurance, a stable job with health benefits is a non-negotiable.
I dream that one day, especially for Ollie and Walker, we don’t have to let the cost of health care drive our life plans. I wish that medical care, medications, and best tools to manage this disease be made available to everyone, regardless of income or health plan options. Insulin, pump therapy, and Continuous Glucose Monitors, should not be a benefit to a fortunate few. The outrageous inflation of insulin costs get passed down to exorbitant health plan costs for those with Type 1. It needs to stop. Insulin doesn’t need to cost $360/vial. It’s asinine.
Please sign the petition here, and let your voice be heard that the pharmaceutical companies need to stop making a profit off of necessary, life saving medicine.
