How Do People Afford To Get Sick?

William has asthma that is triggered primarily by tree pollens. It's the absolute worst thing to see when he has an attack. He can't breathe and his only option is to be raced to the ER where they get him on steriods for an hour straight to open up his airways. Thankfully, now that we know what triggers his asthma, we can use medications at home to help keep his airways open and hopefully not end up with a full-blown attack this year that lands us in the ER, or worse yet, admitted to the hospital. Oh, yes. We've been down that road before and that's no fun either.

We saw his allergist yesterday and he prescribed William Singulair chewable tablets to take at bedtime, Albuterol for a nebulizer treatment and Zyrtec to help control his allergies. Zyrtec is now and over-the-counter medicine which torks me off. I had to pay $12 for a bottle whereas before with insurance I paid $3. Anyway, the Singulair cost us $9 and the Albuterol was $3. Great, right? Until I looked and saw what we would have had to pay if we didn't have decent health insurance! Singulair would have cost us $123.99...for a month's supply! The Albuterol would have cost $60.99 for a 23 day supply. Oh.my.heck!

Oh, and did I mention that the doctor also wants to change up William's nebulizer. Right now, he's taking the Albuterol through a mask. He now wants him to take it through a mouth piece. Fine. The office helps us locate a medical supply place that takes our insurance. Guess what our out of pocket cost is after insurance paying 80%...go on. Guess. I dare ya. FOURTY FRICKING DOLLARS! Holy crud! Fourty bucks for plastic tubing?!

We don't have a choice. If we don't give William these meds, follow the treatment his doctor advises, we will most likely end up in the ER with a very sick little boy. So, we pony up the money quarterly to keep our health insurance, we buy our kid the medicine he needs to lead an active, normal four year old life, but wow. What do people do when they don't have health coverage? Or their coverage doesn't cover everything? Or insurance refuses to pay for a 'script? How do people afford getting sick?

It's absolutely insane that in a country such as this, there are still people who have to make a decision every day about whether they can afford to buy medicine for themselves or their family. Insane.