Just don't get sick
I have the flu. It's awesome.
Not really. I had it one other time previously, my senior year of high school. Tamiflu wasn't around back then, so I basically had to suffer. Got some today, Tamiflu that is. The gold standard for flu treatment. Prior to getting it, I went to a local urgent care. They did the usual flu swab (which I've done MANY before, but this was my first time ever being on the receiving end of one), and though it came back negative, I was told that they're only about 60% accurate.
60%???
I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like very good odds. So anyway, based on my clinical presentation (hacking cough, sweating buckets then freezing my butt off, my entire body feeling like it weighs twice my size, achy back and legs), I was told it was going to be treated as if it was the flu. Which, you know, makes a lot of sense to me. Better safe than sorry. I get the Tamiflu and I'm at the counter at CVS getting ready to pay, and the total is $71. My eyes widened. I couldn't believe it. $71??!!!! For 10 capsules. That's $7 a capsule. $7 is more than a large coffee at Dunkin Donuts! So...I asked. I HAD to ask. How much would it have costed if I didn't have insurance? And the tech told me.
$101.
I was floored. Couldn't believe it. I paid for my medicine (and all my other beat this flu business for good goodies) and left. When I got in the car and began driving home, I wondered. How in the WORLD do those without insurance get what they need? I'm INSURED and $101 is a lot of money! I kept wondering; what do they do? Just don't get sick, I guess. I envisioned someone without insurance really needing this medicine but not being able to afford it. The consequences would be just catastrophic, especially if it was a child, an elderly folk, the list goes on. I saw something on Facebook the other day about this lady who said that with insurance her insulin cost over $1000. Life saving, necessary medication. Over $1000. I don't remember it always being this way. What in the world has happened? I don't understand it. But then again, I remember talking to a patient during my psych rotation in nursing school who gave up everything, and I do mean everything to get help. Put down a second mortgage, sold their car, drained their life savings. I remember at my first job if you didn't have insurance, you had to make a down payment of $4,000 to get treated. Up front. But people did it. All the time.
I do tend to lean a little towards the left in regards to my political views. However, I was sorely disappointed (still am) in how unaffordable the ACA is. My retired, fixed income parents didn't even QUALIFY for ACA insurance. Prisoners probably get better healthcare than I do. It just makes me sad when I sit and think about it, and it's so frustrating, because so many people in power have the power to make things better, but time is being wasted on so many trivial things. I wish we as a country could do better, and that we should WANT to do better.
Not really. I had it one other time previously, my senior year of high school. Tamiflu wasn't around back then, so I basically had to suffer. Got some today, Tamiflu that is. The gold standard for flu treatment. Prior to getting it, I went to a local urgent care. They did the usual flu swab (which I've done MANY before, but this was my first time ever being on the receiving end of one), and though it came back negative, I was told that they're only about 60% accurate.
60%???
I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like very good odds. So anyway, based on my clinical presentation (hacking cough, sweating buckets then freezing my butt off, my entire body feeling like it weighs twice my size, achy back and legs), I was told it was going to be treated as if it was the flu. Which, you know, makes a lot of sense to me. Better safe than sorry. I get the Tamiflu and I'm at the counter at CVS getting ready to pay, and the total is $71. My eyes widened. I couldn't believe it. $71??!!!! For 10 capsules. That's $7 a capsule. $7 is more than a large coffee at Dunkin Donuts! So...I asked. I HAD to ask. How much would it have costed if I didn't have insurance? And the tech told me.
$101.
I was floored. Couldn't believe it. I paid for my medicine (and all my other beat this flu business for good goodies) and left. When I got in the car and began driving home, I wondered. How in the WORLD do those without insurance get what they need? I'm INSURED and $101 is a lot of money! I kept wondering; what do they do? Just don't get sick, I guess. I envisioned someone without insurance really needing this medicine but not being able to afford it. The consequences would be just catastrophic, especially if it was a child, an elderly folk, the list goes on. I saw something on Facebook the other day about this lady who said that with insurance her insulin cost over $1000. Life saving, necessary medication. Over $1000. I don't remember it always being this way. What in the world has happened? I don't understand it. But then again, I remember talking to a patient during my psych rotation in nursing school who gave up everything, and I do mean everything to get help. Put down a second mortgage, sold their car, drained their life savings. I remember at my first job if you didn't have insurance, you had to make a down payment of $4,000 to get treated. Up front. But people did it. All the time.
I do tend to lean a little towards the left in regards to my political views. However, I was sorely disappointed (still am) in how unaffordable the ACA is. My retired, fixed income parents didn't even QUALIFY for ACA insurance. Prisoners probably get better healthcare than I do. It just makes me sad when I sit and think about it, and it's so frustrating, because so many people in power have the power to make things better, but time is being wasted on so many trivial things. I wish we as a country could do better, and that we should WANT to do better.
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