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Let’s discuss how I’m “privileged” enough to have health insurance and what I’ve sacrificed to get here. At 18, I wanted to go into IT. But in the 1990s, it wasn’t a “secure field with insurance” so I took out six figures in student loans to become a lawyer.
Then, when the economy tanked in 2008, I was laid off and lost my insurance. I worked contract jobs that didn’t offer health insurance and could barely afford to survive and went five figures into medical debt
I found a full time job in 2011 that provided health insurance. Six weeks after starting the job, my boss died in a freak accident and his estate closed the law firm. This was pre-ACA so I was unable to get insurance at any price bc Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong preexisting cond
At this point, I had to sell my car, all my belongings, cash out my 401k, and borrow from my parents’ retirement fund to afford the $2,880 in medical costs each month for me to survive without insurance.
I went back to working contract jobs at huge companies, but 100% of my take home pay didn’t cover my medical expenses. So I had to move from my home to DC, give up my dog of 7 years, and again sell my car and my possessions.
My new DC law firm job was horrible and abusive. I went into DKA from the stress and was in ICU for 2 weeks, clinging to life. My firm docked my salary for the time I was hospitalized. After two years of hell, I finally found my current job which provides insurance.
This is all to say, I DONT CARE WHAT MY INSULIN COPAY IS, RIGHT NOW, WHEN MY HEALTH INS CAN DISAPPEAR AS EASILY AS MY JOB. WHEN YOU DIE WITHOUT INSURANCE IN A COUNTRY THAT WONT GUARANTEE IT, YOU HAVE TO CONSTANTLY PLAN YOUR LIFE AROUND SAVING AND SACRIFICING TO AFFORD INSULIN.
To this day, I have a savings account solely for insulin price increases or if I lose insurance. And I make a hefty salary compared to most. I still hoard expired insulin vials, only shop at thrift stores, and save every penny I have for BASIC INSULIN I NEED TO LIVE.
Focusing on copays, like Phrma wants us to do, erases and devalues the numerous sacrifices we make JUST TO SURVIVE. It is sick, immoral, and dehumanizing.
Bc our life is on the line, we can’t exist in “best case scenarios” - we have to plan for the worst, which is $300 insulin
Bc our life is on the line, we can’t exist in “best case scenarios” - we have to plan for the worst, which is $300 insulin
This is why insulin MUST affordable for all, without insurance. I shouldn’t need “insurance” to live til tomorrow. My life is not a pawn for Wall Street to make more money. We are human beings who just want to live. Enough.
We need federal insulin list price caps.
We need federal insulin list price caps.
