I am an entrepreneur by nature. My mind is creative. I see a problem, I want to solve it and then help others do the same. I don’t deny anyone the opportunity to use their talents to make an income, a healthy profit even. I don’t often haggle with people on the “buy, sell, trade” sites on FB because again, I feel that there is worth in what they are offering if it is something I want and as long as they are not being too far outlandish in their asking price, I will pay what they ask for their time and their product.
I used to sit idly by when I would hear of people struggling to get medications. Mostly because it didn’t impact me directly. I’ve always had the good fortune of having a good job, or Frank having a good job, complete with great, even cadillac, benefits. Until this year. This year Lockheed followed suit and provided less benefits for more money, a higher deductible and outrageous medication restrictions. Pretty much anything that does not have a generic is off the list. This includes my ADD medications.
Anyone who knows me well knows I’m absolutely attention deficit inclined. I was once an amazing 85%’er. I thought I was a great multi-tasker because I would start tons of projects all at once and make good headway on them…then…squirrel. Something shiny would catch my attention and I would walk, no run, away from the project at hand to explore the thing I saw next. For instance, the first time I painted our old kitchen cabinets it took me 9 months to complete. NINE months.
I finally got my butt into a doctor in 2009 and was prescribed Vyvanse, an ADD medication and my life forever changed. And on our old insurance, coupled with a discount card from the manufacturer, the medication cost me about $35/month. Totally worth it and doable. Fast forward to 2018 — and our new insurance — sort of — That same medication, which has no generic because big Pharma has found a way to stop that from happening until at least 2020, now costs retail over $700. WITH my insurance it’s $290 and with the aid of the discount program, it totals out at $230/month. Trust me, I’ve tried the other meds including Aderal (which, btw, has a generic and would cost me around $18/month) is the equivelent to popping M&Ms for me – they just do not work. And I am one of the lucky ones.
I have a job. A good job. Frank does as well. We can afford that hit to the budget. But I don’t like it. And what about the poor people who cannot afford it? The ones out there in the same boat as I am, almost non-functional without the aid of medication, but they just cannot do that amount of money once, let alone month after month? I so feel for them.
Big Pharma should be embarassed to put people in this position with no options but to cause detriment to either their lives by not being able to afford to get the medications or to their family by taking an obscene amount of money out of the budget every month. Sometimes at the expense of getting enough food in the house.
Making a profit is fine — gouging people to do so is simply wrong. I don’t know what else to say. Shame on you big pharma.
Shrinking Shay 