Sometimes, I get really mad. I mean I
get so mad that I throw things, yell and/or curse.
For years, I have said that if I am
sent to hell, it’ll be from hanging window blinds, curtains or drapes. I have bent
curtain rods over my knee when they didn’t go up right after the fifth try, and
I have said some awful words directed at mini-blinds. This week, I had a
somewhat different experience with repairing a pleated blind in our RV, which
is a whole new beast. The cord on the right raises the left side of the blind
and vice versa, the entire cornice has to be removed to get to the blind, and
the clamps that hold the blind in place are “spring-steel” which had already
sprung and weren’t springing back to their original shape.
I spent the better part of a day
working with that blind and it’s now hanging precariously from its sprung spring-steel clamp. I have dared anyone to touch it.
Reliving this anger made me consider
what other things make me really mad. There’s not a person who makes me angry.
I have tried to remove myself from toxic people who can have that control over
me. I guess I’ve mellowed in my old age.
Several events in the world make me
angry – the killing of innocent people in the name of religion, the abuse that
women in some Middle Eastern countries endure, the senseless waste of brain and
life of an addict.
What makes me angry right now is the
cost of health care in this country. To me, it is unforgivable that, in the
greatest country in the world, people have to pay so much in order to receive medical
care. When a person is truly sick, he/she shouldn’t have to worry about how
much the medicine costs or how he/she is going to pay for it. What if it’s your
child who needs the medicine or specialized care? 
I have always been fortunate to have health
insurance, but when my son with Down syndrome was born, our family insurance
wasn’t great. He had to have many doctor visits for casting his clubbed feet
and eventually surgery to correct the problem. He was hospitalized several
times with respiratory problems. We had to make monthly payments to the
hospital which I paid off after a few years. Fortunately, he grew out of most
of the health problems. However, he needed speech therapy which our insurance
wouldn’t cover. I paid out-of-pocket for these sessions, and they were quite
costly, but I felt I had no choice. My son needed the best shot possible in
order to have intelligible speech.
Finally, a case manager for a state
agency told me that if we agreed not to place Drew in state care, he could get
Medicaid which would pay for all of his therapies and health care. Placing Drew
in state care was never an option to us, but we thought about this a long time
because his dad and I always thought Medicaid was for low-income people. We
both had jobs and could support Drew; however, we examined the whole
picture. What about when Drew became an adult? How would he be covered then? So
we went with Medicaid, and I haven’t had to worry about his medical bills
since.
Recently, my husband had to start
taking numerous medications such as blood thinners, diuretics, blood pressure
pills, etc. He is a retired Army veteran so he has Tricare. He is also over 65 and
has Medicare. He never has to make a co-payment for a doctor or hospital visit
but has a small ($8.00) co-payment for prescriptions.
When he started all of these new meds,
we asked the pharmacist about the true cost of some of them. One is a
pre-loaded syringe of blood thinner medication, Lovenox. The pharmacist said
that one box of ten syringes costs $800. My husband’s dose calls for two shots
per day which adds up to 60 syringes per month. A month of this medicine would
cost $4,800, but he pays only $16.00. What happens to the person who has to
come up with $4,800 each month in order to live? Does he simply not take the
meds and hope that he doesn’t have a blood clot or stroke? Does he take half
the dose? Does he sell his house and everything he owns in order to afford this
necessary medicine?
Insane, isn’t it?
Some people think that Medicaid is
only for the low-down, lazy bums, the people who won’t work but instead allow
the government to take care of them. That’s not true in all situations. It covers healthcare for many people with a disability.
People either love or hate
Obamacare. Honestly, I don’t know enough about it to say if it’s the best way
out of this mess or not. However, it's a choice we didn't have before.
There's always the option of writing to your Congressman, to pharmaceutical companies, to someone who might listen and will work toward a solution. If you know a person or agency who can help make a difference, please let me know.
Something needs to be done
about the excessive cost of health care and medication in this country. It’s an
abomination that is much greater than hanging window coverings, I know, but
both make me gnash my teeth, say bad words and just get really pissed off.
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