Cost of drugs

[JackieJou]

To whom it may concern,
The health insurance reform at is not working for my family. My son and daughter in law are extremely sick. My son has thyroid disease and cannot afford to go to the doctor and cannot afford the thyroid medication that he so desperately needs to survive. I have been purchasing his medications for him on line though a pharmacy in Canada costing an extreme amount of money for his Synthroid. I am on a limited income and I cannot afford it anymore.
My daughter in law is very sick too. She had thyroid cancer, stage three and is in desperate need to see a physician for her follow ups. She is supposed to get scanned twice a year since her surgery and has not been scanned once. She simply cannot afford it. She is also not taking her thyroid medications because she cannot afford to go to a doctor to get her prescriptions.
Now, come to find out that it will cost them $250.00 per month for health insurance. They barely live paycheck to paycheck and cannot afford even the simplest coverage. I thought with the new health insurance reform that they would be able to get health insurance at a lower price but they can’t even afford that. So now, they can’t come up with the money for the insurance by the due date to get coverage.
Why is the system still not working? I thought health insurance would be more affordable but for them, it’s not even possible. So here they go, another year without health insurance because they can’t come up with the monthly premiums for coverage, and on top of that, now they will get penalized for not having health coverage. I am watching my kids get sicker and sicker and I fear for her safety as she still cannot get her screening for her cancer.
I need some answers. I can’t sit back and continue to watch my son and daughter in law get sicker by the day because they cannot get their thyroid medications.
Someone please help.
Sincerely,
Jackie Johnson
Jackie.***@****

[flyingfool]

total opinion here. But national health care just simply does not work.  never has and never will.

Not to say that things are not a mess. But the gov't creats more problems than it ever solves.  That is a fact!  why getting government more involved will somehow fix healthcare is just fantasy.

But the bottom line is that your son and daughter in law need medical help. You cannot live if thyroid levels get too low.  Usually the T4 meds are pretty darn inexpensive from what I understand so it seems like that should be something that can be overcome reasonably.  I also think the manufacturers also sometimes have financial hardship programs for reduced cost medicines so you may want to check that out as well.

Maybe churches may also have some help I don't know.  But worth a try.

[Barb135]

Your son and daughter-in-law should qualify for Medicaid if their income is so low that they can't afford health insurance.  Either that, or they should qualify for subsidized health insurance.  They should talk to a qualified insurance agent that is handling insurance that deals with the ACA policies.

Additionally, nearly every county in the country has a County Health Dept, at which people can get free or reduced cost care.  They should check these out, as well.  As a very last resort, they should be able to go to their local hospital and get care.