$117.77 -I'm sitting here on a cold, rainy day in an even colder hospital waiting room. A family member, just a year younger than me, lies in an ICU bed, and all I can think about is the cost of one month's supply of a single blood pressure medicine.
$117.77 is all it took to change our average complicated days into chaotic, frenzied, scared, miserable hours of waiting. And as she lies in the ICU, unable to move the left side of her body, I can't help but be angry that this can happen to this woman, our family member, a recently abandoned/divorced mother of a pre-teen who was unable to secure less money than I pay to have my house cleaned to get a medicine that could have prevented all of this.
Of course, we didn't know that she needed this money, because that's what shame and pride do to you. They make you unable to ask for what you need. Why should we shame people who cannot afford basic medication; why should we allow them to shame themselves?
The tears, the fear, the loss of control for an entire family and community of friends, and for what? Do we really value each other so little?
Is there one person in our country so sure of herself and her relationship that she knows she will never be in this situation?
We must have a healthcare system that is accessible to everyone. We must have the ability to get medications that we can afford.
If you are not angry that this could happen to anyone you love just on the face of it, then consider this:
Prevention: Average medication cost for one month = $117.77.
Hemorrhagic stroke: average cost = $19,500.
Here's what's included in your package deal:
ER visit, ER doctor fees, head CT, carotid duplex, EKG, labs, echocardiogram, MRI, repeat head CT, neuro consult fee, radiology read fees, ICU hospital bed fees, med/surg hospital bed fee.
As a parting gift, you get some additional fees in the form of rehab and more medication.
The average cost for one year of rehab post stroke is $17,081.
$117.77 versus $36,581.
This is the cost of prevention versus one acute episode requiring hospitalization.
This is the financial cost.
This is not the emotional cost for the individual, the family, or the 12-year-old child who has no idea what the hell has just happened here.