I grew up in a very bigoted and Republican home. "It's the poor's fault that they are poor, and they have to live with the consequences," "they just don't want to work because they're lazy," etc. were some of the things I often heard and believed.
My education helped to enlighten me a bit about the different social stratification problems that keep the poor in a cycle of poverty; however, I held onto my "you get what you deserve" philosophy...until I got sick.
I've been dealing with reoccurring sinus and ear infections due to an allergy for about 5 years. I would get put on an antibiotic and Mucinex. This in itself isn't cheap. Mucinex over the counter sometimes gets up to $30, which may not seem like much, but it's a lot of money when you get sick every other month. Finally, the doctors caught on that it was happening frequently, so they put me on Patanase and Nasonex, which was $80 a month. My mom send me some money when I called her bawling because I had overdrawn my account paying for the Urgent Care visit ($35 copay) plus the medicine. I began to buy CVS off-brand Claritin and sudaphed and try to take that, but clearly that wasn't strong enough.
Two months later, I have vertigo so bad that I am stumbling around like a drunk person and throwing up from motion sickness. I am taking Mezclizine around the clock (which is about $15 for a month, but it's not covered by my insurance). I went to my family doctor; $20 copay plus $40 for Nasonex. I didn't get better. I went to an Urgent Care; $35 copay, $25 for Mucinex D, $15 for more Antivert. Then I got a referral to an ENT; copay $25. The first visit ruled out that I needed tubes in my ears, so I had to wait almost two weeks to get a CT scan to see what was putting pressure on my ears causing vertigo. CT scan proved that my sinuses are small, and that any amount of swelling can almost close them off, causing many symptoms. The cause for the swelling is, of course, an allergy. The ENT referred me to an allergist to find the allergen and figure out a treatment, plus gave me a prescription for Singulair. That medicine costs $50 per month after insurance. I walked out of the pharmacy empty-handed.
My family is middle-class. We aren't living in a shack, but we're not rolling in dough. We have enough money to live normally, but nothing significantly extra to spare. Thus, when I entered college, I was quickly informed that my parents would TRY to help me, but I'm going to have to support myself most of the way. My mom has paid for two quarters of the four quarters I've been here, and my dad has helped me pay for one. Other than that, I'm paying my own tuition, books, fees, etc. Thank God my dad works at the University, and I get half tuition, plus I have a scholarship. And I got an RA job next year. Regardless, I don't have an extra $3,000 laying around that I can just give to OSU. Furthermore, my father won't let me withdraw any student loans. Thus, I must make lots of sacrifices. One of them being my health. My justification is that the choices are pay for health now, or pay for education now so that I can get a good job and have enough money to pay for my health for myself and my family.
Furthermore, there needs to be education reform so that parents and students are able to afford college without fear of the child being over $50,000 in debt by the time he/she graduates.
If I'm working two jobs (three, really, if you count the RA gig) and coming from a middle-class family and still facing this dilemma, then what are the people living in poverty facing? I think about all the sacrifices I make because of my financial situation, and I can't even imagine being unemployed with no one helping me.
So, for now, "hello, hello, I'm in a place called vertigo" waiting for an allergist to tell me what I'm allergic to and hope that it's something I can choose to avoid. Or I'll wait until they come out with a generic for Singulair, Patanase, and/or Nasonex. And I'll pray that those in poverty can somehow find a way to put their health first. And I'll pray that someone, somewhere in Congress takes this perspective into thought when talking about the healthcare system.
Salud.
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