[dTube] Horrible: Teacher Who Died From Flu Delayed Medication Because of Co-Pay

in news •  7 years ago 


The problems with our healthcare system

Heather Holland, a second-grade teacher from Weatherford, Texas, died from flu-related complications after delaying picking up her medication because the $116 co-payment was too high for her to afford

This simply shouldn't happen, period


▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS
Authors get paid when people like you upvote their post.
If you enjoyed what you read here, create your account today and start earning FREE STEEM!
Sort Order:  

you create a great news..... Lot of thanks for Sharing this informative and valuable post....best of luck brother....

Hmmmm, health is really wealth.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

America rations healthcare based on the size of your wallet. There was also this terrible story not too long ago: http://wjla.com/news/local/out-in-the-cold-video-of-woman-left-at-bus-stop-by-baltimore-hospital-staff-draws-outrage or the one who won the lottery and could finally afford to get diagnosed with terminal cancer: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-thursday-edition-1.4514318/n-y-man-dies-from-cancer-3-weeks-after-winning-1m-lottery-1.4514319

You may say these are anecdotes... but you don't get these anecdotes in countries with single payer of public option.

"This simply shouldn't happen, period"

Yes, please, let's stop distorting the health care market into an overpriced, ineffective den of bureaucracy.

In the meantime, you're free to help people like this afford their artificially expensive medications. Please do.

Also, fact check:

It isn't that she couldn't afford it or didn't have the money.

From the WSJ, quoting her husband.

Ms. Holland went to the pharmacy. She learned the antiviral medication would cost her $116 under the prescription-drug coverage she had as a teacher, and she refused it. They had the money, Mr. Holland said: “It’s principle with her. She’s a very frugal person in general, always has been.”

It doesn't change that price had something to do with it, but there seems a meaningful difference between inability to pay and choosing not to.

If she hadn't been a teacher with stable income, she'd probably have qualified for a different plan that absorbed more of the cost.

So this is a situation of someone who wasn't poor making a stingy marginal decision more than it's a situation of "look what happens when you don't have money".

This makes me so sad! Her story of having to juggle finances is so familiar to me. A few years ago I sustained an injury that needed an MRI and I put it off for months because I couldn't afford the cost (even with insurance). MY injury ended up getting worse and it cost me far more in the end. Of course I can never compare what happened to me to the teacher in this story, but rather that healthcare is a cumulative tragedy that Americans are facing.

NHS is a godsend here , were are lucky to have it here , it seems that the lower income families can not get ill and would not want to have that burden of that , and it is very sad it had to happen

The flu this year is attacking the able bodied more so than the old and the weak. This year's strain elicits a stronger immune response which is the main reason why so many healthy individuals are dying. I did a great discussion with other professionals about the flu and the vaccine on youtube. Link here if you are interested.

https://steemit.com/health/@rsc227/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-flu

If you'd prefer something to lighten the mood try this clip from the Late Show with Stephen Colbert

https://steemit.com/health/@rsc227/praying-the-flu-away