The Full Story
There are too many stories to tell, but a few compelling ones will give you a sense of some of the problems we are trying to solve, and people we know need help that slip through the cracks.
Diabetes, ALS, COVID, then...
This is the tragic story of a young adult patient, who has had Type 1 diabetes since she was a child.
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Not only did she have to deal with shots, dietary restrictions, and muliple finger pokes per day; her father was diagnosed and ultimately passed away from a chronic illness in her early teens.
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Then, after high school graduation, her mother abruptly died from COVID during the pandemic.
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Consumed with the loss and details of her mother's death, no one opened the mail that indicated her health insurance was terminating 30 days after the mother's death.
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Diabetes medications such as Lantus, Levemir, Novalog, and Humalog are hudreds of dollars per box.
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This patient, who had been through this ordeal, arrived at the pharmacy to a $1200 bill for insulin that is needed to keep her alive.
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This patient's part time job did not offer health insurance, and the bill was far too much for her income level.
Nothing Prepares You for This
This is another story of a diabetic...
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In August, things could not be better. The high school sweethearts were married, and had recently settled into a new home. After some expensive repairs to the basement, the late 20's couple was living an American dream. A new house, two cars, two jobs, and two dogs...
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Tragically, 3 months after the marriage, everything unravled with the abrupt death of the husband.
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First it was immeasurable sorrow and pain. Then, predictably, the collections calls started. In this family, the husband's salary was nearly 3 times that of his wife.
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A period of financial collapse ensued. The cars were lost, the house was sold, and all of the regular bills still had to be paid....
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Among those bills were copayments for 2 types of expensive insulin, the blood sugar monitoring technology, and medications to support the mental health of this young widow. Again, a couple hundred dollars per month for copayments were out of reach for this young widow.
