You Don’t Really Think About Your Prescription Costs Until You Have To
When it came time for Rachel, a grad student at Ball State University, to refill her prescription, she was prepared for the worst. She had recently gotten off her parents’ insurance and was in the process of getting her own. But until then, she was going to have to cover the full costs of her meds on her own.
When the pharmacist rang Rachel up, she saw that her antidepressants would cost $130 for the month – $120 more than what she had paid with insurance. Luckily, her pharmacist told her she could pay less with GoodRx, which brought the price back down to $12.
Rachel isn’t the first (and sadly not the last) to find themselves in this situation. Her story, captured candidly on Twitter, sheds light on some very stark realities:
When you don’t have insurance and you get sick or need a prescription medication, it can feel like the end of the world.
People are more likely to skip their medications or avoid getting it filled because they can’t afford it. In fact, nearly 1 in 10 Americans do this.
The US healthcare system is broken – but you don’t think about it until you’re forced to.
We think Rachel’s story, in her own words, is a great read. We’ve posted her flash essay in its entirety below.
