CF Awareness Month Blog #3 - $$$

Medication plays a huge role in my day to day life and keeps me healthy. I would not be as healthy/successful today if I was not able to afford my medication...I definitely have a love-hate relationship with insurance. Need it, gotta have it, but they're so annoying and have to make things complicated and difficult all the time! There is absolutely no way that I'd ever be able to afford any of my medications or medical care without insurance. 

Doctor visits, for example, without insurance: 1/2 hour (maybe!) with seeing an Endocrinologist this winter = $815.00 without insurance.
CF Clinic visit: $4, 229.00 without insurance -- I have clinic visits 4 times a year ($16,916/year). We do not pay this much, I do have insurance!

I have to take 2-5 digestive enzymes with every meal - I wouldn't be able to eat if I couldn't afford my enzymes. I take a several vitamins daily (that I pay for over the counter...take a walk down the vitamin aisle one day and see how much a bottle of Calcuim+D vitamins are...), oral antibiotics when needed (as long as insurance approves them), plus 4-6 nebulized medications daily along with my Vest. The Vest alone would have been tens-of-thousands of dollars. Not to mention my Pulmozyme which is several thousand dollars a month - without insurance!

With all of this said, I am very, very lucky be this healthy so that I can work full-time and have great benefits. I am able to afford every medication that I need, and all of my insurance deductibles/out of pocket fees. Do I want to have so much in medical expenses per year that I'm able to deduct them from my taxes...no...but if that's what I have to do to keep living the quality of life that I am now...then so be it. Things could be so much worse, and unfortunately there are CF patients who do...

What do I have to complain about? I can afford my medications. I'm happy. I'm healthy. I'm living a wonderful life. :-)