The Price of Living a Medicated Life
Written by Jessica Creviston
There is a national epidemic with people who are in dire need of medication yet cannot receive it. These people are generally prescribed medicine of some sort that they need to live or better their health and overall well-being, yet they are unable to pay for the outrageous costs that are associated with these imperative prescriptions. Worst of all, many of these people are elderly and have to make the decision of paying for their medicine or paying for another important aspect of their life, such as rent or food.
Seniors have little-to-no income due to retirement, meaning that they must live with what finances they have. The elderly also require more medicine and prescriptions than younger people due to the human body’s aging process. This with the addition of naturally high and rising costs of prescriptions, more and more seniors are running out of funding to suit their everyday needs.
A widely known example of this would be the insulin crisis. Most people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes must take daily insulin shots in order for their bodies to continue functioning and therefore not die. Although diabetes is quite common, the medication for its treatment is not so easy to come by. The price of insulin is so high that people do what they can to ration out the little doses that they can pay for over a period of time in which they should be using double or more of the amount of insulin that they are actually using. Because of this people are living unhealthy lifestyles and are not giving their body’s the medicine they need. Those who can pay for their insulin generally have to refinance things in their life or get another form of income as the price of their necessary medication increases.
As you can imagine, the steps people have to take for paying for their prescriptions are much easier to complete for younger generations, such as those in the work force, while the senior populations must face this epidemic head on. As previously stated, the elderly generally have more medication to take due to their aging, but it is also more important for older people to take their medication. Their bodies are fragile and expensive medications may be the only way for people to keep living their lives. Because of this, the money that is being drained from their pockets into the pharmaceutical industry is being taken away from other necessities that could be adjusted in the slightest. Purchasing food, paying the bills, traveling, and many more aspects of a senior’s life are being forfeited due to the obnoxious and unnecessarily high prices of their medications.
Insulin is just one example of many that prove this epidemic true. Many other common medications are being sold at much higher prices than they are being made just so big industries can profit. This leads to death and the misuse of medication for many people, especially the elderly, who cannot afford the price that their prescriptions have put on their life.
Works Cited:
