It was the same story I hear at least once every single day.
Rhonda stopped taking her blood pressure and diabetes medicine 6 months ago because she couldn't afford them.
She shared her story... which sounded similar to so many others.
Rhonda is...
married
without education
without skills or training
can't get a job
in poor health
but not poor enough to be on disability
And then her story began to differ from the others.
Rhonda's husband is on disability and collects monthly disability payments. He makes it very clear to Rhonda that because HE is the one suffering from disability, HE is the one that gets all the money. She is not privvy to one cent of it, since she is 'healthy' and all....
The day I saw Rhonda in clinic, she told me her situation in a factual tone, without begging for pity. Then she got to her reason for the visit: she wanted a prescription refill.
"I have been saving aluminum cans for several months. I just turned them in at the recycle place and got $7.00 to pay for my blood pressure medicine this month."
"What will you do next month?" I asked.
"Oh honey, I don't have the luxury of thinking about next month, or even tomorrow. I just take my days one aluminum can at a time."
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3 comments:
That's awesome......a REAL picture of the state of our union.
This is so sad on many levels, but mainly that she is attached to such a big JERK! States will take kids away from dangerous parents; how about taking WIVES away from creepy, selfish, horrible husbands. And, I agree with what Bridget said...what a sad commentary that we spend BILLIONS of dollars on aid to countries that hate us, while our own citizens have no money for medicines...sorry sorry state of affairs.
Jen - you are such a good writer. This was great. (writing). The story is sad....but as you say - ubiquitous. I feel so lucky every day for my health.
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