Earlier this month, an unemployed 24-year-old father died after a minor tooth infection. Kyle Willis, of Cincinnati, did all that he could do, after coming down with a toothache. He visited doctors who properly prescribed him antibiotics and pain medication. Willis could only afford the pills for his pain. Unfortunately, that would do nothing to stop the infection from spreading to his brain, the ailment that ultimately killed Kyle Willis.
For the first time in my adult life, I visited a pharmacist to fill a prescription for me. At 31-years of age, I have been insured only for four years since I was 18. Two of those years, I was living in Spain. While in Spain and as a Spaniard, I took advantage of their healthcare system. Two doctor visits, blood analysis, and complete checkup later, I was handed a prescription for a topical cream. It would be the same prescription handed to me by my American doctor, a few weeks ago. The total cost of the Spanish healthcare experience was: 2 Euros, or roughly $3.50.
I told the pharmacist, out of curiosity, that I had no insurance and wanted to see if I could afford the cream. He took the prescription, punched some keys on his computer, and quickly said, “I don’t think you want to know. Let’s just say it’s close to a thousand dollars.” Luckily, my student health insurance kicked in a few weeks earlier. I gave him my card. He punched some more keys and said, “Okay good, it’s only twenty dollars now.”
I was lucky for multiple reasons: One, my condition is not life threatening. Two, I happened to have insurance.
A few weeks earlier if I had come down with a tooth infection, I might not have been able to afford the medication that would save my life. Kyle Willis didn’t have my luck and now a 6-year-old girl is left without her father.
