Elizabeth C. McLaughlin  🩸 🦷

At 8:00 a.m., we were the second in line at urgent care. Turns out both kids need a relatively common antibiotic to be cleared to go to school tomorrow, as do I as a preventative. The prescription gets called in to the pharmacy across the street from the urgent care.

We swing by the pharmacy, and realize it doesn't open until 11:00 a.m. I take the kids for a haircut, to the supermarket, for a walk, and then go back to the pharmacy. When we arrive, we learn that this pharmacy is no longer stocking the antibiotic.

The closest pharmacy stocking it is 21 miles away, and has only one dose. I game which kid is sicker (it's obvious), resign myself to keeping the other kid home, and pile everyone in the car.

We get to the second pharmacy. They have one dose. However, the kid who needs it most isn't showing up in my insurance, which I pay (wait for it) $1182 a month for under Obamacare.

I call the urgent care and get them to clear it with my kid's insurance. This takes FIVE SEPARATE PHONE CALLS. The pharmacy then tells me that while the kid is now showing on insurance, insurance is saying it won't cover the antibiotic, but if I want to buy the one pill . . .

. . . it will cost FIVE HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE DOLLARS out of pocket. Second pharmacy tells me it will fax the urgent care to ask for a substitute. I call to confirm. THIS TAKES SIX MORE PHONE CALLS. By this time it is 1:45 p.m.

The urgent care finally forwards a substitute for all three of us. However (wait for it), pharmacy number two doesn't stock the replacement. PLUS, even though me and both my kids are on the same insurance plan, they're showing that FOR THE REPLACEMENT . . .

. . . my daughter has an $80 copay, BUT MY SON HAS A DEDUCTIBLE that the insurance company claims is unpaid, AND I owe some random number in the middle. This makes NO SENSE. I burst into tears in front of the pharmacist. He finds me a third pharmacy, another TWENTY MILES AWAY

However, pharmacy number three has only HALF the total doses we need, so I will have to come back for the second round in a few days. I get into the car and again start sobbing over the steering wheel in front of my kids.

My kids are starving, and mad, and don't understand why this is happening. We get to pharmacy number 3, and are finally able to get the medicine for all three of us. My daughter's costs $80. My son's costs $280. Mine costs $138.73. It is exactly the same medicine, same dose.

The three of us are on the same plan, with the same Rx provisions. Our deductibles are paid.

If I hadn't had room on my line of credit, I couldn't have paid for this medicine today, my kids would have had to stay home from school until I could, and I wouldn't be able to work until then. The medical system in this country is so fucked. I am so fucking angry.

When I lived in France as a college student in 1991, a doctor came to my apartment, examined me, and handed me a prescription equivalent to the one my family needed today from his bag. My total out of pocket cost was the equivalent of 75 FF, or $13.01 in today's dollars.

We punish the poor in this country for getting sick. Hell, we punish everyone for getting sick. Today was one of the worst days of my adulthood. I can't imagine doing it without insurance and in poverty.

The United States is a civilization in decline. We do not care about one another. We stratify eachother based on identity and discriminate at will. Our government officials are largely owned by corporations who are driven by endless greed and no regard for humanity.

I'm a pragmatic optimist by nature, but after today, I'm saying this. We either the path we're on in short order, or this country will be no more. It's disgusting. Just inhumane. I'm going to go choke down my antibiotics. Happy Sunday, America. /end

*change the path we are on in short order*

PS. I AM NOT ASKING FOR MEDICAL ADVICE IN THIS THREAD. DO NOT GIVE IT TO ME. AS I HAVE SAID TO MY KIDS, MY BUCKET IS EMPTY AND MY TEMPER IS SHORT.

PPS. It took fifteen minutes after my last tweet for a man to hop on here and comment about how I'm not allowed to ask for people not to give me medical advice because I've given up my rights to do that by posting this story. EVEN NOW, I am being mansplained. EVEN NOW.

.@RepKatiePorter you've met all three of us. We know we've got your support in Congress, and I know you'd want to hear about our experience today in OC. We need single payer. Thank you for your support.

.@RepJayapal, my followers tell me you might be interested in our story from today.

Thank you all for your largely reasonable support. I have blocked anyone who has made the claim that I fabricated this. I am not going to dignify those comments w/ the receipts covering my kitchen counter, let alone when they identify my children and our medical concerns.