By Tiffany Hubbard
It’s been about a year since my teenager last had blood monitoring for his hyperthyroidism. I can’t miss work to take him in, so we are stuck. I don’t want to put off these appointments, but I have no choice.
My son likely will have to navigate treatment for his hyperthyroidism for the rest of his life. We manage it through medication and regular bloodwork to check his hormone levels. On average, a month of prescription medication for him costs $180. Money’s tight, but I have to make it work. His condition requires blood testing around every four months. But we can’t get to his doctor, because I don’t have paid family medical leave and I can’t afford to take unpaid time off.
I’m a single mom. I work full-time in the accounting department of a small law firm. I’m trying my best to set my son up so that he can go to college and be successful in life. I am lucky to have remained employed throughout the pandemic. But like more than eight out of 10 of employees at small businesses, I don’t have access to paid leave because I am not a salaried employee. I do what I can, but I’m struggling to make ends meet.
We have insurance coverage through my employer, but our prescription drug coverage changes every month. Sometimes his medication is covered, but many times, it’s not. The only reason I can afford his medication is because I use the Single Care discount card. This card reduces the price of his prescription more than the health insurance I pay hundreds for each month.
Before that, I struggled to pay for his prescriptions. If insurance didn’t cover enough, then another expense would have to wait. That usually meant spending less on food. Two years ago, when things began to look really dire, I started going to a food bank. I made slightly too much for my son to qualify for free lunch at school, so the food bank helped to keep us both fed.
Parents shouldn’t have to go to the food bank to be able to afford their kids’ medication. And they shouldn’t have to put off their kids’ doctors appointments for fear of taking a hit in their paycheck.
President Biden’s Build Back Better plan will help hardworking families like mine in more ways than one. The plan reduces prescription drug costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. It will also create a national, federally funded paid leave program so that small business owners, like my employer, can afford to give themselves and their employees paid leave.
Lower prescription drug prices will be available to people with employer-provided or private insurance, so I would no longer have to rely on a coupon to afford my son’s medication. We should negotiate reasonable prices, instead of letting pharmaceutical companies set any price they want. I don’t understand how our health and well-being can be looked at as something to make a profit from. Medication doesn’t have to be free, but it should at least be affordable.
My son understands that I need to work and he keeps me updated on how he is feeling. It’s really the best we can do until I can get him to his appointments. I know that I am not the only parent struggling to afford their kid’s prescriptions. The experiences, opinions, and hardships faced by working parents like me should matter, but it feels like Congress only listens to the pharmaceutical companies.
Reducing the astronomical prices of prescription drugs and providing paid family leave shouldn’t be up for debate. I hope Senator Sinema listens to constituents like me who are struggling to afford life saving medication while pharmaceutical companies profit off our suffering. Our representatives need to stand up for the working families that have been neglected for far too long.
A paid leave program would help both small business owners and their employees. Seventy percent of small business owners support the creation of a federally-funded program. Not only would it save them money through increased productivity and employee retention, but it also would help them compete with large corporations that offer generous benefits. It is vital for parents like me who don’t want to have to choose between their children’s health and their paycheck.
Tiffany Hubbard lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her son.