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My mom had health insurance. She still couldn't afford the medication to save her life. | Opinion

Writer's picture: Tex PatientsTex Patients

Updated: Jan 16



My mother, an early childhood educator, had health insurance. But she still couldn't afford asthma treatment and died when I was 16. The system should be reformed so no one else has to face such loss.


On Feb. 15, 2012, my mother, Janet, died of complications from an asthma attack a month after my 16th birthday. Losing her remains both the most significant and most painful experience of my life, but my mother’s death was more than a personal tragedy: It was the predictable, preventable consequence of decades of health care inequity at the hands of the U.S. health insurance industry.


Though my mother was fully insured through her employer, her access to the inhalers she needed to prevent and stabilize potential exacerbations was restricted by both the complex prior authorization requirements and high co-pays imposed by her insurer. Totaling several hundreds of dollars a month, the costs for these lifesaving medications were hopelessly out of reach of her salary as an early childhood educator.


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