Reader Opinion: Medications too expensive

I have the best health care insurance (medicare and Blue Cross/Blue Shield Sr. Gold) at a total cost of about $350 per month. I'm 67.

I had a lung transplant a year ago at the U of M. Medicare and Blue Cross essentially covered the $800,000 bill. My lung disease was caused by bird antigens which came from parakeets we had for our kids when they were younger.

Here's what no recipient, except the ultra-rich, can afford. Pharmaceuticals!

I'm on about 24 different pharmaceuticals to stay alive. I've taken up to 60 pills a day. Just two of those drugs run $2,300 a month. The other 22 cost around $350 a month. Costs in co-pays equal $2,650 a month. I cannot pay $2,650 a month! The only way forward for the rest of my life is to beg these two companies for some help or go bankrupt, which many people do.

My wife and I have to send our W-2s and our monthly expenses to these companies so they can evaluate whether I qualify for help. If you have money they want you to spend it down before they help. A grant from the U of M to cover the co-pay on one of those two expensive drugs for three months is under audit. I've got two $850 bills on my desk, waiting to be paid. I've been told to be patient.

My fear is if I can't afford to have a lung transplant and recovery medications after 35 years of teaching and 40 years in the car business, how do people less fortunate than me get basic services?

This Republican health bill must address this problem for the masses. The ultra-rich aren't the only people deserving quality health care.

I'm grateful to be alive!

Bruce G. Femling

Baxter