Medical debt, like chronic illness, doesn’t discriminate

A lot of people assume medical debt is something that happens to “other” (read: poor, unhealthy) people. But pretty much everyone is at risk, including “comfortable” people like me with “good” health insurance. As of January 1, two of the prescription medications that helped put my autoimmune disease into remission have nearly doubled in price (from $75 to $125 and from $135 to $190). I now have to decide if I should devote more of my budget prescriptions each month, if I should reduce my dosage (and run the risk of having symptoms come back), if I should try to find a lower priced medicine (which could mean months of trial and error and a possible flare up), if I should try to apply for patient assistance, or if I should go into debt to pay for my medical expenses.

Infographic courtesy of http://www.nationaldebtrelief.com/