By Dr. Will Carter, III
Lately, I’ve noticed a common theme in conversations with friends, family members, patients, and community members across Mississippi.
The conversation usually starts the same way.
“My insurance went up again.”
“My copay has doubled.”
“I went to pick up my medicine and had to leave it at the pharmacy.”
“I simply can’t afford it anymore.”
As a physician, those conversations are frustrating because many of these medications aren’t optional. They are medicines people need to control their blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, heart disease, depression, and other chronic conditions.
Yet more and more people are finding themselves in a position where they have health insurance but still can’t afford healthcare.
Think about that for a moment.
You pay monthly insurance premiums. You pay deductibles. You pay copays. Then you go to the pharmacy and discover the medication your doctor prescribed is going to cost far more than you expected. Suddenly, you’re standing at the counter trying to decide whether you can afford your medicine and your groceries.
No one should have to make that choice.
In rural Mississippi, where many families are already stretching every dollar, rising healthcare costs can hit especially hard. When the cost of housing, food, fuel, and utilities continues to increase, something eventually has to give. Too often, it’s healthcare.
People start skipping appointments. They delay lab work. They cut pills in half. They stretch medications longer than prescribed. Some simply leave prescriptions sitting at the pharmacy because they cannot afford to pick them up.
The problem is that chronic diseases do not take a break when our budgets get tight.
Blood pressure continues to rise.
Blood sugars remain elevated.
Heart disease progresses.
Health problems that could have been managed early become much more serious and much more expensive down the road.
We spend a lot of time talking about access to healthcare, and that’s important. But access means more than having an insurance card in your wallet.
Real access means being able to afford the care your doctor recommends. It means being able to pick up your prescription without worrying whether you’ll have enough money left over for gas or groceries.
As we continue discussing healthcare policy in Mississippi and across the country, I hope we spend more time listening to the people living these realities every day.
Because if hardworking families are paying for insurance but still cannot afford to use it, then we have to ask ourselves a difficult question:
What good is health insurance if you still can’t afford to use it?
Stay well,
Dr. Will
Enough said Dr. Carter, you are on target! These are very pressing issues, I too see them, especially in out elderly family members. We’re thanking God for old age but the reality is, how do we continue to meet our healthcare needs!!!