We don't. Seriously, we die.

My employer sends out a sheet every year that itemizes our entire comp package.

The single most expensive is my insurance, a family EPO with a $750/1500 deductible.

I pay $8200/yr. My employer pays nearly $33,000.

Forty. Thousand. Dollars. For one family.

Plus another $10k or so for Medicare and Dental and Vision.

$50k, per year, all told.

That is equal to roughly half of the median household income in my town.

And then deductibles, co-pays, etc.

And then...the fuckers...you put money in your FSA but can't locate the receipt for reimbursement? Fuck off man, that money is for your employer now.

Our President is fucking children with zero consequence, and I need to show a fucking receipt to reimburse a fucking $3 prescription, with my own money that I put there.

After myself and my employer already paid $50k combined into the system?

Fuck this country man.

Edit to add: the fsa thing is a perfect example of what's wrong with this fucking country. Put your money into a special account dog-eared for medical expenses, and in order to use it, you have to submit a receipt for every fucking thing. If you don't drain it by the end of the year the money disappears (actually goes back to your employer for them to do whatever they want with).

What's with all the hubbub about receipts and documentation? To prevent fraud. The contribution limit for FSA for 2026 is $3,400. My tax bracket ($103,351 to $197,300) is 24%.

So, at most, I could defraud the government out of...$816.

Is it worth whatever we pay for that bureaucracy, to prevent the possibility that a middle-income family might defraud the government out of up to $816?

My reimbursements were all hand-audited...they have different comments all meaning the same thing. Including a $3.00 copay one. Which, If my math is correct, would be 72¢ of taxpayer money that I may be stealing.

Somebody spent time at work, not even at a government job but at the FSA facilitator, reviewing my paperwork and denying my claim, because I might be defrauding the government out of the cash equivalent of one half of a candy bar.

What. The. Fuck.

So my employer gets to keep my $3.

Why can't I just get a check minus income tax due for the balance?

Why can't I just get the claim reimbursed minus income tax?

Mind you, I'm not potentially defrauding the government. This is my money that I put in, pre-tax, that they are keeping me from spending, over an amount of money that couldn't even get a bouncy-ball out of a dollar-store vending machine.

@CatDogL0ver@lemmy.world yo I take the same stuff and was shocked at how much it is, but I found they have a discount card on the manufacturer website that brings it down to $10. https://us.trintellix.com/savings-support/savings-card

I'm supposed to be on at least 12 different medications. I probably need four of them. I get one. Sometimes. 🙃

Get on a bus to evil Canada.

this drug is $55 for 30 day supply at Costco Canada.

sorry, $55CDN, so under 40 Eagle Feathers.

We have busloads of old ladies from The Greatest Country on Earth™ stocking up every day.

Americans: "This medicine costs more than my paycheck... I bet Jack Daniel's will work just fine!"

Hahahahaha. That's the fun part - we don't!

We go without, and if that would kill us it does

We don't, that's the neat part! 🙃

This is fucked, of course. That is one of the new generation of antidepressants, but it isn’t radically different than some others that would be less expensive. If it’s the one you need to be on because it works, see if a GoodRX coupon reduces that.

If that med isn’t for sure helping, there are cheaper options your pdoc should work with you to find. Your prescription coverage sucks ass if this is the cost of Trintellix, but you know that. We are a cesspool of a country.

Don’t ask me what my specialty med costs. It’s exponents of this.

we dont

Well don't worry, every other aspect of our lives is nickel and dimed (or hundred dollared and thousand dollared if you wanna be honest about it) too!

Literally every single thing. And it gets worse every single year! Then they wanna talk about "liberating" other countries its so fucking ridiculous.

43€ in the Netherlands if paid out of pocket

Is this from the trump launched medicine website?

Psh, that’s nothing. I’ve got an injectable med I need to take every 3 months. My insurance covers it, thank fucking christ - because unadjusted, it costs over $20,000 per dose. No, I’m not kidding, or exaggerating. Yes, I was absolutely disgusted when I learned that.

I've had a little bit of success with costplus. The site borderline looks like a scam with how much mark cuban has plastered his name across it, but the prices for some stuff w/o insurance are cheaper than I can get them with insurance at pharmacies.

But, capitalism bro!

That's absolutely insane pricing.

I take the exact same medication (sadly there's no generic), and with my insurance it comes out to $175 for a 90 day supply.

What is your pharmacy benefits manager? I had the hardest time when my health insurance used OptumRX (they can go the way of Mamma the Mia for all I care) as they refused to pay out for 6 months until all the hoops were jumped through.

holy shit. i was getting the same medication for free 😭

Go to GoodRx and see if you can get a coupon

We don't. Thanks Nixon. Thanks Ehrlichman. Thanks Kaiser. And thanks Hilary too. Even Obama was helpful to the scheme.

Even when you have an affordable prescription good luck getting it filled. I've been waiting over a week and Walgreen's is still fucking around with it. I've been out the last two days and starting to get withdrawl symptoms. Luckily its nothing I need to survive but going unplanned cold turkey is not healthy.

Cost plus drugs dot com

You have to work to get decent insurance. If you don't work and you are Ill then you can die. 😘

For the people that don't understand, that's not a statement in support of our bullshit healthcare or how tied you get to jobs in order to afford care.