COVID-19 costs kicking us when we’re down

My household (consisting of myself and my husband Scott) has been extremely lucky since COVID-19 started spreading in 2020. 

Throughout the years, we’ve each had head colds or coughs, taken an at-home COVID-19 rapid test, and breathed a sigh of relief at the one line indicating a “negative” status each time. 

But over this past Labor Day weekend, my husband started to feel ill. Things got more serious when he started running a fever and then came the dreaded results from his COVID-19 test: positive.  

Friends and family members immediately advised him to check with his doctor to see if he qualified for Paxlovid, a medication that can stop the virus from causing serious complications and hospitalization. He indeed qualified for the drug, and a prescription was sent to CVS from a doctor.  

When I arrived to pick up the medication, since Scott could barely get out of bed at that point, I ran into roadblocks immediately. Our Marketplace Health Plan covered $1,000 – meaning we’d need to pay more than $400 out of pocket for Paxlovid. Despite the CVS pharmacist calling Pfizer herself to discuss a path to a more affordable option, all roads inevitably led back to that ridiculously high price tag. 

I was ready to pay, if necessary, but my husband decided it wasn’t worth it. His oxygen levels never dropped when he was sick, and he said his experience with COVID-19 felt like a bad cold.  

While I could have coughed up hundreds of dollars for the medication in a pinch, the experience left me even more disillusioned than I already am with the healthcare system and insurance scams in this country. I feel brokenhearted for the many Americans out there who have a prescription for a drug that could help save their lives within reach, but cannot afford it, with or without insurance.  

Scott and I will continue our annual tradition of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and the flu. We both believe in the science behind vaccinations and are thankful that being vaccinated likely saved Scott from having a much worse experience with COVID-19.