Posted on 02/12/2018 5:44:03 PM PST by Armen Hareyan
Texas teacher named Heather Holland, aged 38, died of complications from the flu after she decided to give up medical treatment because she considered the 116 dollar Tamiflu "too expensive." The complications from flu-like disease led a 38-year-old teacher to the hospital where she died after a septic shock. The cost of the medicine that was prescribed is $116.
Heather Holland, of Weatherford, Texas, reportedly fell ill last Monday and two days later was diagnosed with the flu. According to Fox News, doctors prescribed Tamiflu, an antiviral drug that costs approximately $116.
However, according to a statement by Holland's husband...
(Excerpt) Read more at emaxhealth.com ...
I’ve had the flu more than once. I’ve never taken Tamiflu. If I had it again, would I take Tamiflu? Not likely. Would I even go to the doctor? Not likely unless I thought I had pneumonia.
>> I thought Obamacare was supposed to fix this.
Before the ACA, I was paying 1050/month, 600/1200 deductibles, discounted generic meds, $20 copay office visits, $50 copay specialist visit.
Today, I’m paying 1400/month, 7500/15,000 deductibles, full price on everything until $15k deductible is met.
That’s Obamacare fix the Democrat Thug Party created. And the scumbags boast they “saved” my family.
>> 2nd: Do you think a flu medication should cost 116 dollars?
For families paying $18k/year for health insurance, there should be a copay.
I’ve noticed this on myself and the new doctor my wife saw freely said the same to her, without my prompting.
Reading all the comments on here... and it’s ridiculous to be discussing her “lack of wisdom” in not paying for the med. These comments assume that it is effective. Tamiflu is practically worthless. It would not have saved her life. Has anyone else bothered to read the studies on it??? Take vitamin D and zinc and you’ll be far better off.
Used to have good insurance, after Obama the premiums in our district skyrocketed. To cover a family of four it now costs over $1000 a month with a deductible of $5000. That's a quarter of the take home pay.
Well, you have a choice.
A. It can cost $116 and be available whenever you need it and can pay, or
B. It can cost $10, but not ever be found in the pharmacy because making & selling it loses money.
Just to help you with your decision, in Venezeula they have chosen B for most goods.
Current US population is 327 million. Life expectancy is nearly 79. That means approx 4 million people die each year. Just about 80,000 per week.
If someone is at death's door and catches the flu, the death will be blamed on the flu, even if they only had 2 more weeks without the flu...
Had the flew 3 weeks ago. 104 temp 2nd day. Didn’t move for 4 days. Miserable. I can afford the cost of Tamiflu and the Dr copay. Just didn’t want to move much less get dressed and go somewhere. It was brutal. Sickest I’ve ever been.
Knew people were dropping from the flu more than normal so I force fed myself and drank massive amounts of fluids. In retrospect I should have gone to the Dr.
Condolences to that fam.
In my own case(non-smoker, in my 60's) over the years I have occasionally had what I thought was just a bad head cold, but the last 10 years or so, I seem to get that and then follow up moderate lung congestion* that is just a devil to get completely rid of -- it slowly goes away over a period of up to a month. *The congestion is not enough to make me think I need to see a Dr., but it is annoying, tiring, and does slow me down a bit. Is it possible those were not "colds" and I was suffering from some sort of mild pneumonia afterward?
Golly, at least 30-40% of the people my wife and I know have had something “more than” just a cold. Granted that I think there are a whole variety of respiratory bugs about - not just flu.
What did doctors prescribe before there was Tamiflu?
I had this flu the second week of January. I wanted to die. There we’re three days where I remember nothing. I slept. Awful.
She probably spent her last $1,000 on a new iPhone.
She had insurance. A lot of insurance plans regard Tamiflu as a Tier 2 drug, IOW you pay the co-pay, not all of it out of pocket unless there’s an issue with a deductible.
There’s a good chance that the doctor prescribed Tamiflu, rather then the less costly generic, because he gets kickbacks from the drug maker.
http://www.fda.news/2017-03-08-65-of-doctors-are-getting-cash-kickbacks-from-big-pharma.html
I have a couple of my own:
As a teacher, doesn't she have insurance? If her husband works, doesn't he have insurance?
For whatever reasons, she made the choice to not take the flu shot so blaming her death on the prohibitive cost of the drug is ridiculous
Keep hearing it’s the worst in a long time and have seen a lot of folks with some nasty stuff that has turned into pneumonia, but Tamiflu seems to be reasonable when one measure the value of one’s life - plus there are cheaper versions of it if the “doctors” would prescribe the generics...Both the wife and I had something that lasted a couple weeks and we spent close to $116.00 on OTC symptom relievers (lots of Mucinex to keep the lungs clear and other ache/pain relievers) because pneumonia is a natural follow-on to many illnesses and ends up being the killer if one doesn’t take proper precautions.
She could have been a private (for example, catholic grammar school) school. They have crappy insurance if they have it at all.
But, if a person cannot come up with $116 for Tamiflu, they should be on Medicare/Medicaid.
People who do not advocate for themselves will find themselves dead.
Plus...there is not a hospital in the country that would have turned her away in an unstable condition.
The flu causes septic shock by settling in the lungs. It then infects the blood system.
It is akin to getting septic shock from something like a urinary tract infection (probably the most common cause.)
One does not usually get that kind of infection at a hospital. Staph and MRSA are the common hospital killers.
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