Making Medication Available to Everyone

As a young couple me and my husband decided we were ready to start a family. I was sure that things would go exactly as planned, but it turned out we had rough road ahead of us. We were both in college at the time and working full-time jobs, but we were still pretty tight on cash. We had insurance coverage. After a year of trying to get pregnant we began the process of testing to see if there was a reason I was not pregnant yet.

This social action is sponsored by: Sirum http://www.sirum.org/

Month after month of testing and tracking we figured out that I wasn’t ovulating, so the Doctor put me on Clomid. After a few months I was ecstatic to find out that I was pregnant. However, after a few short weeks I miscarried. I was devastated. After many tears were shed I began my next cycle of Clomid and again found out I was pregnant. This pregnancy ended in a miscarriage as well. I began to wonder if having babies was something my body was capable of.

Fast forward a few more months down the road. We decided to take a break from the Clomid and it’s crazy side effects and we were delighted to find out that miraculously I was pregnant. After some testing, my doctor told me that it seemed as if my body was not producing Progesterone, a crucial hormone during pregnancy. Without the correct levels, miscarriage was a certainty. He wrote me a prescription for Progesterone and sent me on my way. We headed to the pharmacy where they informed us that this medication was not covered by my insurance and that it would be $150 a week to have it filled, over the course of my pregnancy that was really going to add up. I was shocked. But, what choice did we have? It was pay that or lose our baby.

Millions of Americans are faced with problems like this daily, and are handling charges above and beyond what we faced at that time.  SIRUM is aware of this issue wants to make a change. $5 billion worth of drugs are wasted but unopened, unexpired medications can be donated rather than flushed down toilets, dumped in landfills, or burnt in incinerators. Using an innovative platform, SIRUM saves peoples’ lives by allowing health facilities, manufacturers, wholesalers, and pharmacies to donate unused medicine rather than destroy it. Because they make donation quick, easy, and free, most organizations not only save lives by donating their medications, but also save time and money over destruction which is often costly and time-consuming.

Do you or your loved ones struggle to afford medications? Join other Americans sharing their stories with Congress and telling them what it’s really like to have to skip or skimp on the medicine you need to live a healthy, productive life. On March 6, SIRUM will deliver these stories to Washington and demand more support for programs and policies that make medicine affordable for all.

You have until February 28th to share your story! Go here to tell them about your experience.