Patient Testimonies | February 5, 2022
My name is Emily Grant and I’m from Dallas, Texas. I’m 25 years old and a cystic fibrosis (CF) patient. I was diagnosed as a newborn, and have lived with this chronic illness my entire life. I deal with the financial and personal hardships as best as I can.
I want to be able to function like a normal 25 year old, work full time as a speech pathologist and plan for the future with my husband. But I worry because my lung function is roughly 50% of what it should be, and I am needing more and more medications to attempt to keep my lungs stable. We spend about half our monthly income on covering health care costs now, and I’m only going to need more medications as my cystic fibrosis progresses.
I am on an array of medication to manage my cystic fibrosis and the complications from it. These include costly enzyme medications, inhalants, vitamins, and insulin for my CF-related diabetes. A year and a half ago, I got a blood clot in my lungs, and I was prescribed Eliquis. I have coverage under my parents now, but I do have to meet my max out of pocket, which is $6,650. I usually hit it in only a few months because the costs are high.
When I once fell into the coverage gap, I had to pay $1000 up front for a necessary inhaled antibiotic, Colistin. $1000 is an outrageous cost, and I know that if something happens to my coverage, I could suddenly be faced with this cost again. I was also prescribed Novolog to treat my diabetes, but my insurance refused to pay for it because they deemed it “too expensive.” If I had tried to buy it myself, it would have been upwards of $600. I am now on Humalog instead.
New drugs are always coming from drug corporation Vertex and the CF community is very excited. But people are having to claw their way through insurance to get the drugs they need. The financial side of having CF is one of the hardest things to deal with, because I have to deal with not only what my body is doing to itself, but I also have to pay to stop what it’s doing.
Patients need more affordable medications. Texans need more affordable medications, and they deserve to have legislators who support lowering these outrageous prices.
Pete Sessions has taken hundreds of thousands from drug corporations and has put lining his pockets ahead of patient interests. We need to stop supporting Sessions and vote for legislators who aren’t motivated by Big Pharma money.