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Harley Sachs

Our health care system needs more transparency

retired professor and writer

When my wife, Ulla, had her stroke on Sept 4, 2014, the doctor gave us the verdict right then. He said: “Either she will die or she’ll be on 24-hour care the rest of her life. This is a tough thing to bring your wife in or your spouse and that’s what they tell you.”

My wife’s medical condition is expensive. She takes a long list of pharmaceutical drugs. I make a practice of charging everything to Discover because I get 1% cash back – that is my only compensation for paying these bills but they are significant. $165 one month, $240 another month and it adds up.

Our medical costs last year were $80,000. Our income is about $31,000, so obviously we’re going broke fast.

I do whatever I can to cut our health care costs. That includes asking for generics whenever I can and buying three-month’s supply at a time to save on the copay. I am a veteran, so I have the benefit of getting care from the VA. God bless the VA.

"Our medical costs last year were $80,000."