A lot of folk I know have been up in arms about the young woman, 19, who died because her asthma medication was too expensive. It is a tragedy. No one should die for lack of medication that is readily available. (Side note, I read she had meds but chose not to take it because she wanted to save it for when she really needed it and died before she got to the hospital.)
But all of the commentary is aimed at CEOs of big corporations who are only after money. They charge exorbitant rates because people will try to find a way to pay it. Lots of people calling for big corporations to be responsible and reasonable with their actions.
Sounds good to me. Sounds downright perfect.
Except, at the same time, we aren’t holding the average man/woman responsible for their choices.
Take this young woman, from what I read, she lived in the UK, where asthma medication can cost between 100-500 dollars a year. (yes, I know they have pounds there, monetary conversion done for you.) That’s between 8.35 and 41.47 a month for inhalers, I assume the variation is based on how many you go through.
So if you need an inhaler to live, that puts it in the category of housing and food, right?
If you can’t afford your meds, you must not have any disposable income, everything must be going to higher priority needs like roof and food?
But she clearly had disposable income. Dyed hair. Eyelash extensions. All lovely things that are not NEEDS. At some point she chose to spend her disposable money on those things rather than her medication.
How can we demand boards of directors and CEOs act reasonably and responsibly, dare we say with civic interest at heart, when we don’t hold people accountable for their choices. Big corps are run by people. People with money, but people none the less.
I can’t help but feel as a society we need to look at the choices we make and take responsibility for them, or we have no chance at getting people who are more interested in profit than people, to do the same.
T.A. Henry 