Hello! My name is Kaye Peterson, I am 66 years old, from Lebanon, Kentucky, and am a retired librarian. 

I am a patient living with a few medical conditions, which have caused me to experience high cost prescription drugs. In 1983, I was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. In 2016, I survived a heart attack which followed with a diagnosis of polyneuropathy in 2024. 

Currently, I am blessed to have Anthem Medicare advantage (MA)  insurance coverage but I worry that if I’m hospitalized, MA won’t cover the bill. And since I have multiple health issues, I’d have to pass a physical exam to revert back to regular Medicare, which is so skewed against me.  Additionally, if Congress guts the Inflation Reduction Act and the Affordable Care Act, I’ll lose the $35 insulin price. 

Even with good insurance coverage, prescription drug prices are still ridiculously high for patients who need them, including me if I had to pay out of pocket. The current medications I am on are Lispro for $639.59 and Lantus for $649.75, both of which I pay $35 per vial, and Midodrine for $185.99 which is completely covered. Furthermore, I have to use a rollator, because of my neuropathy and balance issues, and I now live in an assisted living facility — which has been a good move for me. This being said, a minor change in my insurance could leave me with soaring out-of-pocket costs. Thus, I believe in lower prescription drug prices because I am way too tired to have to continue asking this question: 

“How many people have to continue to die because they can’t afford their insulin and inhalers?”