Thinking about health care and wondering how some folks navigate it all on-line, and what if they don’t? And, of course, who is shut out by cost?

            I’m about to head over to Fern Hill Medical Campus to have a couple of needles poked into my spine. Once there they will release something the doctor hopes will end my back pain. If not, then we will go to next steps, whatever those are.

            It has me thinking….I did all of my check-in, on-line, through the Penn Medicine Portal. That seems to be the way these days. I checked all the boxes, e-signed all the forms and when I had gone through all the pages, submitted it. The other day I did the same, on my phone, for Connie’s counseling appointment. Her counselor’s site is not user-friendly. Every visit we are treated as a new patient so every blank has to be filled in.

            So, what am I thinking? What do people who don’t have technology do? And what do people who may have technology, but are not particularly versed in it or have something getting in the way of easy use….what do they do? I am guessing they are mainly low income or elderly. Or, both. What do they do? Should it be this hard?

            I’m going to go see my GP in a couple of weeks. We are going to talk about Wegovy or one of the other weight-loss drugs for people with health issues and who are ready to admit they just don’t have the discipline to lose weight without help. I have joint problems, hence the needles getting stuck in my spine. I have a left knee that may need replacing. Weight does not help. My glucose is on the edge of pre-diabetic. The doctor and I will talk about whether any of my conditions will allow for an Rx that will be covered by health insurance. Medicare in my case.

            If not, the monthly costs for these drugs are staggering. Which brings me back to our obesity problem in this country. The majority of adults are too fat. But, obesity tends to hit hardest at lower income levels. Parents trying to stretch a dollar, or food stamps, often are left without healthy choices. There are other reasons for obesity, of course. In my case boredom, nervous eating.

            But it strikes me as sad that when we finally have drugs that could help turn the tide on obesity, cost turns away those who probably need them the most. Take Wegovy.  In the US the list price is $1,349, more than four times higher than Germany’s $328 list price. Take Ozempic. The average cost in the US, for one month, is $936. The highest costs overseas is $169 in Japan, going down to $83 in France. The fattest nation? The US.

            Go figure. 

            Rich Heiland is a retired journalist and semi-retired consultant, trainer and public speaker. During his journalism career he was a reporter, editor, publisher, college instructor, part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team and a National Newspaper Association Columnist of the Year honoree. He also writes the intodementia.com blog about his family’s experience with dementia. He lives in West Chester, PA and can be reached at [email protected].