One of our daughters used to be really sick when she was an infant up until when she was nearly 4 years old with asthma.  I would take her for regular well child visits with her pediatrician as well as when she was really ill.  Her asthma was such that I took her to see a pulmonologist on a regular basis and she was on up to 6 different medications, especially when she was sick.

Last winter, I remember driving to our local pharmacy to pick up some medications our daughters' pulmonologist had just prescribed and it was a really cold night, it had been snowing heavily so I decided to use the drive-through instead.  I was waiting for the Pharmacist to fill the prescription when I saw and heard a father at the counter inside asking the assistant to re-check if the price for the medication for his child was correct.  I could see the total amount from the window outside on the register which was $415.  I was shocked by this amount and I wondered what kind of medicine could be so expensive.  What was even more heart-breaking for me was hearing this father pleading and saying "please is there any way I could take all 3 medicines.  My child has very bad asthma and she is not breathing very well.  I need this medicine to help her breathe and become healthy again."  This father was in the end able to take 2 of the medicines for $185 and the only difference between us was the fact that I had health insurance so I only had to pay the co-payment of $7 for each of the medicines I was picking up.

I was really curious though about how much it would cost my family if we did not have health insurance coverage so as soon as I returned home, I looked through and added the total amounts for the 6 prescriptions for our daughter and it would have costed my husband and I just over $2,000 per month for her medications if we did not have health insurance. This amount did not take into account other health costs for the other 3 members of our family.

Here in Michigan, the latest numbers we have of the total number of children who have no heatlh insurance is 172,000 kids and this is the number from 2007.  The actual number in 2010 with the high unemployment rate, recession  and increasing poverty is much higher.  I count myself lucky to be in a situation where I do not have to worry about health insurance but I wish more could be done to ensure all children in Michigan are healthy and able to see a doctor for well child visits, when they are sick and that their parents are able to pay for the medicines the kids need to assist them get healthy and develop to their fullest potential!