My dad's 1990s insulin price receipts are unreal compared to today
Found a box of my dad's old papers from Akron, and his monthly insulin cost $22 back in 1994, now the same stuff runs me $340 with insurance. Has anyone else dug up old medical bills and just sat there stunned at the difference?
My mom's old receipts from 1994 in Columbus show her asthma inhaler was $8. I just picked up the same one last week and it was $142 after my insurance discount. It makes me so mad because we aren't getting better care or newer medicine, it's literally the same exact drug. My husband found his grandmother's hospital bill from 1988 and the whole stay was less than one of our monthly premiums now. I spent two hours on the phone last month arguing with the pharmacy about a $60 copay that used to be $15. It's like the whole system just decided to squeeze every last penny out of regular folks who don't have any other choice. I keep every receipt now just so I can show my kids someday how crazy this all got.
The part about keeping receipts for your kids hit me, @nelson.vera. That's the real thing nobody talks about. My grandfather kept a shoebox of every bill he ever paid, and going through it after he died was like a time machine. Same price tags, same drugs, but the math was just different back then. It's not even inflation, it's a choice someone made. Your kids are gonna look at that $142 and think you're exaggerating, and that's the saddest part.