August 27, 2024
Baltimore Sun
Larry Zarzecki
Excerpt:
For more than a decade I have been learning how to cope with Parkinson’s disease, which hit me when I was 49 years old. This neurodegenerative disease impacts movement, coordination and cognition. It caused me to fall down a staircase, resulting in traumatic brain injury and spinal damage, requiring a long hospital stay where I had to learn how to walk and talk all over again.
Just as difficult has been the financial hit that came with the disease. As a retired police officer, I was comfortable but not wealthy. But all that changed, as I have had to pay for drugs that are essential for me to lead a decent life.
I am grateful for the prescription drugs that improve my symptoms. But at $2,700 a month, the cost has been nearly as traumatic as the disease itself. I ended up with my retirement account wiped out and I was also forced to give up my home.
The best news I have received in a long time came when President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in 2022. The IRA is generating major benefits for millions of Americans. Beginning in 2025, out-of-pocket costs on drugs will be capped at $2,000 a year for Medicare enrollees like me.”
Read the full op-ed at The Baltimore Sun.
