US federal worker unable to pay for insulin due to partial government shutdown

[DCUK NewsBot]

A US worker at the Department of Interior says she cannot afford to pay for her insulin because of the partial government shutdown gripping the country. US Government worker Mallory Lorge, who has type 1 diabetes, said she has not been paid one month's salary because of the shutdown. The partial shutdown is now in its 24th day, which has left 800,000 public sector workers without pay during this time. Parts of the government have closed in response to the dispute with Congress over funding for President Donald Trump's wall along the southern border. Speaking to NBC, the 31-year-old said: "It's like being held hostage. I've been a federal employee for six years, and I love it. I don't get paid much, but I love working for the American people. That the government has put us in this position is like a punch in the gut." Ms Lorge said she cannot afford to go to hospital if her blood glucose levels rise too high, and she is having to ration her insulin. "When it gets that high you can go into diabetic ketoacidosis, you can go into a coma. I can't afford to go to the [emergency room]. I can't afford anything. I just went to bed and hoped I'd wake up," she said. Mallory has just two vials of insulin left in her fridge and is trying to get by on as little as possible. In the US, insulin needs to be bought, either out of pocket or through health insurance. The price of insulin has been rising to an extent to which some people cannot afford it, a long-running issue in the US for a number of years. There remains no word on how much longer the government shut down is set to continue.

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[Deleted member 308541]

Oh the joys of living where the POTUS is fixated to holding the country to ransom so he can build a wall to keep a few Mexicans out.

He does not give a daffy about his fellow Americans, whether they are getting something from food banks, or have no medication and start dying in the streets.

 

[kitedoc]

Where are the food stamps etc? Sorry you do not qualify? Where are the AMA and ADA? Sitting on their behinds in splendid indifference? The possible answers for some needing insulin: Diabetes associations, charities and if it can be believe it, the occasional offer of help from Big Pharma.
Aren't we glad not to live there, but I really feel for those caught up in such insanity.
There was a time when the US were involved in massive airlifts to resupply Germans with food at and after the end of WW2.
That dwarfs the amount needed now to keep persons in the US supplied with life-maintaining medication.
Cynical POTUS victory speech as fake news:
Eye got ma wall. Took x days to hold out for it, (and how many diabetics was it ???)

 

[Deleted member 308541]

Where are the AMA and ADA? Sitting on their behinds in splendid indifference? The possible answers for some needing insulin: Diabetes associations, charities and if it can be believe it, the occasional offer of help from Big Pharma.

They probably do not have any cash reserves to fund free medication to everyone including non diabetics.

 

[Guzzler]

Sorry to all our N.American members but Trump is putting lives in serious danger, he has become a menace.
In the land of Milk and Honey how is it possible that this poor soul finds herself in such a dire position?

 

[Guzzler]

We don't have a national health service in this land of opportunity

We in the UK can sometimes sound ungrateful when we complain about our NHS, it has celebrated 70+ years so very few people remember what it was like before a free at the point of access health care system was available to all. I, for one, will try to remember in future that if I had to think twice before seeing a doctor due to lack of funds I would be in dire straits too.

 

[Robinredbreast]

Sorry to all our N.American members but Trump is putting lives in serious danger, he has become a menace.
In the land of Milk and Honey how is it possible that this poor soul finds herself in such a dire position?

Trump, was always a menace ................. poor woman, to have her life put at risk, is unacceptable