I get a fully-loaded Toyota Camry injected into my arm every other month

Well…I get an injection of an immunotherapy drug worth that much, at least.

The idea is that this treatment will prevent a recurrence of my lymphoma. My blood cancer is considered treatable, but not curable. It could be worse, certainly. I will likely die with this lymphoma — not from it. I even managed to train for (and complete) the NYC Marathon last year, while going through chemo.

I get 12 treatments over the course of two years. That’s a grand total of $376,188 (not counting last-year’s chemo and immunotherapy). I have good insurance, but this is still costing me about $3600 a year, out of pocket. I can afford that quite nicely, fortunately — I work for a really generous employer. But more than half of all bankruptcies in the US happen because of medical emergencies and the ensuing bills. One of the people on my lymphoma Facebook group is facing eviction even now.

And what about all of the tens or hundreds of thousands of Americans who are falling victim to covid-19? In many cases, insurance companies are covering all out-of-pocket expenses, but not…