I'm 30. I make ~$120K/year. My medical insurance for myself and my wife (28) is $650/month through United Healthcare (pretax). My company picks up the other portion. We are both in good health and have few issues. This is a $2500/year deductible plan per person (so not high deductible, which was only about $100/month cheaper, but had an extremely high deductible). So, now the background is done.

My mother lives in Indiana. She is disabled, but has not been approved for disability yet. And I don't mean NPR's version of disabled, I mean she is physically incapable of working due to medical issues. She is on Medicaid (Hoosiercare I believe its called). Even with Hoosiercare (state subsidized insurance), I pay for between $500-800 month for her medications. These are co-pays, not the full amount. I have even considered inventorying her medication and ordering it in bulk from Canada.

If I was not lucky enough to make the salary I make, be in good health, and have somewhat affordable health insurance, there is absolutely no way my mother would be able to afford her prescriptions. She requires these prescriptions to survive.

I hate living in the US, and I was born here.