01/06/2026
A 22-year-old in Wisconsin couldn’t afford his asthma inhaler after the price reportedly jumped from $66 to $539 overnight. Faced with rent and basic survival costs, he chose housing over medication. Five days later, he died.
Asthma is a highly treatable condition. But treatment only works if patients can actually access their medication. In the U.S., drug pricing, insurance gaps, and sudden cost spikes routinely force people into impossible choices — even when the medicine itself has existed for decades.
This is what happens when healthcare functions like a luxury instead of a necessity.
