Health & Fitness
Why One Single Mom Calls The GoodRx App "A Blessing In Our Lives"
Kiara says she "couldn't believe or wrap my head around" the savings she was able to get on her prescription medications.
For many people in America, paying for health care can be a challenge. Some folks have insurance with extremely high out-of-pocket costs, and others don't have health insurance at all. Being unable to afford care or the medications you need is a grim reality for many. Kiara, a single mother of two who recently moved to Texas, found herself in a similar situation — that is, until she was introduced to GoodRx.
“When my son was 4 years old, his father passed away, and we went from two incomes to one income,” says Kiara. “And I hadn't really dealt with that type of struggle before.”
In order to manage the “mental angst” of losing someone so close to her, Kiara was prescribed anxiety and depression medications. However, she soon learned that the bill for these prescriptions was significantly higher than what she could afford.
“I think I was working at the YMCA at the time making about $8 an hour, and surely $8 an hour for a single mother is not enough to be able to afford health insurance,” she recalls. “My son was able to get it [insurance assistance] being a child, but as an adult, I was just left to kind of fend for myself.”
Frustrated about her inability to afford these necessary medications, Kiara vented to a friend, who (thankfully) told her about the GoodRx app.
Admittedly, Kiara was skeptical at first. “The price difference was just something that I couldn't believe or wrap my head around,” she says. “I would have medications that were $150, and they would go down to $9.99.” (GoodRx users in 2020 saved an average of 79% off retail prices.)
But once Kiara saw how much she could save on her prescriptions using GoodRx, she never looked back.
“I'm going to be honest with you, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have GoodRx,” she says. “I don't really know how I would have been able to cope, especially through some of the anxiety and depression and things like that. I could never be able to afford those medications.”
Before using GoodRx, Kiara found herself in a position where she couldn’t afford health insurance, but she also didn’t qualify for any assistance.
“I'm literally doing everything that I possibly can, and sometimes you just don't make the mark,” she explains. “You make too much — not sure how — to receive any type of assistance, but you don’t make enough. If you pay for health insurance through your job, you're literally going to be spending your whole check just on medical insurance.”
Fortunately, GoodRx has helped her fill that gap.
“There's still hope for people that don't have insurance, you have assurance. The assurance of GoodRx and having the possibility to even budget it out,” she says. “And even if I couldn't get it right then, I know that it's there.”
Kiara is aware that many people in her community are in the same boat as her when it comes to affording their health care. That’s why she takes every chance she gets to spread the word about GoodRx.
“There's a lot of people neglecting their health. And I feel like if it's something so simple, like an app, I think that people need to hear about that,” she says. “People need to know that they have options that they can completely rely on.”
When it comes to her family, Kiara describes them as “a trio that loves to explore and try new things.” She’s thankful to GoodRx for allowing her to make her health a priority — for both her own sake and for her family’s.
“Being a single mom, I mean, it's just me. And the assurance that you need, in some of the smallest areas, the areas that nobody ever thinks about, it's your kids, but it's also you,” she explains. “You want to make sure that you're taken care of, because you don't want to leave them behind.”
Now that Kiara can rely on GoodRx for her health care needs, she spends less time worrying and more time exploring her new home of Texas with her kids, doing “anything that can make you laugh, smile and feel good.”
For anyone struggling to afford health insurance or looking to save on medications, GoodRx is here to help. “For a lot of people it's just an app,” Kiara says of the GoodRx app. “But it's our way of being able to receive what we need or not. It has definitely been a blessing in our lives for sure.”
