hi (just gonna say this is v specific & outside the scope of a petsite but i've literally contacted almost every human/agency/medical related position/charity i can think of lol so looking for other advice??)! so long story short (i had to quit my retail job & stop applying to grad schools for occupational therapy in ~May 2017 bc unable to walk & intense insane pain from my ankles up to my jaw, simply unable to be a human; live with parent bc otherwise i'd be homeless; zillions of dr appts & ER visit (2.5 years) later i was finally directed to rheumatology where i'm a Mystery™ (even now lol)! was allergic to 2 meds, then Enbrel ended up working for me (re: being generally good 4/7 days and the remaining 3 i kinda work around whatever bothers me, i.e. just not using my left hand at all etc.). so, great, Enbrel gave me my life back!

while my Health Mystery™ took away my life, Enbrel is keeping me away from life. i wasn't aware disability was an option in this situation (i couldn't think properly for years bc pain was so distracting & parent was in shock i think), i'd ask drs "how do people work like this???" and they would just sad smile and move on.. so this whole time i've been without any income. right at the start of the pandemic, after it was clear i wasn't allergic to Enbrel, i was searching for work but had trouble because of my work history gap and the obvious lack of hiring due to pandemic; now the cost is barring me from doing anything.

Enbrel is $7,000 (rounded up) for 4 sureclick pens and it is a weekly injection = $7,000 every 4 weeks (*aware of and had the Enbrel copay card which is enough to order ONCE and less than half of a second time... lol). there's no way i can ever afford that, not even once. right now i'm on nj medicaid where it's $0 and/but min wage jobs in current times put you above what you're allowed to earn to be on it and well, that's not livable either way. which leads to my current problem and i've spoken to tons of people in the proper fields (patient financial advisor, medicaid, etc.) and they can't help ("oh shop around for insurance!" -- that's great, i can't afford to and if i'm working first, i lose the medicaid and therefore my ability to get Enbrel so i lose the ability to walk and ???).

i would love to know if anyone here has been in a similar situation/any advice! bc i'm losing my fucking mind.

OMG! that's one expensive medication! o.o and the system there is messed up :( Is that the price without medicaid?

Is there any way for you to freelance? Webdesign, animation, or coding, are niches where you can get paid at least 50usd/hour and this would allow you to buy your medication. it's indeed not a stable job, but if you're good at it. Or any other niche - as long as you're good at what you do, and you always deliver what you promised, you can easily charge this amount.

@/ innamoramento that's what i was charged until i went on medicaid, yes x______x it just feels like i'm missing something unless everyone ends up like me and is doomed lol.

it sucks bc there are generics of Enbrel ready to be sold cheaper but Enbrel's patent is continually extended (31 years of exclusivity = until 2029 atm lol 💀 ) & it blocks them for sale because they are biosimilar :( blah. [sub]oh.... "Enbrel generated $5 billion in sales last year, 20% of Amgen's revenue" - bloomberg [/sub] gotta cling to that 5b/year!!

this entire paragraph is me ovethinking lol: i'm def leaning towards teaching myself (more than the basics) in those areas you mentioned due to my forever physical limitations (+ w my bachelor's in psychology, none of the entry level career paths would allow me to afford Enbrel even at 80/20 insurance coverage*). i'd still likely be be on medicaid & capped at around 1k a month unless i end up making 94k (enbrel) + being able to live haha 😭 with my prior-to-medicaid insurance(s - 2 companies) * it was 7k + didn't count towards deductible nor out of pocket* (lollll). idk how to get to a place where it's sustainable - i can't do nothing forever but i can't be without the treatment or i can't Human™ again. also re: resistant to the ~1k/month thing bc something is better than nothing ofc: super scared for the future, always always worrying about that.

tldr: worst system for sure!!

I have no idea how much a psychologist can charge, but you sound qualified enough to offer some paid counseling. You might need a license to practice, maybe a business license as well - i'm not sure. What i do know is that people do need counselors/therapists/psychologists (or whatever other denomination there is, under which you can practice).

Writing psychology-related articles, as a ghost writer could also bring you the $50/hour wage i mentioned.

Is there any way you could buy Erelzi instead? or is blocked because of that patent?

masters degree required for that along with some other things, yes x) someday once Enbrel no longer holds its patent & me hostage lol. but psych articles!! i was a research assistant for course credit & my entire degree was research based with a thesis at the end (my thesis was on why people don't get help when they need it!!!!) so really interesting idea :) keeping a list of all these for once i get my rheumatologist situation figured out...

Erelzi is the one blocked for sale 😭 it went to the supreme court this year i think & they still upheld Enbrel having the patent lol.

thank you for talking this out with me, i really appreciate it! ❤