In 2002, my son, who has bipolar disorder, was being thrown off my insurance policy through work.
Then came the tricky business of getting medicaid or social supports for an adult child living at home...
the answer is always nope you keep paying for them in full forever, even when that means you might
not make your rent. I was paying $800 a month for his medications. Fortunately we found a special
program called Way Station (in Maryland), and those people knew what they were doing. With their
help, within 60-90 days they got him on public assistance for meds, doc visits, and even got him
public housing.... sadly we had reached a point where him living with me was not in his best interests...
bipolar can make its victims the most stubborn blockheads at times, where you cannot reason or argue,
and he was doing nothing but sitting and eating and gaining horrible weight amounts. Wouldn't take out
the trash or clean up at all after himself, left piles of pizza boxes and soda around, etc. Was really bad.
Way Station took him in, and taught him to be independent. Now, 13 years later, they have him in his
own apartment and much more independent. He works when he can (though sadly each time at some
point his condition gets the best of him and he ends up quitting because he can't do it anymore). But
he can now make the most of his life as is possible. He's really a good soul, with a loving heart, when
he is stable.
At that time, his medicines were almost as much as my rent, and I didn't make that much. It was a
nightmare.
I wish I'd known about Costco then, because I think there was one very close by. I worked 12 hour shifts
at the time in a restaurant, so I never went out to shop except for groceries... no money, energy, or time.
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