One of the many shocks to my system after my heart attack has been the cost of medications. Because my new job (at which I can’t work for at least 2-3 months) has a six-month waiting period for insurance, I have to foot the bill entirely myself, at least until I can get MediCal approved. Now most of the meds are in the $8.99 to $12.99 a month range (and if I change pharmacies will likely go lower). But one, Plavix – which I must take to prevent clotting around the stent in my Left Anterior Descending artery – doesn’t go quite so cheap. No, this medication, which essentially is to keep me alive and keep my stent from blocking and causing another heart attack, runs a whopping $175 a month.

Did I mention I can’t work?

Disability insurance has been applied for, but it’s gonna take awhile for that to kick in. Nevertheless, the total for all my medications right now, the ones I need to get back to some semblance of health, is about $235, give or take a buck or two. On $0 income.

So, I’m scrambling to figure out how to pay for medications I need to stay around to take care of my 9-year-old. Then I see this:

From the TheAtlanticWire.com:

John Hammergren, the CEO of health-care giant McKesson Corp., made $46 million last year thanks to one of the most generous executive pay packages in his, or any other business. Gary Rivlin of The Daily Beast has a breakdown of some of the outrageous provisions that contribute to Hammergren’s outrageous wealth including some figures that at least one compensation consultant calls “excessive.” When someone whose job is to craft multi-million dollar pay packages for corporate CEOs thinks you’re overpaid, you’re probably overpaid.

This guy made – last year – $1.66 million, plus another $10 million in bonuses, in cash. Plus unlimited use of the corporate jet, limo and chaffeur, and a pension plan that the rank and file don’t get (they lost their pension plan in 1997).

And here’s a real kicker – if the company is sold, he gets $469 million. Doesn’t matter why it’s sold, what condition the company is in. If it’s sold, he gets an immediate payout.

Meanwhile, little old me is back here trying to figure out how to pay for medications to keep me from ending up back in the hospital. And feed my kid. And pay my rent, etc.

I know that R&D on medicine is expensive, and the company has to recoup that cost and make money. Something tells me he’s not the one doing the R&D , and that those millions might actually make a difference to a lot of lives.