Mother flooded with donations after posting ‘dystopian’ video about her son’s shocking medication costs

As the healthcare infrastructure of the United States continues to be furiously debated, one mother has asked: “Am I the only one struggling?”

Katie Schieffer uploaded a video to TikTok several weeks ago after discovering that she couldn’t afford her nine-year-old’s insulin. The video begins with Schieffer sitting in her car. She asks viewers, "How is everybody making it?"

"I've worked for like 17 years. I work all the time," she say. "I've been paying medical bills on my son for nine years, since he was born."

Schieffer explains that her son, Dylan, was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes which requires he receive  insulin every two hours.

"I just got his prescription. It was $1,000. I couldn't pay for it," Schieffer says, tears running down her face. 

"I now have to go in and tell my nine-year-old son that I couldn't pay for it. I work a full-time job. My husband works a full-time job. I work third shift. I go to school during the day."

The video immediately went viral – it now has almost 3 million views – and it also spread to other platforms like Twitter and Reddit – where many people paid attention.

"This country is broken," one of the comments reads, pointing to the for-profit American healthcare system as the problem. "I'm so sorry."

“It’s also such an easy problem to solve. Literally all the government would need to do is put restrictions on how much a company can charge for insulin,” another person commented on Twitter.

America is known for having absurdly high insulin costs, due to private companies largely having freedom to charge whatever they want. 

At people’s urging, Schieffer added her Venmo and PayPal details to her account and donations poured in. In a follow-up video posted on Wednesday, Schieffer showed her son celebrating his 10th birthday.

"Alright Dylan, it's been a whole month since your diagnosis, and how are you feeling, buddy?" Schieffer says off camera.

Dylan lists several of the steps his family has taken to manage his condition, and said he is learning about his insulin pen and the importance of keeping an eye on his blood sugar. The video ends with Dylan thanking people for their donations.

While many people commented on the video with well wishes, others were still disturbed by the nature of the whole situation.

This kind of story is not unusual, especially in the United States, where people’s medical bills are so high they often have to rely on the kindness of strangers to help pay extortionate amounts for healthcare. 

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