Side Effects May Include…

Side Effects May Include
(A Prescription for the Poor and Desperate)

MANUFACTURER: ProfitFirst Pharmaceuticals
DRUG NAME: HopeRx™ – The Cure You Can’t Afford
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS:

• Dreams (Crushed & Powdered)
• Debt (Time-Release Formula)
• Despair (Long-Lasting, Non-Refundable)

DOSAGE & ADMINISTRATION

Take once a day with water and prayer, if your bank allows the dose.
If funds are low, then ration wisely – half a pill, at best, at most.
Do not exceed the limit set, or side effects may well ensue –
A spiralling debt, a notice served, a home repossessed because of you.
Take on an empty stomach if hunger is all that fills your chest,
For meals are often sacrificed when medicine demands the rest.
Should you skip a dose, be warned – your health will quickly fade,
But overdraft fees from refilled scripts ensure the balance won’t be paid.

INDICATIONS:

For weary bones and laboured breath, for fevers burning through the night,
For mothers worn from endless shifts, for workers lost in endless fight.
For backs that break before their time, for minds undone by mounting debt,
For hands that shake from unpaid bills, for hearts that can’t afford regret.
For those who cough in waiting rooms, where care depends on what you own,
For those whose names are on the list, but funds decide who’s seen, who’s known.
For those whose pain is not enough to warrant what this drug provides,
For those who learn the hard, cold truth – relief is rationed, monetised.

SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE:

• Dizziness, when invoices arrive and knock the breath clean from your chest.
• Nausea, from knowing full well your sickness is a corporate test.
• Insomnia, because the thought of payment haunts your every dream.
• Shortness of breath, not from disease, but gasping at the cost obscene.
• Anxiety spikes, when pharmacies decide your worth in dollar signs.
• Depression, deep, when health becomes a privilege only wealth defines.

SEVERE SIDE EFFECTS (RARE, BUT ONLY FOR THE RICH):

For those who never missed a meal, for those who’ve never feared the price,
Apathy may start to form – a numbing to another’s strife.
This may result in blindness to the plight of those who beg and plead,
Or arrogance, that fatal thought: “They suffer by their own misdeed.”
Symptoms include:

• A lack of guilt when signing laws that steal the care the sick deserve.
• A habit of dismissing pain when profits come and votes are served.
• A need to ask, “But can’t they just work harder, earn, and save?”
• A tendency to step around the bodies of the newly paved.

Should these effects persist, consult a heart – though one may not be found,
For those who profit off disease hear silence where there once was sound.

FATAL INTERACTIONS (FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T AFFORD IT):

• Mixing Poverty with Illness – May result in early death.
• Combining Debt with Sickness – Causes stress that steals your breath.
• Taking Medicine While Homeless – Will ensure the loss of hope.
• Skipping Meals to Pay for Pills – Creates a noose from which to choke.

“If symptoms worsen, seek assistance – if your coverage is intact.
But if denied, then let’s be honest: It’s survival that you lack.”

PATIENT REVIEWS (FROM THOSE WHO LIVED TO WRITE THEM):

“One dose and I could finally breathe, until I saw the cost – insane.”
“It saved my life, then stole it back – I live, but buried deep in pain.”
“It worked, it healed, it brought relief, but left me with a debt so steep.”
“A miracle, they said it was – until my rent was out of reach.”

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (F.A.Q.):

Q: “Why is this medication priced so high?”
A: “Because your life is ours to buy.”
Q: “Can I get help? Some aid, some care?”
A: “Not if your pockets are left bare.”
Q: “Is there a cheaper brand instead?”
A: “Oh sure! Just trade your food for meds.”
Q: “What if my funds run out for good?”
A: “Then suffer, beg, or knock on wood.”

FINAL WARNING:

This drug may heal, this drug may mend, but not without a price attached.
And those who fail to foot the bill will learn what greed has torn and snatched.
For every pill that dulls the ache, a thousand more ensure it stays –
For sickness makes the pockets swell of those who pull the longest plays.
So take with caution, take with care, and read the fine print if you must –
But know, no matter what it says, it’s profit first – you’re last to trust.
(Big Pharma thanks you for your debt – now pay up more, or don’t forget…)

Also by Roger Chao: The Siren’s Call

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