Skyrocketing Medical Costs Forces Michigan Family to Move to Ohio

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Jim and Rachel Lockwood didn't want to move their family from Michigan to Ohio, but the high cost of insulin that was required to keep three of their kids alive forced their hands.

The Lockwoods have eight children, five of which are their biological kids. Three of their children have Type I Diabetes. They tell Fox 17 that they were shocked when their son Brady was diagnosed with the disease when he was 2. Older siblings Joci and Cyrus followed.

"Without having diabetes in either of our family trees, the first diagnosis was a complete surprise to us," said Rachel. "We had no idea. Really, we didn’t know what it was and the seriousness of it. And we certainly didn’t realize that there would be a higher probability of other children in our family becoming Type 1 as well."

The rules changed

The Lockwoods were previously employed by a non-profit that didn't offer medical insurance so their family was covered by Medicaid. But the type of insulin that the children needed was suddenly pulled and not covered by Medicaid.

The Lockwoods were told that the out-of-pocket cost for the type of insulin that would keep their children alive would be $606 per child, per month.

Temporarily, the family was able to obtain their kids' insulin at a lower cost in Canada. But then the pandemic began.

Forced to move

The Lockwoods then faced the inevitable. Jim needed to find work with traditional healthcare benefits. The Lockwoods were forced to leave Michigan and make a new home in Dayton, Ohio. "

"So nobody was happy about it," Rachel Lockwood said. "But I do think we try hard to explain to our kids and our family that everyone gets what they need, not what they want."