LITTLE RIVER, SC (WMBF) – As healthcare costs rise across the county, a Little River woman is questioning how she\u2019ll pay for medication she may need for the rest of her life.<\/p>\n
Delcenia Currence has been fighting breast cancer since 2024. Just a few weeks ahead of her 81st birthday, she was shocked when a printout from her insurance came with a hefty price tag.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018Oh my God, I can\u2019t afford this,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Currence told WMBF that in her two decades as a Humana client, she\u2019s never been charged for generic medication. But at a recent appointment, she was billed more than $700 for a month\u2019s worth of a generic pill that stops her cancer from spreading.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable. The pain … I feel abandoned, left alone, disappointed in the system,\u201d Currence said.<\/p>\n
Currence\u2019s struggle with the rising costs of health care is not unique. Millions of Americans are struggling with rising costs, especially seniors on fixed incomes.<\/p>\n
Programs like South Carolina\u2019s State Health Insurance Assistance Program provide free help navigating the healthcare system for seniors who are on or want to benefit from Medicare or Medicaid.<\/p>\n
Crystal Strong, with the SHIP program, said the program has resources to help.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have tools that we are afforded by ACL, Administration for Community Living, that allows us to navigate some other resources for them. We can go to socialsecurity.gov and apply for additional assistance to help pay for prescriptions if they\u2019re eligible,\u201d Strong said. \u201cWe can help them figure out the Medicare insurance … Medicaid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Medical centers may offer assistance<\/p>\n
Medical centers may also offer assistance. Currence\u2019s team at McLeod Health said their next steps might include grant applications.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work to see if the pharmacy has a financial assistance program … they\u2019ll have something through the pharmacy, or they\u2019ll have some things that are connected with the brand of the prescription,\u201d said McLeod Seacoast\u2019s Director of Oncology and Hematology, Nicole Spencer. \u201cIf those two resources are not available … then our next step is to see if there\u2019s a grant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spencer said McLeod often applies for Healthwell grants, a national grant disbursement group that manages dozens of \u201cdisease grants\u201d, and said McLeod also has some charity assistance available.<\/p>\n
Spencer and McLeod social worker Jennifer Meter both emphasized that anyone struggling to afford medical care should alert their provider, as their needs may not be known.<\/p>\n
Currence said she is hopeful she will get her prescription and answers from her insurer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought this would happen to me,\u201d she said. \u201cI just need help.\u201d<\/p>\n
WMBF emailed Humana on September 14 to inquire about Currence\u2019s case. Humana had not responded at the time of publication.<\/p>\n
Feel more informed, prepared, and connected with WMBF. For more free content like this, download our apps.<\/a> Have feedback that can help us improve? Click here.<\/a><\/p>\n Copyright 2026 WMBF. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LITTLE RIVER, SC (WMBF) – As healthcare costs rise across the county, a Little River woman is questioning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[358817,97,252,253,358816,358818,358820,358821,358819],"class_list":["post-848499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-cant-afford-my-healthcare-prescription-doctors-surgery-south-carolina","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-healthcare-too-expensive-south-carolina","tag-mcleod-health","tag-south-carolina-medicaid-resource-help-counselor","tag-south-carolina-medicare-help-counselor","tag-south-carolina-medicare-resource"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}