It is not uncommon for hemophiliacs with the severest form of the disease, Hemophilia A, to use 50,000 or more units a year. More than half the 20,000 hemophiliacs in the United States, including Schmitt, suffer from Hemophilia A. To control bleeding, Schmitt injects himself six times a month with the clotting factor. Each injection or dose contains 874 units of the medicine. Compared to some hemophiliacs, Schmitt is relatively lucky. He has a good health insurance plan that covers most of his expenses.
Some hemophiliacs are less fortunate.
Schmitt has heard stories about patients who have become impoverished paying for their clotting medicine. And he is by no means immune. When Schmitt moved to England in 1983, he continued to use clotting factor that he had purchased in the United States. But when his supplies were exhausted, he turned to the British National Health Service, receiving treatment at the hemophilia center at the Royal Free Hospital in London. They didn't treat you like a clinical object.