The Cost of Living

19 March 2012
9:03 PM

Sunrise at	7:53 AM	in direction	89°	East
Sunset at	8:06 PM	in direction	272°	West

Duration of day: 12 hours, 13 minutes (6 minutes, 44 seconds longer than yesterday)


Living in Alaska is noticeably more expensive when purchasing material goods and transported food than other places in the U.S.  I remember a sense of shock the last time I was Outside, last July.  I was shopping for a few things at Fred Meyer's and wondered how I could be charged so little for what I was purchasing.  I went back and looked at the prices to be sure there wasn't some mistake.  Any time you buy a car, an appliance, i.e., something heavy, you know you are paying for a hefty shipping fee in the sticker price.

Recently, I have mulled over that phrase .. the cost of living.  How expensive is the cost of staying alive?  I have found myself shopping for healing in the same way I might shop for a piece of furniture or a new car.  Do the amenities of the Acura MDX justify the cost of purchase and maintenance?  Take that example one step further and ask yourself if the well-designed and comfortable Acura MDX justifies the cost of purchasing it and then driving to Anchorage every time it needs maintenance - when you live in Fairbanks.

My husband suffers from bladder cancer.  This cancer is not usually treated with chemotherapy, although it can be.  His has not been treated in this way and now his options are narrowing to the point where the ultimate choice for healing is surgical rather than oncological.  Until 2000, there was no place to receive comprehensive cancer care in Fairbanks.  Prior to that time, one cost of living anywhere outside of Anchorage, would have been finding a way to travel to or live in Anchorage for the duration of treatment.

What if a treatment could not be performed in Alaska at all?  Serious trauma resulting from accidents (plane crashes, avalanches, etc) at times are considered too acute to be handled here and patients are flown to Seattle for care.  I don't know if all forms of cancer can or should be treated in Alaska's surgical and oncological centers, but as with anywhere, if a patient wants treatment at one of the hubs for research and healing that have been recognized as superior for cancer care, it requires travel for most residents of the U.S. (such as this US News ranking for best cancer hospitals).  The distribution of those centers is interesting - 3 on the eastern seaboard, 3 on the western seaboard and two mid-continent.  For rural residents of Kansas, by the time they traveled to a major airport and flew to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota or MD Anderson in Texas, it could be about the same amount of time and cost.

Life threatening diseases level the playing field considerably, don't they?

So, for us, since our choices are being limited to surgery, does it matter if we go to the one of the top ten cancer centers in the US or can we get the same care at home, in Anchorage?  Is this the same type of question as that of deciding whether to buy an Acura MDX over a Honda Pilot? No, because my husband's life is involved, but I wish it were that easy - to make a decision purely on the basis of its practicality.