I posted a comment once bemoaning the high costs of one of my SO's medications. The chemical compound in question is used by horse veterinarians as a supplement for their joints; think something like how Vitamin-D is put into milk. Due to medical/legal issues, the only source for this compound in the US is via a MD or a VD (or so we thought). The cost is ~$2/pill, taken thrice daily. Depending on the insurance plan, it can go up to ~$10/pill. This cost had been keeping our family from changing jobs and careers as the medical costs had to be factored in during salary negotiations. Like many Americans, we were enslaved to our insurance plan.

A extraordinarily kind HNer pointed me towards how to search for bulk manufactured chemicals.

A few weeks later we got 1 cubic meter of the stuff. The cubic meter being the smallest volume the company would send. It will last my SO's entire lifetime and then a few more.

That HNer gave us the gift of freedom.