The struggle is real

Extreme Stretch

Last week my pharmacy sent me a surprise text regarding a prescription that my doctor had ordered. 

Hi Leah, your prescription is ready. Cost is $102.59.

The drug is not cutting edge, and generics are available, so I was surprised by this amount. Before heading to the pharmacy, I decided to investigate my CVS Caremark options. Lo and behold, the CVS Caremark portal informed me that my benefits were inactive as of 12/31/2022. Browsing the site, I came upon a page with this super unfriendly line:

Member is termed.

As in terminated.

The Aetna website was even less helpful by throwing error pages whenever I tried to access information about pharmacy benefits.

We resolved the issue fairly quickly by contacting CVS Caremark, Payflex (COBRA administrator), and my former employer’s benefits team. The benefits team at Indeed likely jolted the other players into action. US Benefits @ Indeed has consistently and efficiently solved problems that seem to be the insurance company’s responsibility. Ah, bureaucracy.

Afterwards, during a chat with a friend about money issues large and small, she casually yet sincerely dropped this line: 

The struggle is real. 

I liked the phrase and wanted to know more. Dictionary.com has this to say about its origins:

Use of this struggle dates to the 1990s, but it was likely influential rapper 2pac who popularized the phrase the struggle is real on his 2002 posthumous track, “Fame”: “No, we ain’t blood, but we still real brothers. / The struggle is real, nothin’ can steal what we build.”

Since the 2010s, the phrase is more slang and less actual struggle, as in this Urban Dictionary entry:

Tom: I had to walk to class today because my bike got a flat tire.

Adam: Must've been real hard, man.

Tom: Yeah. The struggle is real.

Memes also abound:

VGF Gamers @VGFGamers

The struggle is real right now.

Armed with this knowledge, I think my pharmacy benefits struggle fits right in with the current culture take.

Furthermore, I don’t think I’ll be able to use this phrase in a non-ironic way. What do you think?