Welcome To My Medical Rant

A week ago, I was the victim of our healthcare SOL (Shit out of Luck) system. This included the doctor’s office, the pharmacy, my drug insurance company, and the pharmaceutical company who manufactures the drug I need.

Actually, I’m still the victim as my doctor’s office requested authorization for my specific drug from my health insurance/drug company and we still haven’t heard a word. (Good thing death isn’t imminent.)

The bullshit begins when I never get to see my doctor because he’s booked at least four months out. Instead, I see the PA (physician’s assistant) who is textbook, “Well, we can try this or maybe this will work or maybe we’ll send you for some more testing” even though we all know exactly what my problem is after a year of previous testing. The PA promises to talk to the doctor about me and she clearly does not until I get extremely upset at a follow-up appointment. At that point, the doctor prescribes this insanely expensive medicine AND another diagnostic test that I refused to take. If the medicine works, I will have taken the test for no reason causing my insurance company to pay for this test for no reason.

I’m sure your curious what it is I’m suffering with so without specifics, it’s gastro related.

I go to the pharmacy to ask about this drug I need and they tell me it’s very expensive and that the pharmaceutical company will help me out and that in some cases it can even be free. I had already researched the cost and the lowest is $2,500 for a two-week supply, give or take $100. I saw the drug listed in a different pharmacy for over $3,000.

I hop onto the pharmaceutical site and there it is. The offer for assistance. As soon as I answer the first question, I’m denied. No Medicare patients qualify. I call them and they say if I fill out a form with my financial information and answer all questions, they will evaluate it and let me know. They email me the form which asks me to give them permission to review all my financial records without me even listing my monthly income and then the doctor has to fill out the rest and they use that as a direct prescription linking directly to the manufacturer. This is going to go nowhere.

I call my drug plan and I’m told my doctor has to request authorization to prescribe the drug and they give me no information regarding the possibility of them assisting with the cost. It’s Tier 5. Pretty obvious not much will be happening there.

So here I am in limbo, lacking the desire to ruin my day by making follow-up phone calls and feeling the intense frustration of our healthcare system take over my mind, body and spirit.

We all have nightmare stories and it’s only going to get worse.

Why do pharmaceutical companies waste time and money creating drugs nobody can afford and insurance companies won’t cover? How awful it is for people to know there’s a drug that can save their loved one’s life, but since it’s unaffordable, they have to watch their loved one die. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.