I remember when I could take my little insurance card to any doctor I chose. I also remember $500 deductibles. Wow, that was so long ago! It was . . . wait a minute. I'm sitting here looking at my information and do you know what? That was only 7 years ago!!
Only 7 years. And, my insurance has doubled, my deductible has octupled, I can't choose my own doctor except from a pre-approved list (that did not include any of my preferred doctors), and the meds that I need to survive are no longer covered as of one month ago.
Eighteen years ago, I was diagnosed with Graves' Disease. It's really not a huge problem, it just affected my thyroid and my vision, to a small degree. As a result of the Graves' Disease, my thyroid was going haywire, so I had radio-iodine treatment to remove it. I describe that little experience in the video! It was hilarious (and a little bit scary)!
So, here I am, 18 years later, and I don't have a thyroid gland. This means that I have to take a thyroid pill every day for the remainder of my life. If the Zombie Apocalypse takes out society, I'm toast in less than 3 months. Instead of foraging to find food and fort materials, I'll be rampaging through the nearest CVS or Walgreen's pharmacy and I'll take out any of the looters standing between me and the thyroid rack!
Anyhow, I have to take thyroid. It's just like adding a daily vitamin so it's really not a problem. I've been doing it for 18 years, already. I'm fairly used to the process.
Additionally, I have tried every kind of thyroid medication on the market and, yup, you got it, only one works on me. Armour Thyroid, the only natural med on the market and also the only one that provides T3 and T4. The synthetics only provide T4. This medication also happens to be the only one that has gone through the wringer because of a pharmaceutical glitch. The company that processes it ran out for a while and all orders were on back-order! Yay.
Although the glitch didn't last long, I guess it threw a scare into insurance companies. So, when I went to refill my meds today, I was notified that Armour Thyroid is no longer covered by my insurance. They covered everything else, you know, the cheap stuff. But not Armour.
No. Longer. Covered.
So now, rather than paying $32 for a 90 day supply, I will be paying $110.
I'm still paying double the premium. I've still got a octupled deductible. But, the med I need to survive is no longer covered.
Solution: Now, instead of saving for vacations and clothes, I'm saving for meds. I have no doubt I'll survive and I will learn to deal with it. But, for now, I feel like ranting.
I feel much better. :)
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