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miss_lucy21My insurance for New Job kicked in yesterday. Coincidentally (or not really- I timed it as well as I could), I needed to reorder my meds yesterday. So, I stopped off at the pharmacy on my way home to hand over my shiny new prescription insurance card and pick up my refills.
Now, I'd scrutinized the benefits website. I'd read the formulary a half dozen times before choosing which insurance plan I wanted (I had the choice of 4 different ones with different levels of coverage). I knew all my drugs were in the forumlary and I knew that my plan has a $0 copay for generic condition maintenance medication and a $0 co-pay for oral contraceptives, so unless they decide my antidepressant isn't a maintenance medication (which would not be a big deal- I can get 90 days for $10 without insurance at all), I was expecting I'd only have to pay for the Advair, which I swear is never going to go generic and never going to cost less than $250. But, I'd only have to pay 30% of that, if I read the thing right, so that's a major cost savings. For comparison's sake, I paid roughly $400 for all of my meds last month. So, I wasn't too fussed about dropping that down to about $75 a month.
I get to the pharmacy. They redo my scripts with the insurance. I'm expecting to hand over $75 for the Advair and maybe $10 for the antidepressant. My total was $0.00. ZERO FUCKING DOLLARS.
My hands were shaking when I handed over my card for the other things I was buying (I needed more Omega-3 capsules and toothpaste). I couldn't even speak a full sentence when I got home (I only live about 2 minutes from the pharmacy- it's right at the top of the street- so I didn't have far to go). I'm taking deep breaths to keep from crying now. I can't even explain the immense relief this is. Of course, I don't quite trust it- if it happens again next month, I might- but even so. For one night, I did not have to pay a largish sum of money just to breathe and be functional for the next month. And that...I have no words for that, in such a good way.
Now, I'd scrutinized the benefits website. I'd read the formulary a half dozen times before choosing which insurance plan I wanted (I had the choice of 4 different ones with different levels of coverage). I knew all my drugs were in the forumlary and I knew that my plan has a $0 copay for generic condition maintenance medication and a $0 co-pay for oral contraceptives, so unless they decide my antidepressant isn't a maintenance medication (which would not be a big deal- I can get 90 days for $10 without insurance at all), I was expecting I'd only have to pay for the Advair, which I swear is never going to go generic and never going to cost less than $250. But, I'd only have to pay 30% of that, if I read the thing right, so that's a major cost savings. For comparison's sake, I paid roughly $400 for all of my meds last month. So, I wasn't too fussed about dropping that down to about $75 a month.
I get to the pharmacy. They redo my scripts with the insurance. I'm expecting to hand over $75 for the Advair and maybe $10 for the antidepressant. My total was $0.00. ZERO FUCKING DOLLARS.
My hands were shaking when I handed over my card for the other things I was buying (I needed more Omega-3 capsules and toothpaste). I couldn't even speak a full sentence when I got home (I only live about 2 minutes from the pharmacy- it's right at the top of the street- so I didn't have far to go). I'm taking deep breaths to keep from crying now. I can't even explain the immense relief this is. Of course, I don't quite trust it- if it happens again next month, I might- but even so. For one night, I did not have to pay a largish sum of money just to breathe and be functional for the next month. And that...I have no words for that, in such a good way.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-02 11:55 am (UTC)This is why I'm eternally thankful for our health system, and growl at mentions of "Private market can make everything better", because it really can't.
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Date: 2013-05-03 12:07 am (UTC)And I completely agree. There are some things the market is really, really bad at. Things having to do with people's well being in basic survival ways tends to account for most of them.