Healthcare Clusterf*ck, Cont'd...

Oooh, you guys! I have another lame-ass health-care story! Check this out:

Last week, I called my GYN's office to get him to switch my birth control. As I may have lamented previously, my NuvaRing Rx had gone up to $50/month under my Aetna health insurance. So, okay, fine, I thought. I'll just have him switch me to a pill, and that'll be cheaper. Insurance companies always seem to charge alot for NuvaRing (probably because it is easy and convenient for women).

First of all, I had to wait 48 hours for someone from my GYN's office to call me back. By this time, I had already refilled the NuvaRing and shelled out the $50, because it was obvious this would not be the quick & easy switch I'd hoped for. Secondly, the nurse I ended up talking to was giving me attitude over the phone. She's all, "Well, what do you want to be switched to, exactly?" and I said, "Just something other than NuvaRing, which is really expensive under my insurance." Her reply: "It's not OUR job to know what your healthcare does and does not cover." (Did I say it was? No.) I say, that's fine, just call in an Rx for a pill. "What pill? I don't know what pill to give you." (For crying out loud! Do I need to go down there and do her freakin' job for her?!) I politely say, "Whatever pill has a dosage comparable to NuvaRing will be fine" (thinking, naively, that any standard birth-control pill will have a comparable generic). She agrees to call something in to my pharmacy.

Alrighty. Half an hour later, my pharmacy peep Teresa calls (I'm the Walgreens mayor on Foursquare, so Teresa *tewtally* knows me, LOLz), and says, "Your GYN's office just called in a $50 birth-control Rx for you. Do you want that?!" BWAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH! I love it. They managed to find the one pill for which there is no generic. I thank Teresa for calling and let her know that I do not want the $50/month BC pills.

Welp, you bet your sweet bippy I'm not dealing with the office girls anymore. I'm gonna go down there and talk to the doc himself, tell him exactly what I need, and get him to write it out for me then and there.

But srsly. This should NOT be this hard, people. And there is no need to talk to me like I'm an idiot.

::sigh::

Furthermore: Why on EARTH, under ANY health plan, is birth control for women $50/month?! Do they WANT this 45-year-old woman to get knocked up so they can pay for THAT instead?!?! ARRRRRGGGGHH!!!

/ rant

More Healthcare Clusterf*ck

So, as most of y'all know by now, we had to switch health-insurance companies at the end of last year, moving from Blue Shield to Aetna. We've had Aetna before and were pretty happy with them -- as happy as one can ever be with an HMO. We were all able to keep our old doctors, so that was a relief. The costs of everything went up, but that's okay -- we expected that. No more cushy state-subsidized healthcare for us. ;-)

One of my first orders of business was to switch my prescriptions to the new plan. Since the cost of everything had gone way up (can you say $50 for a Nuvaring?), I was motivated to set everything up via their mail-order pharmacy. I went to my doc, got the scripts, and submitted everything, easy-peasy.

After awhile, I received a letter from Aetna, saying there was a problem with one Rx, and it had been delayed. I knew which one it was -- my anxiety med. A very basic med, I'm on a low-dosage, and there is a generic available. But I had requested to have the dosage reduced by half, in the hopes of eventually weaning myself off of it. I would, however, need to continue to take 2 per day, until my body adjusted to the lower dosage.

Aetna didn't like this. To them, on paper, it looks like I'm just taking double the number of pills for no reason. Their costs go up, so they put the kibosh on it.

From what I can piece together, they tried to talk to my doc about this; I dunno whether he talked to them or not. He hates HMOs and has advised me that he will soon be affiliated with none of them. I don't blame him! Who wants to have your every move questioned by a paper-pusher?! The order was cancelled altogether.

This leaves me running low on this medication that I've been on for years, and which has a NOTORIOUSLY bad cold-turkey withdrawal. Now, I will have to go BACK to my doc, and get ANOTHER Rx that won't be questioned by Aetna. I guess I'll ask for the half-dosage, once a day. That should fly. And if I have to take extra to combat side effects... Well, I dunno what will happen then, because I know they won't like that. Their rules don't allow for people's differing reactions to medications, or the lack thereof. Their rules aren't about PEOPLE. They're about MONEY.

Good thing I'm unemployed and have time for this bullshit, huh.

But seriously. This is insanity.

I'd like to see ALL state/federal/government/military workers -- but most especially POLITICIANS -- have to deal with these HMOs. Because only then will "certain people" in power recognize that this is ridiculous, embarrassing for America, bad for society, bad for people's health, and COSTS MORE IN THE LONG RUN.

I will also point out to Aetna... when your customers are social-media whores, this stuff IS NOT GOOD FOR YOUR PR. #sorry