medicare useless and uselesser
Klutzo and Frug, and all,
year by year i have found that part d has gotten less and less useful. The formularies shrink every year. Last year i found one that coverd my most important and expensive med (no QL), but as soon as i paid them the $300 deductible in January, they stopped allowing it. I called and they said it was always QL, but it wasnt, neither in the computer printout i had in December or even the booklet they mailed me in the following year! I was looking right in the booklet and talking with them on the phone and they were telling me black was white! WE even appealed but to no avail . . . and this is not (relatively) even an expensive drug. If there's one thing more annoying, Klutzo, than allowing them to change formularies during the year its just OUTRIGHT LYING ABOUT EVERYTHING.
This year i am not even signing up because as soon as i do the company immediately gets $2000 from the government, plus my premiums, deductibles, copays, and then they say NO NO No. My doc says he hears this all the time. If they want a program to help PEOPLE not CORPORATIONS at taxpayer expense then they can set up a fund for X amount of dollars and when the person hits that limit, you hit that limt, no matter which med or which frequency or dosage of med. SIMPLE.
This year there is only ONE plan in my area that covers my most important med with no QL (of course they'll play the same game the other company did last year) and even so the total of premium and decuctibles and copays (and which only covers HALF the amount of the quantiy of the med i need) still costs me TWICE what it would if i dont use part d and JUST GET IT FROM CANADA. WHAT DOES THIS TELL YOU?
NOw, hate to break this, as it hasnt been mentioned, but if/when the health reform bill passes the senate and congress you will NOT be able to any longer obtain meds overseas. There is a Dorgan amendment which is under consideration as we speak (possibly a vote in the senate) which would ALLOW us to continue to order meds from overseas. But there is almost no chance it will be allowed to come to a vote, or be passed if voted on. WHAT DOES THIS TELL YOU?
I ORDERED AS MANY SCRIPTS AS I COULD LAST WEEK . . . . most people have been stocking up
Also, on the thread about DSM-IV (you can get the link there) i noticed another article in the Psychiatric Times of Dec 9 where it notes that medicare is probably going to eliminate two protected categories for part d, anti-depressants and anti-psychotics. This means the companies wont have to offer all or substantially all the meds in the category, just two meds. WHAT DOES THIS TELL YOU? (The article calls this diminishing medicare by formulary design, diminishing the costs and benefits of course).
So, the formularies will shrink again. Doesnt matter if that one or two med they offer doesnt work for you, that's all they are required law (this is obviously business, not medicine or science). I WONDER WHEN THEY WILL ELILMLINATE THE PROTECTIVE CATEGORY FOR ANTI-RETROVIRAL???
Then all they will have to do is offer two of the least effective anti-retrovirals, and no one will be knocking on their door. So profits soar, soar even more . . .
Of course, pre-XMRV it was mad to think medicare was going to cover all the baby-boomers with HIV now and soon to be on medicare--much less the even greater number of XANDERS.
I think if there is going to be any coverage once they get the viral assays figured out and then the treatment programs--its going to take a lot of ACTIVISM.
But then, i forget, you cant do that either. I think it will come as a shock to the boomers, the old activist gang, that if they organize now, they arent organizers or protesters or cultural agents of change. You are now deemed a terrorist. At least that's what i read in the paper today, that's what the Govenor or California is calling the students at the universities there who are protesting the steep tuition hikes. WHAT DOES THIS TELL YOU? I dont understand. I dont understand the cultural apathy, i dont understand why we would let someone of stature tag our sons and daughters with such a connotation.
I called all my state senators and representatives yesterday to inform and complain about this health care dilemna. Across the board, democrat and republican alike, the person on the phone doesnt have a clue. NOT A CLUE. After i explained that no part d plan covers what i need (of the 5 meds), that its cheaper to order overseas, but that option will probably disappear too and SOON, they follow with a non-sequitor, like "but we're going to close the donut hole." I said "but i dont care if you close the donut-hole because i cant even get into the donut-hole because you dont pay for any medicine i need-- you're just paying the corporations!" And then they breathe and sigh like they are drifting drifting far far away onto another planet . . . .
And then, while i'm at it here, i thanked all the democrats for the wonderful credit card reform bill, because it too worsened everything. I had 7 percent interest and then it went to 13 and just the other day a notice came it went to 19. I really wish they'd left it alone. One drifting planeteerer said "well we cant fix everything at once" and i said "NO! oh yes you can, either write the law correctly--like to IMMEDIATELY affect all current balances and make retroactive increases illegal or dont write any law at all OR just rename the bill to reflect the reality: credit card company GIFT bill."