I've gotten choked up at the pharmacy twice in the past 4 months

[NightWatcher]

The first time was back in September when my anti-malarial drug that I take for lupus went from $28 (self pay, cash price) for 60 pills to $230 for 60 pills. I was waiting for my Medicare and supplemental insurance to take effect. My oral chemo pills had previously gone from $30 a month to $92 a month. My total bill for all my meds was nearly $400. I could not afford to get them from September - December. It bummed me out.

Today I went to get the prices for my prescriptions, before I even bothered trying to have them filled.

My $230 medicine now costs me $2 damn dollars. My $92 medicine will run me between $2-$5 after it's approved. My others went down as well and brought my monthly tab to $10-12, down from nearly $400. It made my day.

I've seen a lot of healthy people I know, and strangers, complain about how much their copays and insurance have gone up this year and it floors me. They do not take medicine that keeps their organs functioning properly, nor did they have to put off these drugs for a few to several months last year because of their inability to pay. Most of them are able to work and bring home more than $12,000 a year. I cannot work and rely on a tiny disability check to pay my medical bills.

I can afford to take my medicine now. It got me a little choked up today. Just thought I'd share.

[randys1]

1. Outstanding and this should be ALL Americans story...

[gwheezie]

2. You must be relieved

I'm a nurse I see so many people who can't afford meds especially since I work in a state that refused mcaid expansion.

[demmiblue]

3. What a relief for you!

I am glad you are getting the meds you need.

Healthy or not, we all deserve appropriate healthcare.

[Downwinder]

4. Are you getting the Medicare Part "D' Extra Help?

It closes the donut hole.

[RobinA]

34. Just Curious

How does the average person learn about Extra Help? I work for an institution and we sign everybody up for Extra Help as a matter of course. I have no idea how the average person would know about it.

[Downwinder]

38. Good question.

It is on the Medicare web site and is mentioned in the plan information that is sent out. Also from a support group or specialty pharmacy.

How does one learn about PANF?
http://www.panfoundation.org/

[Doctor_J]

5. Congrats. I am happy for you and the others who are benefitting

I don't blame you for my astronomical cost increases, just as I don't expect a christmas card from the insurance ceo's whose 8-figure salaries I am helping to pay. They are just reaping the rewards from Heritage Care, as was the plan all along.

As a beneficiary of the law, you might consider joining your local or state fight for SP, hopeless as it probably is. That way everyone can benefit as you have.

[area51]

31. +1 n/t

[calimary]

44. So am I! Let's not forget - those nice GOPers want to make sure that all gets taken away from you.

Let's not forget that. We FOUGHT for this. And we're still fighting. And as long as they draw breath, we'll have to keep fighting. This will NEVER be won. Just look at how they're targeting Social Security now, and when was that instituted? During FDR? And we're STILL fighting it?

I think some of our Dems think that - well, it's done. We got it. We won. Let's go back to sleep. And we can't. Because the enemy NEVER sleeps at all. And if we expect to stay ahead of them, and protect the ground we've gained - much less build upon it or try to expand it, we're never going to be able to sleep at all, either.

We're going to have to start learning to stay awake and stay vigilant, if we're ever going to get anywhere with progressive values and policies. They've certainly found a way to do that in the enemy camp. Why can't we?

[Doctor_J]

50. My life would be far better if it's "taken away", but that's not going to happen anyway

My annual costs went from $500 to $8500 with implementation of Heritage Care. Insurance profits nationwide are through the roof. That means money I'm paying them that they keep, instead of paying back out in actual healthcare. There isn't a chance in hell it will be "repealed". The Repukes get large payments from the same Big Insurance lobbyists who wrote the ACA. The insurance lobby will never let go of those profits. The ACA killed single payer in the US for good. The party should be embarrassed by it.

[Glimmer of Hope]

6. So happy for you! This is how it should be.

[StopTheTPP]

7. That cheap medicine may not last if the TPP goes through

See Doctors Without Borders on this one.
www.msfaccess.org/spotlight-on/trans-pacific-partnership-agreement

If you value cheap generic medicines, then help us stop the TPP. Google your senators' numbers and call to say NO on fast track for the TPP.

It's quick, it's easy, and it's effective. Today in called on my way home from work, while at a red light. I finished both calls before the light turned green.

[Curmudgeoness]

8. Why did the price for you go down so radically?

Is this a new insurance you got this year? I am flabbergasted and so glad for you.

[Habibi]

19. I would like to know the answer to this, too.

Dear OP, could you elaborate, please?

[mfcorey1]

21. Medicare participation reduces drug costs and the fact that a supplement

was involved lowered the price. My meds reduced to two and three dollars after becoming eligible for medicare and a supplement.

[sunnystarr]

22. I have medicare and a supplemental

but neither of them cover drugs. Maybe Medicare Advantage does tho and I'm not very familiar with it. I decided that medicare would cover me at 80% and my supplemental Plan F the other 20% (which costs me an additional $240/month). But my meds are Plan D with the exception of the nebulizer meds which go through Apria. Are you really meaning Medicare or maybe you mean the Plan D.

[mfcorey1]

23. You are correct. It is the plan D. What I find strange is that the charge for

the plan seems to vary according to where you reside. Mine is not as expensive as yours.

[sunnystarr]

25. My Part D is with Wellcare and isn't that expensive

They take out about $35 a month now for it ... used to cost me around $60. The Supplemental policy is to cover the 20% from Medicare A&B since Medicare only covers 80%. It doesn't cover drugs.

[spanone]

9. K&r...

[mopinko]

10. gonna have to keep my fingers crossed for 5 years, i fear.

hoping i can afford insurance once my divorce is final. take several drugs, including some still under patent.

glad that you made it. hang in there.

[WoodyD]

11. This makes me so happy and so angry

Happy that you can get the meds you need, and angry that so many people can't.

[midnight]

12. I'm so relieved you can afford these meds. How scary to need medicine and put off the purchase

because it is not affordable.

I don't like all the different versions and hoops people have to go through to get or keep their health care.

Here is a link to a story that tells how those in the music industry try to cope without access to affordable healthcare.

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2015/01/for-most-american-musicians-adequate.html

"Later this month Alan Grayson, central Florida's champion of working families, will introduce his Medicare You Can Buy Into Act again. It was the first bill he introduced in the 113th Congress as well and it allows all Americans to enroll in Medicare. At the time, he explained that "in many states, a few private insurance companies control the market, restricting consumer choice and driving up the cost of care. Although the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act attempts to address this problem, more could be done. Why should the insurance companies get all of the options, while we get none? The people deserve a choice. The people deserve a public option. Opening up the Medicare system increases competition and provides more options to consumers." Chances are Boehner and McCarthy will immediately consign the bill to a loyal committee chairman who will bury it without hearings or a vote. For thousands of American musicians that is tantamount to a death sentence. We're not talking about the Music Business' one percent. This isn't about Madonna, Kanye, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Prince, Lars Ulrich or Celine Dion. The system works just fine for them and they can afford all the best medical help money can buy. 99% of musicians never get anywhere near that financial status.

If you've been to any of Grayson's recent West Coast events, there's a good chance you've seen him introduce a friend, singer-songwriter and 4-time Grammy nominee, Peter Case. The video up top helped launch Peter's 4 decade-long career. And, like many mid-and-late-career musicians, Peter has struggled with health insurance issues. Recently, the costs of open heart surgery were nearly as devastating financially as the emergency was to his health. Over the weekend, I had dinner with Denise Sullivan, a very old friend and colleague, Peter's wife, fierce community activist and extraordinary music industry author. We talked about musician friends who had died because of lack of health insurance since we last saw each other. Some, like Amy Farris, Vic Chestnut, Sparklehorse singer Mark Linkous and Faye Hunter of Let's Active killed themselves over health insurance issues. According to Chesnutt, being "uninsurable" due to his quadriplegia, in 2009 he was $50,000 in debt for his medical bills, and had been putting off a surgery for a year. "And, I mean, I could die only because I cannot afford to go in there again. I don't want to die, especially just because of I don't have enough money to go in the hospital."

The New Yorker wrote on the death of revered singer-songwriter and Big Star frontman Alex Chilton, at fifty-nine, that his death may have happened in part because he was not covered, and could not visit the doctor to explore early symptoms of heart disease. His wife, Laura Kersting, told the Times-Picayune that "at least twice in the week before his fatal heart attack, Chilton experienced shortness of breath and chills while cutting grass. But he did not seek medical attention, Kersting said, in part because he had no health insurance." I asked Denise if we could publish as a guest post a widely-read post she wrote for her own blog last year, We Take Care Of Our Own: Mid-Career Musicians Facing Health Crisis. The issues she raises are not satisfactorily addressed by Obamacare-- but they are addressed in Grayson's bill, the one Boehner and McCarthy are going to bury."
- See more at: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2015/01/for-most-american-musicians-adequate.html#sthash.JNsI53Dv.dpuf

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. K&R

[Hekate]

14. I am so happy for you. Best of luck in the New Year, and thanks for sharing your good news.

[etherealtruth]

15. I am so happy for you!!!!!!

[BlueJazz]

16. Your post is wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

[bigwillq]

17. Such great news for you!

[freshwest]

18. I am so happy for you that this is there when you need it! You're under enough stress already.

Best wishes to you for the maintenance of your health and surviving these conditions.

[oldandhappy]

20. Great!

[YOHABLO]

24. The problem that I do have with Medicare is this: if you're disabled but ineligible for Medicaid

you have to purchase supplemental to cover the 20% not covered by Medicare. or you just don't pay it. Medicare part D is taken over by private insurers and for the most part is working for me. However, Express Scripts, the middle man in all of this, is going to start charging me about $8.00 bucks a month now .. for what I do not know. Because they can. Never understood the role of 'Express Scripts' since my insurance is with Medco. Also why not add dental and eye care as well to Medicare? I'm in terrible need.

[TheKentuckian]

52. Since they merged Medco is seemingly the benefit manager and Express Scripts is functioning as the

actual dispensing pharmacy, I'm not sure what Curascripts (used to be the the Express Scripts specialty pharmacy) does or if it is wound or winding down.

I've seen it totally flip though, they have become difficult.

[DeSwiss]

26. K&R

Cannabis.

Cannabis to treat lupus.

The Power of Raw Cannabis

- Good luck!

[NightWatcher]

41. Yeah, it helps with inflamation and I have replaced my pain meds and muscle relaxers too

Sure, it's not legal, but life's too short to suffer at the hands of stupid laws.

[AndreaCG]

27. Great to hear!

I take six daily meds now and the cost would be ruinous without insurance.

[mountain grammy]

28. I'm so happy for you..

I lost a dear friend a few years ago as a result of her not having her meds. We had all been pitching in to make sure her prescriptions were filled, but then the doc wouldn't refill without seeing her and she already owed money to the clinic and they wouldn't give her an appointment.
One week after she got her Medicare card, before she made an appointment, she died. Blood clots.

America is a mean country. I'm so glad you got your medicine in time.

I have a friend with lupus, thanks for the reminder. I need to make sure she's getting her meds.

[classykaren]

30. I am so sorry for your loss This is why we really need single payer.

[Cha]

29. Glad they went down so dramatically, NW!

[CrawlingChaos]

32. That is wonderful

That's one major source of stress gone that will allow you focus on getting better. Wishing you all the best of health!

[TxDemChem]

33. I am so thrilled to hear this news.

I wish things has worked out last year. But I am so relieved you no longer have those high pharmacy prices to deal with.

[marions ghost]

35. My dad got put on a less effective leukemia drug

because a more effective one was so much more expensive.

There are many inequities in the system.

Single payer is the only way to stop this.

[Sparhawk60]

36. Good for You

Nice to hear some good news. Thank you for sharing.

[hedgehog]

37. The anti-malarial, used all over the world, is available as a generic and should be

is be pretty cheap. Either there is only one manufacturer left who has taken advantage of its monopoly, or we're dealing with a cartel. If it's the chemo drug I'm thinking of, it was invented back before 1960, so it should be a generic as well.

The problems with our health care system go way beyond getting insurance. With four unemployed/underemployed adult children, you better believe I love the changes in the insurance system. I'm just saying we still have quite a ways to go.

[NightWatcher]

40. The makers of the generic of plaquenil stopped making it in September to drive up price

Then after the two month shortage the prices had gone up ten fold.

[redruddyred]

53. this is exactly why

healthcare cannot be a business.

[Fearless]

39. Excellent story!

Just imagine what they could cost if we were allowed to shop competitively for them!

[VA_Jill]

42. Glad for you

My Part D, on the other hand, has kicked up the price of the med I take to stave off my migraines to $36/month. It used to be $12. Since I get a 3 month supply at one time, that's $108 out of pocket. And I'm supposed to be grateful that I no longer have a deductible (which I never met anyway).

[SomethingFishy]

43. My wife's meds went up 300% in December

and we were already paying $200 a month out of pocket... we are waiting to see where they land for January..

[geardaddy]

45. Solidarity from a renal transplant patient

with many meds. Mine have gone down thanks to the ACA.

[Callmecrazy]

46. Great news, Night Watcher!

Go Marlins!

[flying-skeleton]

48. And that's why ....

I hate fuckin' repubs who ONLY care about themselves !!

[WhiteTara]

49. Oh No! Do we have to blame Obama for that too?

Happy New Year! I'm glad things are getting better for you too!

When I go to the pharmacy (yep I know all about drug costs--one I take costs $900 a month) I say out loud, "Thank you President Obama!" My copay for the $900 drug is $6.35!!!

Now with cheaper gas prices, my newly lowered telephone bill and a possible uptick in our business (www.TheRainbowMakers.com) we might live this year, rather than just barely hanging on.

[livingonearth]

51. That is wonderful!

Thank you for telling your story.