The Savage Arithmetic of the Pre-Existing Condition

[cyberpj]

12. As another person with MS

I had my first symptom in 1985 but at that time they were unable to diagnose me for another ten years when, in 1995, lesions finally showed on my MRI. At that time, the first MS drug, Betaseron, was so new you had to get get a number to join the lottery of those who could obtain the medication.

Since that time, as you probably know, several other MS medications have all come to market; all of them costing thousands per month to obtain. A price which we all know has been super inflated to cover "research and development" costs for the drug companies. When I was diagnosed the published figures said about 250,000 had MS. Your figure shows the increase in this disease which seems to be cropping up everywhere. Almost anyone I speak with knows someone with MS; it's been amazing to me.

I'm both grateful and lucky that I worked almost 20 years for a Fortune 500 company and already had decent benefits. When things got rough I was allowed to retire on a disability pension and since then my Medicare has taken on part of my costs.

Getting to the point - so far ALL MS medications are prescribed and taken in order to slow down any progression of the disease. People should see fewer exacerbations and a much slower progression of the disease. There is no medicine to date that is proven to stop or reverse the disease process or symptoms. If I, or anyone else, had been covered and using my meds but had then been laid off (which happened to several of my co-workers after I left because the department's work was outsourced) I not only would have eventually lost coverage and become uninsurable due to a pre-existing condition, but on top of that my disease would have progressed in symptoms, attacks and over-all disability because I would have been unable to afford the medications on my own. For some, the big pharma companies will help with costs if you're poor but according to their guidelines my spouse makes too much for me to qualify (which is also laughable).

Anyway. My thoughts are with you and your wife. As someone noted previously, changing jobs might keep her covered but losing a job probably won't. I really believe our own congress will never understand how the 'health system' works for the entire rest of the country because their own coverage is so wonderful that they don't even have to think about it. What I liked was when I heard commentators telling Washington D.C. "All we want is what we pay for YOU to have".

All the best.
And thanks for shining your personal spotlight on this issue.

-PJ