Cobra Kai
I went to CVS last night to pick up my prescriptions: my birth control and my (sigh … old lady) blood pressure medication. Maintenance drugs, in addition to my insulin and pump stuff. Necessary. One to keep my blood pressure down and the other to … well, to keep my blood pressure down.
“It’s Morrone. M-O. First name is Kerri. There should be two.”
The pharmacist shot me a grin. “Thanks for spelling it.”She riffled though the cache of white paper bags until she came to mine. I knew it was mine because it had a huge red piece of paper clipped to the top of it, marked “COBRA.”
Oh for crying out loud.
“Um, Ms. Morrone? There’s a problem with your medical insurance. Looks like your COBRA plan isn’t in effect yet.”
“I don’t understand. My previous employer told me things were all set with continuation of insurance. I should be good to go until my new insurance kicks in.”
Mentally assessing the situation: Pump supplies? Check. Test strips? Always tenuous, but check for the moment. (Did I mention that my old job’s insurance company rejected my test strip claim, stating that it’s “not medically necessary” for me to test my bloodsugar more than four times per day?) Monthly meds? Not so check.
“You need to call your COBRA administrator. They can provide you with your account information and we can process this claim. Do you want to pay out of pocket for these today and submit the bill later?”
The CVS pharmacy lady is so nice. I hope she finds a bag of gold doubloons in her car when she leaves work. She deserves treasure.
“I’m going to try and see if I can iron out this COBRA thing first. If not, I’ll be back tomorrow.” Out of pocket costs of more than $100 just for monthly meds?
The night progresses into the morning. I spend much of it online dealing with the COBRA website, the Old Insurance Job HR website, and then first thing this morning on the phone with my COBRA administrator. Turns out that my coverage election form wasn’t received, even though I mailed it out several weeks ago. Coverage wasn’t “elected” until this morning. Now I have to wait 30 days before I will even have a bill from COBRA. And my coverage won’t technically be in effect until I pay that bill. Which may not come for 45 days. By that time, my dLife insurance will be rolling through. And I know that I’m “covered,” persay, if anything happens, but I’m paying out of pocket for everything, only to submit bills for reimbursement once my insurance “goes live.”
So today I will wander back over to CVS and pay out of pocket for maintenance drugs. I’ll put them at home with my other maintenance supplies; insulin, test strips, and pump gadgets. Maintenance drugs.
If this is the cost of “healthy,” I should start saving.
(Is it normal that this clip never fails to give me goosebumps?)
Comments
That sucks Kerri. Sorry to hear it.
I'm very frustrated at how much money this stuff costs us. It's just unaffordable.
And I HAVE a job with insurance coverage. Sigh.
Posted by: Scott K. Johnson | July 28, 2006 10:29 AM
A few things:
I'm not sure whether that was sarcasm about the CVS lady or not, but I've never receieved anything that even remotely resembled a quality interaction with a CVS pharmacist. I go to a small, family run pharmacist here in DC (yes, such things still exist, even in a city that has a CVS on (literally) every other corner) where I'm on a first name basis with the folks behind the counter and I've been going there for 10 years. Honestly, the only place that I feel like I get quality health care.
But enough about me.
My understanding regarding COBRA coverage was that you never really pay for it UNLESS you use it. Then you pay out of pocket for the immediate health expense, sign up for COBRA, then submit the claim for reimbursement. Kind of a strange system, but also kind of nice. Unlike other insurance plans, COBRA is retroactive - you don't have to be "covered" at the time you make the health expenditure claim to get reimbursed. You can sign up after the fact and still be reimbursed. It's a nice security thing to have in your back pocket when transitioning between jobs, but definately a hassle if you were to rely on it as if it were uninterrupted coverage.
And finally, it took me a little while to comprehend why on Earth you had a "Karate Kid" scene tacked on to the end of the post, but I like it (now that I get it - I'm slow on Fridays).
Posted by: Kevin | July 28, 2006 10:33 AM
The CVS lady was seriously nice. She felt so bad that I had no clue about my insurance issues. She was very nice, honestly. First nice insurance-related thing to happen to me in a while. ;)
Cobra Kai, my friend. Sweep the leg.
Posted by: Kerri. | July 28, 2006 10:44 AM
I've battled with COBRA before. Sorry. Those jerks.
I imagine health insurance battles will keep me in this job (which I currently enjoy) much longer than if I didn't have to worry about it. Diabetes is such a jerk.
tek
Posted by: Tekakwitha | July 28, 2006 10:50 AM
Even though I don't fully understand the ins and outs here, I feel for you.
I sometimes have trouble with meds, like the mad dash round three pharmacies just this afternoon to find one that had Freestyle strips in stock, because I don't have enough to last the weekend. I've spent a lot of time in hospital lately, and that sucks. But I don't even have to consider the cost of any of this stuff.
It's paid for. No questions asked.
Sure, I pay for it indirectly through tax and national insurance - the paperwork and bureaucracy for which is thankfully handled by my accountant. Compared to what you guys have to go through...
Posted by: Caro | July 28, 2006 10:51 AM
I've had really good luck with the CVS pharmacists, here and the town where we used to live.
I wish we had national health care here. It'd make life a lot easier.
Posted by: julia | July 28, 2006 11:39 AM
I'm not diabetic, but I certainly know what it feels like to be at the mercy of the insurance company. To have faith(hope?) that between the doctors, the pharmacists, and the insurance company you get what you need to survive/stay healthy.
When I first got out of the hospital after receiving my kidney transplant, the doctors sent a script to my pharmacy for about 14 meds. After we picked them up and got home, I realized that 2 of them were missing. One of them was an immunosuppressant, a drug I NEED to take the rest of my life to keep my body from rejecting my kidney.
It turned out I had a $2000 deductible on my insurance plan and the cost of the drug was $7000, the total "co-pay" for me was like $1200. The girl at the pharmacy said, "Well, I didn't think you would want this one since it cost so much money". It took every ounce of restraint I could muster not to strangle her right there at the counter.
Posted by: Jerry | July 28, 2006 12:51 PM
I've totally been there with the COBRA and the out-of-pocket and the ACK, WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY SO MUCH MONEY FOR MEDICINE WHEN I SHOULD BE SPENDING IT ON SHOES LIKE OTHER GIRLS MY AGE? It's frustrating... but at least you know it's a temporary situation.
Posted by: Noelle | July 28, 2006 04:59 PM
ugh, what a headache.
(and hey, now you'll have more meds to make sure your blood pressure stays down after all that mess...)
Posted by: rachel | July 28, 2006 07:47 PM
If I had a nickel for every time my insurance company screwed me over one way or another......I could afford to get better insurance!
Posted by: thisbearbites | July 29, 2006 04:00 AM
Hiya Kerri,
(gives you a hug)
THAT BLOWS!!!!!!
grrrrr when i've had trouble getting my insulin etc in the past it all gives me another reason to HATE diabetes. we don't need all this extra crap thrown our way.
hope it gets sorted......
:o) big smilezzzz
Posted by: KACEY | July 30, 2006 07:26 AM
4got 2 put my blog link down.
Posted by: KACEY | July 30, 2006 07:26 AM
I think it's unconscionable that dLife didn't provide you with medical insurance from day one. It smacks of bad faith.
Posted by: Ellen | July 31, 2006 05:51 PM
Thanks for the Karate Kid clip, kinda made my evening. I paid hugely for 6 months of COBRA coverage when I was between jobs in 2000, just in case. Never used it. I didn't even have the "d" diagnosis then, but was afraid of the possibilities.
I had insurance in HI for quite a while that wouldn't cover B.C. pills, but would cover abortions - how bizarro is that? And Hillary says they have the best insurance in the country.
Posted by: Kim | July 31, 2006 11:15 PM