Thursday, March 25, 2010

Gripe, gripe, gripe

We are a gripping generation. We gripe about everything. Today my gripe is over a stupid prescription that costs $120. a month to lower blood pressure. Paying that much made my blood pressure rise to a dangerous level. The first prescription I tried did not lower my bp; the second one made me cough; this one makes me gripe. I know, I should be thankful that there is a drug that will work for me; I know, I should be thankful that I have $120. a month to spend on medicine. I have no idea which side of the healthcare debate I'm on because I haven't read the bill, but something needs to be changed.
I've brought this up a few times in the last twenty-four hours and heard a story from my friend whose dad takes a $400/mo. prescription and four moms who are unable to afford the medication prescribed for their children for chronic allergies because the prescription would be $200/mo. Now these moms are not out-of-work, down-on-their-luck single moms who are struggling to raise their children. These people are college graduates, married, two-income households who have health insurance. These prices are after insurance has paid. One of them said that although her son had tried multiple over-the-counter allergy medicines, he was still suffering from seasonal allergies, so his doctor prescribed something that would work. The insurance company that this family pays $600./month to for their two sons' coverage denied the claim because "over-the-counter" meds are available for treatment. As she said, they've never seen her son, they're based in Chicago; however, they override the physician who has seen him. Jason and Carson both suffered from seasonal allergies. It's so difficult to watch your kid go off to school knowing that they were going to be miserable all day with allergy symptoms.
OK, I've done my griping; do you think my blood pressure is back to normal?

1 comment:

Humphrey said...

Had to be Emily Latella today. Looked closely at Rx bottle. My prescription is for three months. Glad I didn't have a stroke yesterday from my bp going up at the thought of a 120.00/month.
Nevermind!!!