My husband just switched jobs, which is always a headache when it comes to health insurance. If you are lucky enough to be allowed to start right away, with no waiting period, there's still that period of limbo when the old insurance has been cancelled (and man, they don't waste any time doing that) and when your new insurance is in the system.
Of course, Olivia needed insulin while we were in limbo. I went to CVS to pick it up and it was going to cost $335.99 for three bottles of insulin. Needless to say, we can't afford that.
I called her pediatrician to see if they had any insulin in the office - they didn't. They also didn't want to prescribe it for her since they don't know her diabetes history, which is understandable. I would have to call Joslin and get the on call doctor to call in one vial, something to tide us over until we were in the system. Even still, that was going to be $110. We don't have that money to spare right now. Like everyone else, our finances are tight these days.
I called the local emergency room to see if they could help out at all, but they don't dispense drugs from there. She suggested I call Wal-Mart to see if they were any cheaper, but they aren't.
I do have a friend in town who often has a vial to spare and I did call her, but she wasn't home. Thankfully, my mother came to the rescue and is putting it on her credit card. Although we do have to drive out to the pharmacy in my mother's town, an hour away, because CVS won't take credit card payments over the phone. Dumbest thing I've ever heard - you can do it online but not over the phone. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I honestly don't know what we would have done if my mother wasn't able to help us. Bounced a check, probably.
I sincerely hope our new President can do something about the ridiculousness of health insurance in this country. It's absolutely absurd to have to jump thru these hoops and we HAVE health insurance. I can't imagine what our lives would be like if we didn't. We'd be screwed. Absolutely, positively screwed.
Thank god we have enough test strips to last until we get into the stupid system. That's another $300+ a month.
