Day 257 - Later that afternoon

Someone needs to explain something to me. I was just at the pharmacy, refilling my prescription for the pen needles for my insulin. I got charged full price for the needles, with no help from my health insurance. Why? Because they gave me what they (and my doctor) say is a 30-day supply on Aug. 29.

Insurance companies do this, apparently, to ensure that prescription drugs are used in FDA-approved amounts and to keep people using said drugs healthy.

Excuse me, but it's a box of 100 pen needles. Which I need to use at least 4 times every day. Last time I checked, 4 goes into 100 25 times, not 30. Considering that you're not supposed to re-use needles, if the doctor wants me to be healthy, shouldn't he have prescribed me 120 pen needles, so I can, I don't know, afford to buy the medicine he's putting me on?

And don't even get me started on the test strips for my glucose meter. A box of 102 (six vials of 17 strips - don't ask me where they got that number) is over $100 without coverage. And I'm supposed to check my blood sugar 4-8 times per day. Hmm... 102 strips, divided by 8... I don't think that adds up to 30 either, doc. Wanna try again?

I just came back from a period where I wasn't exactly taking the best care of myself. Do we really need to encourage that again by trying to bankrupt the unemployed diabetic?

How has there not been a lawsuit over this already?

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