April 1, 2011 12:10 AM

I wish it were all an April Fool's joke! Both the weather and mybattle with my mail order prescription provider. Out of the two, the snow that is currently following is the biggest joke. Presently, it is only collecting on the grass so we can only hope that by morning we will be able to get underway, as planned, to visit our friends in New York where it is apparently raining at this time. My battle with the precription provider is so ridiculous that you would think it to be a joke. I wish it were. Two of my 90 day prescriptions are close to running out and I have changed prescription services as of January 1st - going from my company insurance to Medicare. My company insurance would have run out in a month when my long term disability ends and I get laid off. This way, I maintain health insurance coverage no matter what. Anyway. I e-mailed my doctor's assistant two weeks ago stating the situation. On Wednesday, not hearing anything, with the precious days ticking away, I re-sent the e-mail and included my doctor as well. This time I suggested just cutting the two prescriptions that I neeeded to my local pharmacy in order to save vital time. My insurance company approved one(the much cheaper one, of course) and rejected the other. The other, more important one, is my immuno-suppressant. As you can imagine - a very expensive drug. Upon calling them, I found out that the reason was that the drug is not approved by the FDA for AML! The woman that I spoke to said that she would provide an override to allow me to get a 30 day supply. Whwn I called the pharmacy, they told me that when they called the insurance company that the woman "misspoke" (like the politicians do) and that my plan did not support reciving a 30 day supply. PLUS, they would need my doctor to call them and explain what the drug was to be used for. So here I am with the insurance company telling me that I can't have a drug that I have been taking for over two years. So, thirty days or ninety days was really a moot point. Meanwhile, my current supply is growing shorter while an insurance company regulates my access to medications that should be under a doctor's control only. Long story short. My doctor properly authorizes the drug and I can get a short term supply tomorrow. Great nes=ws! In the meantime, he e-mailed me back and stated (correctly so) that the drug is used to combat graft vs host diease(GVHD) as is the prednisone that I take. The ironic part of all of this is that the insurance company is right! NO drugs have ever been approved by the FDA to fight GVHD! Based upon the insurance company's logic, I should have had the bone marrow transplant and placed myself in a position where (if I got real lucky) I might actually survive this thing. What is wrong with this system? Let the physicians physic(is that a word?) and the prescription companies honor their requests so that we have a fighting chance to overcome our infirmaties. Yes, the battle is won. Now I have to see if they have properly approved my getting a 90 day supply. If so, the war has been won also, What a frustraing two days this has been. Anyway. Putting all that aside, we are eagerly looking forward to our trip to New York for the weekend regardless what mother nature has chosen to throw at us. Wish us well... Bob