Monday, November 12, 2012

Today's revelation

Got home from the pharmacy (I'm a pretty frequent customer), and looked at my packages.  Did some quick math.  I take $7 worth of pills every day, only about $1 of which comes out of my pocket.  That's not even close to a fraction of what some treatments for this disease cost.  One of my big fears involves insurance (more specifically, lack of).  My work is switching insurance providers soon and my doc advised me to stockpile a bit of medication in case there was a battle for approval.  Yikes!  I'm not really worried about my current situation, I'm optimistic that things will continue on as usual.  And I'm riding the tide of some fairly good recent years.  I'm more impressed with the gravity of a chronic illness that has no FDA-approved treatments.  Which isn't good if the insurance company (any insurance company) is looking for a reason for denial.

When I was a child, I tried  some claims to get the cost of wigs covered, since I had alopecia growing up and had to spend my childhood and teen years bald.  Can you imagine growing up like that?  As a girl?  It sucked, and I wore wigs in an attempt to have a somewhat "normal" look.  But insurance said that they were cosmetic and denied coverage.  Right.  Like wigs are attractive enough to be remotely cosmetic.  Did I think they were attractive?  They looked fake, got tangled, and itched like hell.  Believe me, I wasn't wearing them to look pretty.  I wore them to avoid complete freakishness during some very sensitive growing-up years.

So, I guess those are my thoughts on insurance.  I'm afraid of it, I don't fully understand it, and it really intimidates me.



That's all, folks.  On the other hand, I am running the Memphis marathon in just over 2 weeks.  I am not ready, I have been sick with some sort of cold or sinus infection or respiratory infection since August.  It's come and gone, and I have run when I could, but it hasn't been consistent.  Still, I love the event and am looking forward to it.  My latest "cold" seems to be moving out right on time, and I am feeling pretty good at the moment.  Happy trails.