Comments on: Chronic illness, medication & insurance don’t always add up

By: Private Krankenversicherung

Private Krankenversicherung — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:15:51 +0000

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By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:49:39 +0000

Oh this is a topic close to me heart!! #1-one of the things that keeps me working is my health insurance. I am the “stable” one in the family, while my husband is more of the free lance kind-that doesn’t have health coverage.
#2-We have a friend living with us that is in the midst of this perdicament. She has been on Medi-Cal (medicaid everywhere else) for years-but now is no longer eligible for it. It is totally crazy! While she was getting around $2500/month & on work comp she qualified. But now that she is employed she makes “too much” to qualify for medi-Cal, although it is much too little for her to move out on her own. Too much to qualify for Medi-Cal or the medication assistance programs that require you to be at poverty level. But not enough to pay for health care. And she is the victim of the current system where employers stop short just a few hours in scheduling so that they do not have to pay for health insurance for “full time” employees. we have been trying to work out a process for getting her medications & it is quite complicated and takes a lot of time and energy.

So the question of how to get your medications so that you can be functional with chronic illness is a MAJOR issue!!!!
Mary

By: MaxJerz

MaxJerz — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:22:35 +0000

This website is a great resource for free/reduced cost meds: http://www.needymeds.com/

Be well,
MJ

By: Rosalind Joffe aka cicoach.com

Rosalind Joffe aka cicoach.com — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:54:10 +0000

Cyntlhlia — Full disclosure, I don’tknow for sure that pharmaceuticals cannot give away free or less expensive drugs in MA. My client told me this was so – and I haven’t been able to find out (nor have I honestly researched it yet). But there is a new health insurance law that impacts pharma behavior so I’m assuming it’s part of that legislation. I hope that someone reading this is better informed. Rosalind

By: Cynthia Armistead

Cynthia Armistead — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:25:36 +0000

I think there’s a word or two missing in the post:
Have you figured out someway to pay for medication (other than to ask the pharmaceutical to do so which some do – but is no longer allowed in MA) when you don’t have sufficient (or any) insurance?

Are you saying that it’s illegal to use pharmaceutical companies’ patient assistance programs in Massachusetts? Why? That seems insane!

That’s the only way I know of to get medications affordably when you’re uninsured. Relying on samples from a physician is spotty, as doctors cannot guarantee that they’ll continue getting samples. If there’s a public hospital in the area, sometimes you can get routine care that way (like with Grady Hospital in Atlanta), but they tend to have a relatively limited list of medications available. They usually carry something from just about every class of drugs, but don’t count on getting whatever you’re accustomed to taking, even if the older medications don’t work for you.