It is now going on 3 years since my accident. I am still losing. It's not enough losing my job(due to AT&T's wholehearted support of it's henchmen, Sedgwick a.k.a. "Benefits Department" blatant misconduct.), losing my insurance, losing my perfect credit, my income in any form, my independance, my dignity, and my ability to live one day without excruciating pain.
I am now relegated to the Pre-Existing Insurance Plan, you know, the Affordable Care Act?
"How does your health insurance policy affect your wallet? Find out how the law helps you get the most value for your premium dollar"
(bullshit)!
Affordable being $356.00 per month(for one person) plus double deductibles for prescription medication and medical that they do not disclose or muddle, so after you pay $375.00 for your "Non-Formulary" deductible and your $250.00 "Formulary & Generic" deductible...you get 3 refills then you have to pay 50% of the RETAIL cost if you do not use MEDCO, their mail-order pharmacy for no less than 90 day prescriptions, if you want your PAID FOR, PRESCRIPTION COVERAGE (which you cannot do for pain medication, the government ironically, requires that pain meds are non-refillable...each month has to be on some specially watermarked paper and HAND SIGNED.), which again is not disclosed. In the booklet, for prescriptions (16 pages long... the medical benefit booklet is 4 PAGES, lots 'o information there) says $4 for generic, $30 for formulary, $60 for non-formulary. All this blessing, after only waiting the mandatory 6 months without insurance (Medicaid, after I was fired for my son and myself - another long story). I then had to wait another 3 months until my coverage took effect.My insurance began November 1st, 2011...on January 1st, 2012 the deductibles started over. I was not informed that it was annually and not anniversary, I've had both kinds during my employment history, and had I been informed of that, obviously I would have put off my enrollment until January 1st, 2012...I would have gotten 9 months of "coverage" at least, and my poor mother who is getting poorer every month, wouldn't have had to spend the following:
In 2011- Nov., $356 insurance, about $525 for 4 prescriptions, 2 Generic, $300 Dr. (supposed to be a $25 visit), but $1,000 deductible so we'll say...hmmm, but okay. Then, Dec., $356 insurance, $225 4 scripts -2 generic, $100 pymt arrangement for another $285 Dr. bill still saying ummm, see my Primary Care Dr.(to get a Neurologist referral) get an $80 bill for a $25 visit...what the....$310 bill for 1st visit consult insurance paid nothing. I need 2 CTs 1w/contrast 1w/out...received phone call from hospital they said that it would cost me a $1,800 deductible and that they had never seen a deductible that high. According to my 4 page "pamphlet", I was only supposed to be charged 20%...so I suppose that CTs are $4,500 per test. I call the insurance company to find out what the hell is going on, and they inform me that I have a deductible and co-deductible...huh? They can't seem to explain what the hell they actually do for the $356 a month or how this 2 medical deductible works or the 6 deductible prescription thing works...so, I am just supposed to be okay with never knowing how much THE SAME MEDICATION is going to cost me from month to month, unless I use MEDCO, I explain that 2 of my medications(the most expensive) aren't eligible for their mail-order pharmacy and that I can't wait 10 days for the other. I am told, "Well, I'm sorry then... I can't give you a monthly total, and I am sorry that you don't understand the co-deductible for your CTs. Is there anything else I can help you with? "HAHA!!!, this is our Affordable Care Act. So, no test. In two months $945 just for doctors appointments, $712 in insurance payments, $750 in prescriptions add in January and February $4,019.00 FOR FOUR MONTHS...does that sound affordable to you?
Ask yourselves, is this what we want? Is this what we are robbed for, every paycheck? Is this how we want to leave it for our kids, grandkids, our own old age???? I don't think so, so what are we gonna do about it?
**Please forgive any fragmented flow of the writing of this post, my computer died and I have to write from a phone. It's exceptionally hard to write cohesively when you can't see what you are writing.**
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