In another thread, we've touched on the prescription process. I could tell you horror stories about my wife's struggles to stay medicated (she's on an opiate) but instead I'll let this doctor tell his story.
Every three months, I run out of my medication. In order to get more, I need a new prescription. In order to get the prescription, I need to have lab testing to prove to my doctor that I don’t have anemia. This all sounds simple, and it’s the same process every three months. But it’s never the same, and it’s never easy.
[insert long, detailed description of the dog and pony show here]
There is no bad guy here. I love the drug company that created this medication. The price is more than reasonable. I love the doctor who prescribed it to me. My insurance company has never refused to cover my care, and has always been honest with me. The laboratory personnel are professional and competent. It’s the system — the way all these things work, or fail to work, together — that’s the issue.
...
Because of my job, I probably know more about the health care system and how it works than most people in the United States. Yet if this is how much trouble I have navigating a simple refilling of my medication, I don’t know how the rest of America does it, especially those with much more complicated issues than mine.
I'll toss in some opiate details: My wife has to personally collect her script from the doctor's office, 80 miles away, because they can't be mailed. She can't refill her script until the day her current supply is scheduled to run out. I can't drop off her script or collect her medication; she has to do it personally and have her ID checked, and it often requires calls to several pharmacies to find an adequate supply, since her particular drug is very closely controlled.
The healthcare system is terribly broken, and the ACA did nothing to address any of these issues. Is it any wonder we have the most expensive healthcare in the world?
Trapped in the System: A Sick Doctor’s Story
Quote:
Every three months, I run out of my medication. In order to get more, I need a new prescription. In order to get the prescription, I need to have lab testing to prove to my doctor that I don’t have anemia. This all sounds simple, and it’s the same process every three months. But it’s never the same, and it’s never easy.
[insert long, detailed description of the dog and pony show here]
There is no bad guy here. I love the drug company that created this medication. The price is more than reasonable. I love the doctor who prescribed it to me. My insurance company has never refused to cover my care, and has always been honest with me. The laboratory personnel are professional and competent. It’s the system — the way all these things work, or fail to work, together — that’s the issue.
...
Because of my job, I probably know more about the health care system and how it works than most people in the United States. Yet if this is how much trouble I have navigating a simple refilling of my medication, I don’t know how the rest of America does it, especially those with much more complicated issues than mine.
The healthcare system is terribly broken, and the ACA did nothing to address any of these issues. Is it any wonder we have the most expensive healthcare in the world?
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