Diabetic Rant

I hate insurance companies. This is petty, but freaking annoying and I gotta bitch to someone. LOL

I am a diabetic. After the hospital stay, I started testing (again) 4 times a day so I know how to handle the insulin. When I lost my insurance at the end of July, I had to go a whole month before the new insurance  kicked in (Sep 1). I could not afford test strips for my meter (Bayer). BUT, a co-worker of Sharky's had a brand new meter (One Touch) and a ton of test strips that he never used and gave them all to me. I ran out of those in November and my doctor wrote a prescription for me for test strips so the insurance would cover it. They did, in November and December (12 refills).

My policy was canceled 12/31 and my new one (identical, but according to the insurance company, "different", but same policy number, id number, etc.) kicked in on 01/01. In the beginning of this month, I had a couple of Rx filled. No problems. Started running low on test strips and called for a refill. The insurance REFUSED to fill it, demanding an "Authorization of Need" from the doctor. I'm a fucking DIABETIC on INSULIN, how much more of a NEED is that?

The pharmacy called the doc on Friday but I didn't find out until the doctor's office was closed. Both the doctor and the insurance company were closed for the holiday so I had to call this morning, and of course, they didn't have any record of the pharmacy calling *sigh* Explained the whole deal and the prescription refill lady at the doctor's office promised to call the pharmacy for the paperwork and then would call the insurance company asap. I emphasized to her the urgency of it, since I only have a few days supply left.

I'm totally out of One Touch test strips BUT a few months back, I filled out a survey for Bayer and they sent me a bottle of 25 strips as a thank you. I was saving them for an emergency. Hah. These stupid little things - a box of 2 bottles of 50 (100 total) costs, brace yourself, $142.95 ($1.42 EACH). With insurance, it's $16.00 ($0.16). What a fucking racket.

Between test strips and the insulin costing between $250-300 a bottle, no wonder this stupid disease hasn't been cured yet. They are making way too much money off of it.