A while back I experienced yet another of
those humbling thing that I never thought would come my way. You’d think I would be cured of that kind of
thinking after Hurricane Ike and its subsequent food lines and such. This time it was related to one of the
medications I take for rheumatoid arthritis.
It’s a pretty “famous” drug, as drugs go, I guess. At least I see commercials for it on TV. The problem came when my insurance company
decided not to provide coverage for that particular drug. They insisted that one of several generics
would work just as well. Now it’s not like
the name brand drug was perfect and I was completely pain-free, but it made a
noticeable difference at the time. But
I’m a pretty compliant guy, so I tried those generic drugs. All of them.
Not at once, of course, though I thought about that a time or two. And the result of my trials was,
unfortunately, that none of them worked as well as the non-generic. In spite of all the trial runs, however, the
insurance company insisted that I must be wrong. They offered to provide the Celebrex, but the
cost of the co-pay was to be $500. So I resigned
myself to whatever level of relief would come from one of the generics.
That’s about the time I got a phone call
from a social worker at one of the pharmacies associated with my doctor’s
office. She offered to help walk me through
applying for one of those programs with the drug company where they provide you
with the drug free. It took some convincing
on her part, but I agreed to fill out the application. It’s always a pain in the neck to fill out
forms of any kind, but it’s especially difficult when you are admitting that
you don’t have enough money to pay for something. Guess it’s the whole male, I’m supposed to be
the provider thing. And in this case
they wanted to see everything, even up to a copy of our income tax return. I managed to swallow some humble pie and got
the application in. After some snafus on
the part of my doctor’s office staff, the company finally received all the paperwork
they needed to make a determination.
And … I was approved for the program. Quite a mixture of emotions with that bit of
information. Excitement that I get to
stick with one medication that seemed to work fairly well. Embarrassment at realizing that the reason I get
it is because I was able to prove that I couldn’t afford it. And to top it off, some friends even picked
it up in Houston for me when the company sent it to the doctor’s office instead
of here. Nothing like a little dose of
looking your neediness in the face. But I
am ready to get started on it and see if it works for the long haul. Sure could use some uninterrupted sleep. Beyond Mom’s nightly prowls, I mean.
Psalms 40:17 says, “Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God,
do not delay.”
Father, we have this new tool. It would sure be nice if you could use it to
help with the pain. Amen.
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