I have Humana prescription drug coverage through Medicare. Every year they change their formulary to their own advantage. Every year my doctor and I have to change my most depended-on prescriptions because Humana either drops them or puts them on another tier that makes them more than I can afford.
So far my doctor has been able to work around this, and he changes my drugs to the closest comparable drugs on the formulary that are in a tier I can afford.
Unfortunately, they have finally managed to move or drop every comparable drug. There is nothing left in an affordable tier that even comes close to replacing the meds I am currently taking. I can no longer afford the three most important drugs I take.
To make matters worse, all three are drugs that you have to be weaned off of, because it is too dangerous to just suddenly stop taking them. I have tried to get Humana to help me every time this happens, but it is obvious they could care less if I'm going to go through terrible withdrawals because I suddenly can't afford my meds anymore.
I don't understand why drugs are made to help so many conditions and give people more quality of life, and then are priced so high that only the wealthy can afford them if you don't have insurance. Then the insurance you pay dearly for every month to help shoulder the cost does everything it can to pay less and less while charging more and more for so-called coverage.
I am really scared of what is going to happen. I don't even want to think about what my life will be like without the meds that enable me to get out of bed every day. I have scoliosis and fibromyalgia, and the pain is sometimes almost unbearable with pain meds. I'm terrified how bad it will be without them after I get through the withdrawals.
I have two children, and I try to attend all their functions and activities. I try to attend all their field trips and such. I worry that I will be unable to continue to do these things with them. It will break my heart and theirs if I have to start sitting out of life due to the terrible pain I will be in again.
I urge you to find an insurance company that has its customers at heart. They are out there if you look hard and don't settle. Humana is not one of these. I was not notified of these changes in time to look for other coverage, so now I'm stuck with Humana for another year unless I want to pay a penalty as well for the rest of my life.
On Medicare, you only have a short time at the end of the year to change your coverage to avoid a penalty. If you change coverage outside of this time frame, then they will penalize you for as long as you have Medicare coverage.
There are hundreds of insurance companies out there, so be thorough!
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