Tearing My Hair Out!

Mom’s been doing good since she got on the eye drop therapy for her glaucoma. The drug plan she joined costs her $25.00 per month and the co-pay for the eye drops costs her $35.00 per month. Without this coverage, her drops would cost $190.00 per month!!!!
She was happy with this arrangement until she got her current bill.

Since she didn’t sign up for drug coverage when she first got on Medicare, she has to pay a penalty for that. The penalty is an extra $13.00 per month on her drug plan which ups the total monthly payment to $38.00. She threw a bit of a hissy fit when this happened but Sis J and I talked her down and she finally agreed that $38.00 per month was still way cheaper than $190.00.

Well, this current bill charged her the $13.00 each for January, February, and March all in one bill which brought the total to $64.00. Oh my God! She just blew! She cussed up a storm declaring she was NOT going to pay that bill. I explained to her that they were catching up on the penalty fees from the last 2 months plus this one that is due in March, then after that it will go back to the $38.00.

I am not paying it! I’m sick to death of all these bills! To hell with it! I’m dropping the whole thing.
Mom, you can’t drop the whole thing or you’ll get penalized for that, too!
Why are they charging me a penalty anyway?
Medicare is charging you the penalty because you didn’t sign up for drug care when you first signed up for Medicare years ago.
I didn’t need drugs then! Why would I sign up for it then?
Mom, I agree with you there. If it was me and I didn’t need any drugs, I’d probably not sign up for it either. But, the reality is--this is Medicare’s rule and there is nothing you can do about it.
Yes there is something I can do about it--I’ll stop this whole drug plan. I won’t pay the bill. What can they do to me?
Mom, you have to keep the plan. Those eye drops cost $190.00 for a month’s prescription and you can’t afford that!
I’ll make myself afford it! I won’t put up with this crap!
Mom, if you can make yourself afford $190.00 then why can’t you simply make yourself afford the $64.00 for now, then the $38.00 from now on. I don’t get your logic.

She got quiet after that. When Sis J came over later, I recounted the conversation with Mom and she told her the same thing I told her.
It’s all a bunch of shit but I guess I have no choice in the matter.

Mom has an appointment this coming Monday to have her eyes checked to see if the drops are helping her eye pressure. I sure hope they are! If they’re not and Doc says she has to have surgery we will have an even bigger blow-up on our hands!

I have to go pick up the clumps of my hair from the floor now............

Mom’s Eye Care Delayed

We’ve had to put a hold on Mom’s glaucoma care. The cheaper eye drops ($4.00 at WalMart) were doing nothing to help the eye pressure. Doc prescribed another medicine and when I called about it I found out the cost was $216.00!! Impossible for Mom to afford. I told Doc this--again--and he said he had no idea how much the drugs cost. They are not informed of that by the drug salespeople. Maybe if they were, they’d realize how ridiculous the drug companies prices are and help us to change things. ---Not!!

Mom threw her hands up in the air and said “Forget it! I’m not having anything done! I’ll just get through it on my own and deal with it when I go blind. When that time comes, you can lead me around by the hand.”

“Ummm no, Mom. I’ll put you in bed with a bell!” Well! She seemed to like that idea and I thought ‘oh no! She’ll drive me nuts with the bell.’ “That’s ok, Mom. I’ll lead you around by the hand.”

Sis and I finally talked her into signing up for the prescription plan through Medicare. It will cost her $26.00 per month and $5.00 per month for her eye drops--the good eye drops. Very affordable. She threw a fit saying she can’t afford that so Sis and I told her we will pay for it and she finally agreed. Her coverage will start the first of the year so we’ll go back to making appointments for her then. She will not have the surgery due to the fact her co-pay would be about $2,000 but at least she’s agreeing to have the eye drop therapy which will be for life. We haven’t even dealt with the subject of her cataracts yet. It was enough of a struggle to get the glaucoma stuff straightened out.

I feel bad for Mom. Her day revolves around doing word puzzle books and reading a lot of fiction books. If she loses her eyesight it will be seriously devastating to her. I think she would just curl up in bed and sleep until her day above comes along. I hope those eye drops do their job!

Goody Update: Goody has a new full name thanks to Nancy (friend and follower). Her name is now ‘Good and Plenty’ after the famous candy! It certainly fits her as she weighs in at 15 pounds!

She has adjusted to our daily routine so she’s up when we are up for the day then spends a good deal of the day outside. She is used to being out there and that’s fine since she stays by the house or in the yard. She does most of her ‘business’ outside which makes it nice for me. I only have to clean out her litter box about every other day. At night, she goes to bed with me and sleeps through the night. She keeps my feet warm. She is a joy and Mom really likes having her around so things are working out really well!

Outrageous Drug Prices!

I am appalled at the high cost of drug prices! Mom went for her cataract evaluation and found out not only does she have cataracts in both eyes, she also has glaucoma! She is not showing any symptoms yet so she swore the doc was wrong. It took him, Sis, and me to explain to her that the symptoms won’t show up until it gets worse and too late to do anything about it. She needed to ‘nip it in the bud’ starting now. So, she finally relented and agreed to treatment. Doc called in a prescription for glaucoma eye drops and all was well.

So we thought!

Before going to the pharmacy, I called for the price so Mom would know how much to write the check for so I could pick it up. The eye drops cost $190!! For a one month supply! What!!!???? There was no way she could afford that every month over her lifetime (that’s how long she’ll have to use them), no way anyone in her income bracket could afford that! She is on Social Security and only has Medicare Part A and Part B. She has no prescription coverage at all.

When Mom originally signed up for Medicare, it wasn’t explained very well to her so she didn’t know about the prescription coverage. She has to wait until her birthday--February--before she can make changes on her plan. So, she’s stuck with what she has for now.

Mom said she was not going to do the treatment due to the high cost and I agreed with her. I said I’d see what else could be done.

I got on Wal Mart’s website and looked up their $4.00 prescription plan. There was a list of a dozen different glaucoma eye drops available for $4.00 per month or $10.00 for 3 months. I emailed the doc with the information asking him if she could use one of the cheaper drops. He said she could although those eye drops were less effective, she would have to use them twice per day rather than once. I said that was fine. So, I picked up the order at Wal Mart and all is fine now.

It just enrages me that the drug companies make these wonderful drugs for all kinds of diseases but have them priced so high that many cannot afford them! Where’s the heart in that? It just tells me the companies are in it for the profits and not for the care of a patient. I have a dear friend with severe osteoarthritis pain and there is a wonderful drug available for treatment. It costs $1,000 per month! As that is not affordable for her, she must suffer needlessly!

Outrageous!!