So I’m due to have a cortisone shot this week. This is the ultimate culmination of two years of going round and round on this weird neck thing that went away for a year or so only to rear its head again this spring past – I’ve run out of patience waiting for it to go away on its own and this is the logical next step.
Problem is, in the week leading up to this procedure, I can’t take almost any of the normal NSAIDs. Ibuprofen, naproxen, etc etc – all of them are contraindicated with the upcoming injection. So the doctor who’s doing the injection called in a prescription for Celebrex, which is hepatic rather than renal and thus all right to use in case I need painkillers for the duration. And I went to pick it up…and Blue Shield refused to cover it.
See, Blue Shield doesn’t see anything in my prescription record that says I’ve taken two other NSAIDs, and they think I should take those first. Despite the fact that everything they cite as an alternative is on the list of contraindicated meds for this procedure. Despite the fact that my primary care physician specifically told me to take prescription-level doses of Advil rather than write a script that she didn’t expect Blue Shield would cover, because it’s an OTC drug.
In other words, Blue Shield is second-guessing my doctors. And incorrectly, given the nature of the problem. The doctor tells me not to use these drugs, and Blue Shield says I must use those drugs. Impasse. The catch is, one of those parties is making decisions based on (presumably) medical training and experience, and the other one is making decisions based on what the three-ring binder says to do.
And ultimately, this is why privately-insured health care will fuck you: because a private insurer’s entire business model depends on them not providing you with the coverage for which you paid. So far this year, Blue Shield has refused to pay for these meds, and refused to pay the MRI provider because they didn’t have the right pre-authorization. I haven’t delved into that at all, because I’ve never yet gotten a bill, but I fully expect that at some point it will come back to me, at which point, well, if I have to go around seeking pre-authorization for everything I do, what’s the point of paying through the nose for a PPO? If I want to be in an HMO, I’ll pay Kaiser less money for the privilege.
This is why the teabaggers can kiss my ass: because the bureaucrats between you and your doctor are already here. They have been for years. At this point, the dipshits with their tricorn hats and Medicare scooters are fighting like hell for Blue Shield’s right to keep screwing me while they ride off with their own government-provided health care, and I’m not about to sacrifice myself so a bunch of fucking baby boomers can have gold-plated care in their dotage.
And here’s the thing: I can afford those pills. Vandy Lifestyle, bitches. $5.71 a tablet means nothing to me. How many people are there who need medication that they can’t afford to pay $180 a bottle for? What are they supposed to do? Well, the doctor thinks you need this, but oops, insurance company doesn’t think you do, so you can lump it or find the scratch to pay for it all yourself? Or forget about the procedure? Get the doctor to write a script for something else and hope that gets covered, then hope that when it doesn’t work, Blue Shield will deign to let you try what the doctor originally wanted to use?
This is why I back Obamacare. This is why I back single-payer. Perfect? No, but it’s not going to insult my intelligence by screwing me over and charging me for the privilege while telling me this is the greatest system of health care in human history and how lucky I am not to be a poor benighted Canadian or Briton. Non nobis solum, assholes. Not for ourselves alone. That’s what society means.