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My husband had MRSA last year. Te bacteria attacked his bone marrow leaving both his red and white counts dangerously low. We had to wear protective garments when he was in the hospital to protect us from the bacteria, and later masks to protect him from anything we might have had.
When they sent him home from the hospital he needed a medication called Procrit which was to help restore his blood values. It had to be injected into his stomach and was around $2000 per month. He needed it desperately. At first Medco refused to prescribe it under any circumstances. One of my husband's doctors, a hematologist wrote them a really savage letter and told them that if they did not provide the medication promptly, he would put my husband back into the acute hospital and they could tell GEHA why. I also called them and asked why they wanted to kill my husband. I told them I would have my congressman investigate this if they did not provide the medication, as they were servicing a federal plan and vulnerable to a congressional. In about 48 hours they caved.
Then came the bicker about how it was to be delivered. It had to be kept cold, and they wanted to mail it. I refused and told them the local pharmacy, one of their providers could deliver it. Otherwise it was back to square one. After a few more minutes of arguing and me asking why they wanted to kill my husband they had the local pharmacy deliver it. GEHA came through for them though. The medication should have been injected by a nurse, and my husband had home health coverage, but they flatly refused to send a nurse, or allow any of the home health benefits he was eligible for. We wound up injecting him ourselves. He read me the directions and I did the injecting terrified that I would harm him somehow. Fortunately I didn't, but it was so comforting to know that we had insurance that would help us. I could hardly stand it.:wtf:
If you can ask your doctor to fax them a strong letter telling them that you need this medicine and only this medicine, and that they are not qualified to make medical decisions for you. That is between you and your doctor. There should be an appeal process. Our doctors and the hospital helped us appeal many issues and we won. They want you to give up. Don't. Keep trying and try to reach out through your insurance company and your doctor. They might be more sensitive now in the present climate. Offer to go public. Write to Michael Moore. He can be very helpful cutting th4rough the crap. His website is www.michaelmoore.com
Good luck and here's hoping for a single payer one day, so we'll only have to look back at this and retch, instead of retching constantly the way we do now.
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