Hi, I feel your pain ... or at least, your terror.
Insurance companies have done this to me before, a couple of times (allergy/asthma meds and abx). Thanks to helpful doctors and pharmacists, I was able to keep getting my meds covered. In large part because other meds -- the ones the company was still covering -- had been tried and failed.
Three suggestions: Er, more than three:
1) Talk to your pharmacist - succinctly. Take in a note with your doctor's name, insurance company name, the name of the med that works, a list of all the ones that haven't (that you can recall off-hand). Maybe a brief note ' about how disabled you were before. Ammunition. Give the same note to your doctor's office. Make it easier to advocate for you.
2) Apply for the Lyrica patient assistance program, at WWW.rxhope.com, under the Hardship Exemption, if you meet the fairly generous income criteria. (If approved, this might work out well for you. Rx should be for a 90-day supply, refillable x4.)
3) See what the prescription price would be with this free discount card (the site has a lookup feature). Look for coupons. (Do this even if the insurance company keeps covering it for you.)
4) Investigate the insurance offered at the school you plan to attend.
5) You could try contacting The National Fibromyalgia Association, or searching for "fibromyalgia support" -- a local support group might be a good place to organize AB action campaign for patients, friends, families. (Letters to editors can be good -- and you could note that you only have energy to write because of this med. Oh, and what's the name of that petition-circulating group that emails me almost every day? Also, pressure is good, but avoid the word.) Does your state have a patient-advocate or consuner-advocate program? Possibly out of the attorney general's office? I know it has congresspersons -- try their constituent outreach/support/advocacy services.
Insurance companies have done this to me before, a couple of times (allergy/asthma meds and abx). Thanks to helpful doctors and pharmacists, I was able to keep getting my meds covered. In large part because other meds -- the ones the company was still covering -- had been tried and failed.
Three suggestions:
Er, more than three:
1) Talk to your pharmacist - succinctly. Take in a note with your doctor's name, insurance company name, the name of the med that works, a list of all the ones that haven't (that you can recall off-hand). Maybe a brief note ' about how disabled you were before. Ammunition. Give the same note to your doctor's office. Make it easier to advocate for you.
2) Apply for the Lyrica patient assistance program, at WWW.rxhope.com, under the Hardship Exemption, if you meet the fairly generous income criteria. (If approved, this might work out well for you. Rx should be for a 90-day supply, refillable x4.)
3) See what the prescription price would be with this free discount card (the site has a lookup feature). Look for coupons. (Do this even if the insurance company keeps covering it for you.)
4) Investigate the insurance offered at the school you plan to attend.
5) You could try contacting The National Fibromyalgia Association, or searching for "fibromyalgia support" -- a local support group might be a good place to organize AB action campaign for patients, friends, families. (Letters to editors can be good -- and you could note that you only have energy to write because of this med. Oh, and what's the name of that petition-circulating group that emails me almost every day? Also, pressure is good, but avoid the word.) Does your state have a patient-advocate or consuner-advocate program? Possibly out of the attorney general's office? I know it has congresspersons -- try their constituent outreach/support/advocacy services.
Good luck!
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