Meds and travel: a nightmare story
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:45 amSince reading Judy's story about storing meds I thought I would entertain you all with the horror story I have been going through about meds, insurance, and just doctors in general for the past 6 months. When I decided to retire from the school system at 55 I was informed that I wouldn't be able to retire with my insurance unless I had been enrolled for the last 3 consecutive years in the group plan. since I had only been back from my stint of teaching in Thailand for 2 years I had to postpone my retirement till 56 in order to get that 3rd year in and be sure I had insurance. Boy was that year painful. But I survived and sure enough retired with the insurance. I know this because they take that big chunk out of my retirement check every month to pay the premium.
Fast forward to the first week of January this year when I couldn't shake a constant cough and sore throat so finally gave up and went to a local doctor in the little town where I was working near the Okefenokee. The doctor had all the compassion of slice of stale bread. But he did prescribe amoxicilian and sent me over to the hospital to get chest xrays. I returned a week later still feeling no better and sat for nearly an hour in the exam room waiting to be seen. when he came in he listened briefly to my chest and point blank told me I had COPD and should be taking my medicine. He then just got up and left the room. COPD? That's a pretty scary thing, I thought. And expensive (yes, sad that we think of cost when we look at illness in this country but it's a fact). I decided that since this doctor was no real joy to be seen by anyway I would cut my losses and go to the closest VA which was a 60 mile drive.
This was not my first visit to a VA hospital. I had enrolled in their system years ago when I was in grad school and didn't have insurance. Still it took a little while to get the paperwork up to date but I will say that the folks at Lake City VA were very kind to me. Or perhaps since I sounded like I might be spreading whooping cough or TB they just rushed to get me out of their office and into the ER. Another round of chest xrays and this time a more concerned doctor and I was diagnosed with a bad case of bronchitis. I went home with steroids and cough syrup and a follow up appointment for tests on my heart and lungs to be sure all was well in those areas since I'd had this for a while. Oh, and they did test me for TB and whooping cough neither of which I had.
A week later I was feeling sooooo much better and after I had the follow up appointments to learn that my heart was A OK but my lung function tests show that I have mild asthma I was thinking this was going to be OK. The VA will bill my insurance but doesn't ask for a co-pay. Great news, or so I thought. By the end of February I was getting bills from the doctor in town, the hospital, the guy at the hospital who read my xray and the VA. All of them said that my claim was denied because I was not an active member of this insurance group. Imagine my surprise. I called Cigna customer service who told me that I was in fact an active member and that the claims had been filed incorrectly. Huh?? by all those places different billing clerks? It has taken me until last week to get all this straightened out. The hospital in Folkston has been very patient and finally rec'd their money last week. The guy who read my xray threatened to turn me over to collection so I went on and paid that bill ($42) and wrote him a nasty note. The doctor's office hounded me till I finally paid them as well. The VA was the only place that didn't hound me but even they were eventually paid. All because one key wasn't entered right in the Cigna computers (on Sept. 1 of last year my eligibility code changed but "someone" forgot to change it on my file). So happy ending right?
Sure, I thought when I got to Newnan in the opposite corner of the state I would just go to the local VA clinic here to get my meds refilled (I'm now on 2 meds daily for the asthma which really makes a difference plus cholesterol drug of course). Wrong answer. Seems I was supposed to file a change of address with the VA in Lake City (300 miles from where I am now) before I can go to the clinc here for anything. I guess I just missed that in my instructions so I take all the blame there, but hey, I don't want to run out of my meds. The local clinic couldn't or wouldn't help me at all. They said I had to go back to my primary clinic period. Luckily I had a nice long chat with the pharmacist in the clinic at St. Marry's where I was being seen after leaving the VA hospital in Lake City. Seems she has a 5er and thinks my lifestyle is cool. I told her to please change my permanent GA address to my brother's address in Winder, GA which is about 2 hours from here. She was soooo nice. I figure if my brother gets my meds he'll get them to me. sure enough, my refills are at his house now and he and my SIL will be coming to visit me next week and bringing the drugs along with the table he has built me for my office/dining room.
so where do I keep my drugs? After all this I think I should keep them in a safe with my passport and emergency money!
Fast forward to the first week of January this year when I couldn't shake a constant cough and sore throat so finally gave up and went to a local doctor in the little town where I was working near the Okefenokee. The doctor had all the compassion of slice of stale bread. But he did prescribe amoxicilian and sent me over to the hospital to get chest xrays. I returned a week later still feeling no better and sat for nearly an hour in the exam room waiting to be seen. when he came in he listened briefly to my chest and point blank told me I had COPD and should be taking my medicine. He then just got up and left the room. COPD? That's a pretty scary thing, I thought. And expensive (yes, sad that we think of cost when we look at illness in this country but it's a fact). I decided that since this doctor was no real joy to be seen by anyway I would cut my losses and go to the closest VA which was a 60 mile drive.
This was not my first visit to a VA hospital. I had enrolled in their system years ago when I was in grad school and didn't have insurance. Still it took a little while to get the paperwork up to date but I will say that the folks at Lake City VA were very kind to me. Or perhaps since I sounded like I might be spreading whooping cough or TB they just rushed to get me out of their office and into the ER. Another round of chest xrays and this time a more concerned doctor and I was diagnosed with a bad case of bronchitis. I went home with steroids and cough syrup and a follow up appointment for tests on my heart and lungs to be sure all was well in those areas since I'd had this for a while. Oh, and they did test me for TB and whooping cough neither of which I had.
A week later I was feeling sooooo much better and after I had the follow up appointments to learn that my heart was A OK but my lung function tests show that I have mild asthma I was thinking this was going to be OK. The VA will bill my insurance but doesn't ask for a co-pay. Great news, or so I thought. By the end of February I was getting bills from the doctor in town, the hospital, the guy at the hospital who read my xray and the VA. All of them said that my claim was denied because I was not an active member of this insurance group. Imagine my surprise. I called Cigna customer service who told me that I was in fact an active member and that the claims had been filed incorrectly. Huh?? by all those places different billing clerks? It has taken me until last week to get all this straightened out. The hospital in Folkston has been very patient and finally rec'd their money last week. The guy who read my xray threatened to turn me over to collection so I went on and paid that bill ($42) and wrote him a nasty note. The doctor's office hounded me till I finally paid them as well. The VA was the only place that didn't hound me but even they were eventually paid. All because one key wasn't entered right in the Cigna computers (on Sept. 1 of last year my eligibility code changed but "someone" forgot to change it on my file). So happy ending right?
Sure, I thought when I got to Newnan in the opposite corner of the state I would just go to the local VA clinic here to get my meds refilled (I'm now on 2 meds daily for the asthma which really makes a difference plus cholesterol drug of course). Wrong answer. Seems I was supposed to file a change of address with the VA in Lake City (300 miles from where I am now) before I can go to the clinc here for anything. I guess I just missed that in my instructions so I take all the blame there, but hey, I don't want to run out of my meds. The local clinic couldn't or wouldn't help me at all. They said I had to go back to my primary clinic period. Luckily I had a nice long chat with the pharmacist in the clinic at St. Marry's where I was being seen after leaving the VA hospital in Lake City. Seems she has a 5er and thinks my lifestyle is cool. I told her to please change my permanent GA address to my brother's address in Winder, GA which is about 2 hours from here. She was soooo nice. I figure if my brother gets my meds he'll get them to me. sure enough, my refills are at his house now and he and my SIL will be coming to visit me next week and bringing the drugs along with the table he has built me for my office/dining room.
so where do I keep my drugs? After all this I think I should keep them in a safe with my passport and emergency money!
