Why I Hate Insurance Companies

As you may know, I am allergic to the world.  To just highlight some of the long list of allergens I am allergic to, the most serious allergies of mine are:

• Peanuts
• Horses
• Cats
• AND MANY MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Because of these multiple allergies, I have to carry around an EpiPen. I’ve never had to use one, knock on wood, but better be safe than sorry! Plus, the school also has to have one in case of an emergency. On top of that my mom normally carries one as well.

Trust me, there is no shortage of epinephrine at my house.

Anyway, the EpiPens don’t last forever. In about six months, they expire and I have to get three new sets. It just so happened that mine expired at the end of December, so I had to get new ones. My allergist recommended I get the new kind of EpiPen that talks you through what to do to inject the medication. You know, just in case I am unresponsive and I cannot stab myself, someone else knows what to do. It’s a really nice feature to have.

So, my mom went into the pharmacy to get three sets of the new talking EpiPens with the assumption that they would each be approximately $100. She knew that the new talking ones were a little more expensive than the old, non-talking ones, which were $75 a set. She, at the time, thought $75 was outrageous. Boy does she wish she could go back to paying a mere $75.

When she went to go pay for the prescription, the pharmacist told her that the three new EpiPens, in total, were going to cost $1,500. That’s $500 a set! My mom almost had a heart attack right then and there. She then found out that the old EpiPens cost $400 dollars a piece. That’s over 5 times the once outrageous $75 they used to be. My mom was so shocked that she decided to go home and do a little research on why my EpiPens all of a sudden cost so much.

Turns out that all of a sudden, we now had a deductible on prescription medication. So, until we spend a certain amount on prescription medication, our insurance company won’t cover anything. We always had a deductible for other medical expenses, like doctor visits or surgeries. But now all of a sudden that deductible now applies to our prescription medication as well. Great.

Luckily my mom found a coupon for the EpiPens, and she gave up the EpiPen she normally carries, making our total about $580. Which is still outrageous enough to give my mom a heart attack. I almost had to hand my mom’s card to the cashier she was so upset. 

Why do insurance companies have to change things so often? It’s like as soon as my parents have their insurance figured out, they change the plan on us, time and time again. Which is just peachy.

From my angry corner to yours,

Jennifer Whyskers