One more way my employer screws me

[Horse with no Name]

We have the WORST absolute health insurance and prescription coverage.
It does NOT cover stomach medicines or allergy medications.
My husband has been TRYING for 2 weeks to get a 90 day prescription filled. This has NEVER been a problem but now, all of the sudden, it is impossible to get maintenance medicine filled for 90 days. Who does this?
So today, I go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for Levaquin (an antibiotic) and my COPAY is $115. :wtf:
What happened to the $10 and $20 copays?
Anyway...I just needed to rant.
It is ridiculous.

[babylonsister]

1. And you're a nurse, right? So it's an equal opportunity screwing.

Do you get your health insurance reviewed every November, and did they tell you about any changes?

[Horse with no Name]

6. We knew we were changing

Our only choice was this (mine is the best plan available at the most cost) and a healthcare savings account where they matched your dollars and you basically buy your own healthcare (not a healthcare spending account).
Yeah...our hospital is going under. I give it until the end of the year. The corporation has driven it into the ground.
We just had our (first) mandatory 25% workforce reduction and I know we are having another one, just not sure when it will be.
When a rural local hospital lays off employees who have served for 25+ years, it isn't someplace I want to work.
I am just biding my time until May when I plan on leaving.
I have money in my healthcare spending account that I am using up and I am stocking up on prescriptions that I routinely take so that if I am without insurance for a few months, I won't have to go to the Emergency Room. I will just treat myself as needed.

[babylonsister]

8. I do remember your previous posts about your job; I'm sorry to

hear the hospital is going under and employees seem so disposable.
Good luck with your future plans, HwnN, and hang in there.

[Horse with no Name]

9. Luckily I am one of the fortunate ones

and my plans were moving me in May regardless.
But the worst part about it right now is that the second our census drops, we are sent home.
I have gone in at 6:45 am for a 12 hour shift and have been sent home at 9 a.m. because we sent patients home.
It has turned into a part-time job for the most part.
I feel sorry for the ones who have roots here who had planned on working here the rest of their lives.
It's just a bump in the road for me.

[madokie]

2. Yes it is, there is so much to fix in America I just hope we have enough time to do it all

If I have learned any one thing it is that one shouldn't leave life's essentials to the market forces, the owners will screw you every time.

the prescriptions could be sold to us for pennies on the dollar of what they charge us anyway.

[eleny]

3. Maybe you now have a plan with a deductible followed by a copay

[PinkTiger]

4. That medicine is expensive -

It said online that it was $471 for 50 pills.

http://www.pharmacychecker.com/Pricing.asp?DrugId=18915&DrugStrengthId=30834

[Gman]

5. Short term, would it be cheaper to buy supplemental insurance?

It's BS that you have to. But until you can get a better plan, maybe that's an option?

[Horse with no Name]

7. As I said above

I will be leaving this job in a couple of months.
I already pay OUTRAGEOUS rates for this policy--I can't afford any more since my husband was laid off in January.
Better things will be on the horizon, but for now I need some Vaseline.

[Selatius]

10. Your employer isn't your problem. Your problem is PhRMA and the Health Insurance Industry

Your employer is merely passing on the ridiculous cost of health care back onto you.

[AzDar]

11. You're not alone. in the last 6 months or so, we've been receiving

strange auxiliary bills from our health care providers: a bill for 80.00 from our pediatrician (reason: diagnosis (for a rash!) not covered); a bill from our general practitioner for 56.00 for a sling (!). The topper: two weeks ago, we received a bill from the E.R. (10-year-old had a skateboarding accident in January) for 1,100.00!!!
Turns out that a new annual deductible for E.R. visits (in addition to the usual 250.00), went in to effect , along with a new 80/20% policy...meaning on top of the 500.00 (new deductible), 250.00 (co-pay), we have to pay 20% !!
Hubby's company did let us "know": a tiny blurb at the bottom of a paycheck receipt in December. We still haven't received the bill for the M.R.I...He was in the E.R. for less than two hours!!
We keep asking (rhetorically, of course...we have two kids),

"WHY even HAVE health insurance?"