At the beginning of September I formally used the resources of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. Over five years ago I was diagnosed with diabetes as well as high blood pressure. When I got the official verification, I was immediately placed in the hospital for four days. A few weeks later I received a bill for close to $20000. Thankfully, I had insurance with the company I was with at the time and I ended up having to spend less than $500. Trust me, I can’t just pull $500 from thin air but I recognized that $500 was easier to pay off than $20000.

For a myriad of reasons, one of which I suspect had to do with my medical condition judging by patterns I was informed of by other employees at the time, I was let go from that job. Of course, I was given an option of getting private insurance, but at $500 a month and without a job, the insanity of paying that much was not logical for me. When I finally got a new job there was no insurance offered, so for close to five years, until Obamacare activated, I had no insurance to cover medical costs.

In retrospect it was probably a risky venture for me to undertake, but about two years ago I started traveling to Mexico to get some needed medication. On the up side, the price of medication in Mexico was significantly lower than in the United States, even if I had insurance. The only thing I couldn’t get cheaper in Mexico was testing supplies. The medication had variable results. Sometimes it would work great, other times not so much. Just to give an example of the issues I was having with my blood sugar, when I was off the medication, which I started off with Metformin before moving on to insulin, I would routinely have tests showing my blood sugar between 250-400 on average. Trust me, those numbers aren’t good. With the medication I could get my sugar to drop to around 150-180 but after a week or so of use the sugar would pop back up.

Doing something I would defiantly regard as stupid on my part, I started doubling up on the dosage. It would help for a few days then the numbers would jump up again. Less than a year ago I stopped bothering to take the medication or monitor my blood sugar. The cost to result ratio was terrible and having a constant reminder that my blood sugar was high and there was nothing I could do to stop it wasn’t a great motivator.

In July, soon after the San Diego Comic-Con, I made the time to wade through the bureaucratic waters find a doctor and get the help I needed. I get where you need to have certain procedures set up for an efficient running system catering to a variety of needs, but the byzantine maze of paperwork and forms can be daunting. I’m sure everyone is aware of the nightmare that was at the start of rollout of the Obamacare website. I tried signing up the first day it was offered in October of last year, was pretty sure I had everything set by the middle of November of last year but wasn’t fully sure I had everything correct until I got the first bill from the insurance company in January.

One big complication I had, which still continues to this day, is that when I signed up I was at one address and now I’m at another. To change the address, which seems like it should be incredibly simple, has proven insanely and unnecessarily difficult. First, I can’t make the change in my address with the insurance company that I pay money to. I have many times gone to the site to make the address change, only to get an email hours or days later saying they can’t make the change until the information is changed at the Health Care website. From February to March I tried making the change at the website but the change kept getting reset. When I made the appointment to see a doctor I decided to try again to make the change on the Health Care website but was met with a message saying that in April the site had reset all the passwords and I would have to create a new one. No big deal there until they asked one of the verifying questions which happens to be a date. On the page, it didn’t specify what form the date should be entered in. Was it numbers or words and numbers? Was it in the order of year, month, day or day, month year? Of course I had five tries to get the correct answer before the system would lock me out.

To be fair, I know I could call and probably get the situation handled, but to be honest I can’t stand the idea of calling up and working through the maze of call center employees just to get an address change. Then, if I’m lucky, I can then make the change with my insurance company without any hassle. I look at the fact that I get my correspondence with them through email and the one thing I needed, my health insurance card, I was able to get a copy of online and with a little bit of McGuyvering I was able to make a physical one. Since I also have a backup of the information on my phone, pad and in the cloud I think I have access to all the proof anyone medical person would need about my current insurance.

Dealing with the actual clinic staff and doctor in September was fantastic. The doctor was straight with me about my condition and a course of action. I still hate that I have to pay for visits, but that’s why they call it co-pay. I have to remind myself that the money and time I spend now in managing things will pay off for me later. The good news is so far I haven’t been hit with any huge payment nor have I been hit with some health issues prevalent in my family history. However, diabetes and high blood pressure are enough for me to seriously manage.

At the beginning of October I had another visit to the doctor and the tests he ran confirmed the diabetes and high blood pressure. He gave me a prescription for both, as well as for testing supplies. So, here’s an example of another bureaucratic trap that seems unnecessary. The doctor said he wasn’t sure which testing supplies were covered under my plan. When I went to the pharmacist, I was told that the supplies covered by my insurance would cost me $60 for 50 test strips. OK, let that sink in for a moment. I had insurance, which presumably means they were covering some of the cost, plus I make monthly payments (and at close to $200 a month isn’t a bargain) and yet I had to kick in another $60 for 50 test strips. The pharmacist told me the actual meter would run me another $15, the lancets would be $5 and he mentioned a few other things but I zoned out by that time.

I wrote some time about how much I detested the whole racket with diabetic testing strips. I knew by the numbers that telling me what insurance covered price wise was not entirely true because the high end strips were around the price I was quoted, and that was the off the shelf price. Where was the payment break? Had I not been knowledgeable about the testing strip prices, I would have paid that price and would have been paying that price for some time. Since I’ve been through this I knew I could go to Target and get strips for their propriety brand for $40 for 50 and even better I could go to Walmart for their travel brand strips which included a meter, for $20 for 50. I really hate something I have to do to maintain my health has to cost so much when it doesn’t need to. I makes me even madder that the insurance company appears to get the most expensive brand of strips for approval yet there are more reasonably priced ones on the market.

In any event, I got home and started taking the medication. Because I had to get the testing supplies it took another day for me to get them. The results of my first test was surprising. When I was tested at the clinic in September, my glucose level was 320. It was depressing because it was high but not unexpected. I started doing a few health management things between visits just to get myself ready for what I thought might be bad news. I was trying to watch my portions of food and I cut out all sugar drinks. I wasn’t a big sugar drinker when it came to soda and stuff, but sweet tea was my poison, probably literally. Mostly I drink water and unsweetened tea. Because of the high blood pressure, I cut down on caffeine also. Again, I wasn’t big on it, but working the night shift can be tiring so I would drink a cup or three of coffee to keep me awake on rough nights. Now I make sure the tea I drink at work has no caffeine.

The results of that first glucose test had my blood sugar at 99! I was positive the machine was broken so I checked around the house for two other testing devices I had from a while ago just to make sure the test was accurate. They confirmed the number was accurate. So far my glucose levels haven’t been over 140, knock on wood. The metformin is working nicely and the high numbers seem are occurring a few hours after a meal, which is to be expected. I’m slowly changing diet and eating habits to bring the numbers down further. Like the doctor told me this is going to be a journey lasting the rest of my life. It something I knew in the back of my head but I had to get the information handed to be by a professional to let everything sink in.

One of the things I’m a little concerned about has to do with the medication I received from Mexico.  It was the same brand and dosage but it never had the effect of what I’m using now. I’m hoping all that happened in taking the medication was a waste of money and not some effect to my health. All in all, I like my doctor and the clinic staff as far as my health concerns, but I’m not so happy with the bureaucracy I have to navigate. Thankfully, so far, I don’t have to deal with that too much.

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My Experience with the Obamacare - October 13, 2014
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