That's it

[Guest guest]

I am beyond angry. I am really beside myself.

I am unemployed and have been paying COBRA insurance by cashing in my

retirement early - almost $1000/month. My insurer is Regence BC/BS of

Oregon. They require that I get prior authorization for Xolair every 6

months. It's no bargain, either. They consider Xolair a medical

procedure, not a drug, and charge for it accordingly. I pay $800 per

dose up to the $2000 maximum out of pocket charge.

I just got a letter saying that their physician consultant has

determined that they are unable to establish any ongoing health

benefits resulting from Xolair treatment.

It means absolutely nothing to them that I am off of prednisone

completely, that my diabetes and blood pressure have improved, that I

have lost weight, that I can walk outside without having an asthma

attack, that I have not had an attack in the four years I have been on

the drug, that I use my rescue inhaler only once ot twice a week, that

my rescue inhaler is the only other asthma drug I use...

This from a woman who was on daily prednisone, for whom they were

considering oxygen, who was being hospitalized on a yearly basis.

This was the second request. My only option is an appeal to the state

insurance commission. I have no job, and I worry that I will not be

able to get any other kind of health insurance to cover me.

I am tired of health insurance companies making obscene profits in

their ivory towers off of people's suffering. This isn't right. It's

as if they think that asthma just goes away on its own! Why do they

think that I suddenly got better?

Right now, I don't know what I am going to do. I have to assess what

the right course of action is. I feel like these people are taking my

life away from me.