One negative side effect of actually chillin' out in my apartment and not rushing around all over the city is that it seems I don't have that much (on the unemployment front at least) to write about. It wasn't so much that my funds were low, but more that the temperature in Chicago was approaching overdraft fee levels a lot (and once when it did hit -3) so I didn't want to leave my apartment regardless.
Today, however, as it was the start of a new week, I went to see the doctor. I made the appointment last week on the day of the horrible pill charges. But, my doctor wanted to consult with my in his office before switching me off of the expensive Effexor XR to regular Effexor.
Now I've been going to my doctor for years, but we don't have what you'd call a great doctor/patient relationship. While he never dismisses anything I say, he doesn't seem to understand poverty and how much things cost. On occasion, he's given out free samples of things (just to get me addicted to the wonderful stomach cooling power of certain prescription antacids, I think), but he doesn't get how expensive some of his suggestions are.
And now, with pretty crappy prescription coverage (I'm hoping this discount card proves its worth eventually), he doesn't even begin to grasp my financial situation. He did the nice thing and wrote out all of the possible pills that I could take so I could look them up online this time. But, for example, when it came to my Flonase, he couldn't believe it was $65.00 without much insurance help.
I just thought to myself, um, yeah, don't you read the news. Medical shit's expensive out here!
And it's going to cost me more than the $40.00 that you prescribing meds with generics used to cost me.
Anyhow, my bigger worry was actually that I had never used my new insurance before and I had no idea if I paid upfront (which I couldn't afford) or on the back end. It turned out it's going to be billed to me once they run it through my insurance. If what was explained to me back when I first got it is correct, it should be no more than a $50 deductable. I'm not holding my breath based on what's happened so far on the medical cost front.
Though I did get something in the mail today that should help. IDES seems to have their stuff together so far (despite reports I've heard to the contrary). I got my debit card in the mail (it won't have money on it on February 1) today after getting my letter of finding on Friday.
Now if only I could get my severance check so I could actually pay my rent without having to wait for three direct deposits of unemployment all would be right. Still, it's good to know that I'll have money to swipe when I need it starting this weekend because my bank account's getting pretty low from my last paycheck three weeks ago.
Though nothing that not going out into this cold for a couple more days won't cure.
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