I did find a contract job that I started in December 2008, but being that it was a contract job, I couldn’t get health insurance through it. The job lasted 4 months, and then I was unemployed again. I found another contract job that I started in May 2009. As with the other one, since it was a contract job, there was no insurance. This position was supposed to be a contract-to-hire position (6 month contract), but the company ended my contract early (due to financial reasons … they laid off 15 people the day after my contract ended).

Happily, I found a normal job (i.e. not a contract job) in November 2009. But due to company policy, I’m not eligible for health insurance until I’ve been working there for 6 months. I’ll hit that mark in May, so hopefully I’ll have insurance again shortly after that. Unless the insurance company makes me wait even longer since I’ve been without insurance for so damn long.

Other than the fact that I haven’t seen a doctor in I don’t know how long, I have chronic dry eye which means I need to take prescription eye drops … Restasis to be exact. These eye drops are NOT cheap.

I was first prescribed these eye drops back when I had health insurance through Medica. I only had to pay a $30 co-payment for the eye drops … Medica covered the rest. That was acceptable. The company I worked for that I had the Medica insurance through closed their doors, but the client we had been working for hired me on directly. But that meant a lapse of 2 months in my insurance. Once I had insurance again, it was through Blue Cross Blue Shield of ND. With them, I had to pay a $60 co-payment for the same damn eye drops. I guess Blue Cross needed to pay for their corporate retreats somehow. But still … at least it wasn’t full price.

When I got laid on in October 2008, it was up to me to foot the entire bill for the eye drops. I couldn’t afford that, so I stopped refilling the prescription. I couldn’t take it anymore this past summer, so I went back to the eye doctor in July 2009 to get the prescription again. I called around town, and the cheapest I could find it was at White Drug in CashWise.

One refill (of 30 vials) was $108.94. The vials are single use vials, meaning I’m supposed to open them, put them in my eyes, and throw the rest away. And I’m supposed to do this twice a day. That means 2 vials per day … 2 refills a month … $217.88 A MONTH. Oh HELL NO. My eye doctor told me that I could stretch a single vial out over 2 days. That means I can stretch one refill for 2 months rather than half a month. There is definitely enough of the eye drops in a vial to cover 4 applications. So the drug company who makes these eye drops (Allergan) puts enough of the eye drops in one vial to last for 2 days, but they want me to use it one time and then toss the rest away and end up having to spend more than $200 a month out of my own pocket since I don’t have insurance. Screw you.

And if that’s not bad enough, the cost of the refill has been going up every 4 months, like clockwork. I checked my records today …

• July 2009 — $108.94
• September 2009 — $108.94
• November 2009 — $119.84
• January 2010 — $119.84
• March 2010 — $124.55

Are you fucking kidding me? $125 for a 15 day supply of eye drops (if you follow the recommended dosage instructions). That’s $250 a month … $250 a month. No wonder I stretch one vial out for 4 doses rather than 1.

From what I understand of the new health care bill that Congress passed yesterday, I will be fined if I don’t have health insurance. So if the bill was already in effect, I would have been fined ever since October 2008. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me. You’re going to make me pay a fine because I don’t have enough money to pay for health insurance? I’m sorry, but that’s fucked up. It’s a good thing that doesn’t go into effect right away. Hopefully within 2 months I’ll have health insurance. I don’t know what I’ll end up paying for these eye drops once I do get insurance again, but any little bit helps, especially when they keep raising the prices every 4 months.

One thing that I hope the health care bill will do is prevent the drug companies from raising the cost of prescriptions so damn often. Pretty soon, one refill is going to cost $200 if the drug company has their way. This is a prescription that I need. I went without it for several month only to have my eyes get so dry that it felt like I stuck my face in the sand with my eyes open. The eye drops are working. I was able to wear my contacts this weekend for the first time in over a year. I have to keep using them. The cost of them shouldn’t prohibit me from getting them.

I guess only time will tell if the health care bill is actually a good thing or not (I have my doubts), but I really hope it is. I know that there are people in worse situations health/insurance wise than I am. Something needs to be done. I just hope this bill helps more than it hurts.

Luckily I have health insurance. I was without for 3 months after I switched jobs at the beginning of this year. Well, I wish I could go back to my old insurance company. The eye drops cost over $100 (I thought they were close to $120 … that’s what I was told when I called around to different pharmacies to figure out which one to go to, but it appears that they’re just under $110. Either way … they’re still EXPENSIVE!!!). With my old insurance company, I paid only $30 and my insurance paid $71.40. With my new insurance, I pay $61.97 while insurance pays only $46.97. WTF?!?!

The prescription is supposed to last about a month. There are 32 vials in the box, and you’re supposed to use each vial only once (actually … if I used the drops like that, the box wouldn’t even last a month since I’m supposed to use ‘em twice a day). My eye doctor told me it was okay to use a single vial for 2 days. So I can stretch a single prescription out for 2 months rather than 1.

Thank goodness my paychecks are bigger with this new job. Otherwise these drops would stretch me thin. I don’t think there’s a generic brand. I wish there was. I guess I shouldn’t complain. At least I have insurance. But do these drops really have to be so damn expensive? And why does my new insurance company have to be so damn cheap? That makes me leery to go in for a checkup. I really need to though. I can’t remember the last time I saw a doctor (who wasn’t an eye doctor). But if my insurance company is so cheap with this prescription, how are they gonna be with office visits and lab work and any sort of prescription I might end up having to go on?

Getting that prescription refilled sure did ruin my day. I’m glad I didn’t do it earlier in the day.

I decided to go to Sterling Optical because they are only a couple blocks from my apartment. It took less than 2 minutes to drive there. THAT’S convenient. And I could go in on Saturdays. Even better.

I had my appointment this morning. And my suspicions were correct. I have chronic dry eye and allergies (I already knew about the allergies). That’s why I can’t wear contacts and that’s why my eyes are so damn dry in the mornings. And I liked this doctor. He seemed concerned about how dry my eyes were. When I mentioned dry eyes to the old one, he just shrugged it off. Definitely a good choice going to the new one. The only bad thing … he prescribed Restatis eye drops for me. That’s not the bad part. The bad part is that one box of those puppies costs around $120!!! Damn. And I’m going to be without insurance for 2 months during the transition from one company to the other for work. AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! The doctor suggested getting a couple of boxes, but I think my insurance company will only cover a month’s supply. CRAP!!! There goes more money from my computer fund. But I have to get these. I’m sick of the dry eyes. And he said dry eyes could lead to infection. Don’t want that.

Hopefully these drops will help. And maybe I’ll even be able to get back into contacts eventually. If not, I’ll at least get some new glasses. I guess my current prescription is too strong, according to the doctor. But it could be because I had gotten them right after the other issues I had (last year I had corneal distortion … yikes).

The other bad thing … I’ll probably be using these eye drops for the rest of my life. Great. I’d better always have insurance. Otherwise, it’ll get really expensive.

Well … I no longer have an excuse to exercise. I bought this yesterday and it was delivered today …

I had been planning on getting an elliptical at Walmart. It was the cheapest one I could find. But I stopped at Scheels yesterday and found the one I ended up getting. I couldn’t believe the sign. $99.99! And the regular price for it was $499.99. I guess they needed to get rid of what they had in stock. Man … if I didn’t luck out.

My plan is to start slow. I haven’t exercised in way too long. And I am SO out of shape. So I’m going to start with 10 minutes in the morning before work on the lowest resistance. Once I’m sure I can tolerate that, I’ll go up to 10 minutes and then up to 30 minutes. After that, I’ll start increasing the resistance. I don’t wanna kill myself by going all gung-ho at the start.

I’m hoping to see some results by the end of the summer. It would be nice to see some sooner, but like I said, I don’t wanna kill myself. I basically wanna feel better and fit into a smaller size jeans …

I was able to wear my contacts last weekend. But I wasn’t on the computer much. I thought I would try today anyways. I didn’t make it the entire day, but I did make it until 2 – 2:30. That’s pretty good. And it was so nice not to have my glasses on.

I might try to wear them again tomorrow. It all depends on how my eyes are in the morning. I’m hoping this is a sign that I can get back to wearing my contacts all the time.

But I AM taking steps to improve myself … body, mind, and spirit. Nothing big … ‘cuz I’d be liable to go back 2 steps for he 1 big one forward. I figured that if I start with little things, then I’ll keep at it and add more little things as the year goes on.

I started by eating at my kitchen table. Now, that might not sound like a change, but for me it is. I have been eating at my coffee table in front of the tv. Yeah … I can still see the tv from the kitchen table (it’s a small apartment … LOL), but I need something to keep me occupied. :G-grin:

Keeping in the ‘eating’ realm of things … I’ve started drinking chocolate milk with meals at home instead of pop. I definitely need more calcium in my diet. I am taking calcium pills, and I do eat a lot of cheese, but that’s not enough. And I know I wouldn’t drink regular milk. So I went with chocolate.

I still have PLENTY to work on. Regarding my diet … I need to work on portion control and not drinking so much pop and just generally eating healthier. And I need to start exercising too.

And I have other stuff to work on too … stuff dealing with self-esteem and self-image and that sort of stuff. That’s the stuff that’ll be harder than the stuff dealing with my diet. But … at least I have started somewhere.