I went back to the doctor today, and he said I definitely don't have pneumonia (YEEEAAAHH!) - but for some reason my lung capacity is equal to that of an asthmatic Octogenarian woman with one lung. Basically, this means if Carol Channing and I were in a foot race, Ms. Channing would totally smoke me ...
On your mark ... get set ... GO!
I must say, I am grateful to have health insurance - especially since most people who work in the restaurant industry do not. In fact, I am now the ONLY person with health insurance at my restaurant, which I made sure was put into my contract.
So I'm happy to only have to pay $30 when I visit my doctor. But unfortunately, instead of just immediately sending me to a Lung Specialist, my doctor is forced to do blood work, heart tests, blah blah blah - because the insurance company won't pay for an expert until my doctor does all the cheap tests first.
The other (major) problem with my insurance is that I have ZERO prescription drug coverage - so I pay retail for everything my doctor prescribes. This morning when I huffed and puffed my way into CVS and handed my prescription to the Pharmacist, she kindly informed me that it was going to cost $260 (for a one-month supply) - which is more than my total net worth at the moment.
But the Pharmacist did give me some good advice - she told me to go to Advair.com and see what kind of special offers they might have. And lo and behold, they had a "Get Your First Prescription Free" offer, which I printed out. When I returned to CVS, my cost for the Advair was exactly $0 - which is well within my budgetary guidelines at the moment.
Thanks to everyone on Twitter who sent me links for prescription assistance and/or lower-cost alternatives. I go back to the doctor AGAIN on Monday to get test results, etc.
One of these days I hope to be able to beat Carol Channing in the 50-Yard Dash...
UPDATE: My Doctor's office just called and said they have a bunch of free Symbicort samples that I might be able to use when I run out of Advair. "Might" my ass - SIGN ME UP!!! Free Drugs = Awesome.
