Why the hell are insurance companies allowed to deny coverage so often??? If a Dr prescribes a medicine to me, it's because I need it. Nobody working at the insurance company has ever seen me or my medical records.

A close friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer after it had spread to her bones. Her Dr had some genetic testing done to know how to best treat the cancer. After the testing was done, she found out that the insurance company doesn't cover that testing. So she had to pay $5000 out of pocket. After this, the Drs found the best treatment. She has to get "preapproval" to get this treatment every year. And now, since has stage 4 cancer, this will be a lifetime treatment. Each year, she goes a couple/few months without treatment because of this. The insurance company always takes its time deciding. Her cancer is VERY aggressive too. She could lose her life because of the insurance company.

I have pretty bad asthma that is controlled by a certain inhaled steroid daily. The one I'm on now has been working awesome for me for many years. I can go months without needing my rescue inhaler. In the last 5-7 yrs, my meds have been denied by the the insurance company. They want me to try other things first. I have tried so many things now and nothing works like my Advair. I tried multiple things before Advair was available, and none of them worked. And I have tried multiple things since the insurance companies have all this power now. The last time they did it, I was using my rescue inhaler up to 20 times a day. This is not ok. I just go new insurance, and it's happening again. The last couple insurance changes, my Dr has been able to list the meds I've tried and they have gotten my medicine approved. Not this time. They want me to try something different. But, now I am pregnant. I am not going to be some test subject for the insurance company. The Advair works perfect, I am not changing. If they don't want to cover the Advair, then they'll cover my emergency room visits. The awesome part is, I am super sick right now, with either a really bad chest cold, or the flu. My lung capacity is jacked up right now. I can't do anything. That on top of being pregnant. And since they're taking so long to answer, I have run out of my Advair. Took my last hit today. So within the next couple days, I'll be feeling it. Luckily they filled my rescue inhaler. They're gonna be paying for a lot of those.

My Dad had really bad asthma and cogestive heart failure. He is on this medicine too. He is also on oxygen a large portion of the time too. His Advair was just cancelled by his insurance company too. They replaced it with Singulair. I tried Singulair early last year, when they pulled this crap on me. It didn't work at all. That's when I was using my rescue inhaler up to 20 times a day. My Dad can't handle that. He will die. He's been to the er and in ICU 4 times in the last 6 months. This will kill him! I told him about my experience with Singulair, so he's going to talk to his Dr about it. Luckily he has Advair left to get his through a while.

How can they have the right to do all this? How did they get so much power? Is this all part of Obamacare? Or did it come about because of it? I am on state insurance now, so I don't pay for it. But it doesn't seem to matter, because my meds get denied whether I pay for insurance or not. Last time I looked, this medicine was between $400-500 a month. I can't afford that.

My Dr is giving it one more try with the insurance company. If they come back with a "no", I will be changing within a couple days. So my threats about er visits and paying for extra inhalers isn't really true. It just feels good to say it. I kinda like breathing and my baby needs me to keep doing it. But I refuse to keep trying different medications for the insurance company. It's bad enough that they've got me starting and stopping the one I'm on.

I also found that I can just buy my Advair through a Canada pharmacy and pay a ton less. Can anyone suggest a good pharmacy to go through up there? In case my next insurance company screws me too.