I’m not sure how it happened, but this morning I ended up on the Insane Medical Bullshit side of TikTok.
TikTok served up probably 5 videos right off the bat showing people who are fighting with insurance companies to pay for their life-saving medication and arguing with doctors who don’t think they can “afford” the treatment they’re seeking.
A man talked about his need for monthly injections to keep him from dying of sepsis. His insurance company has approved these injections, but they’ve delayed their preferred pharmacy from filling the prescription. He has no idea why. He’s spent hours on the phone with them to no avail. Luckily, there are “emergency” doses he can get, but he doesn’t want to be an emergency every single time. FILL THE DAMN PRESCRIPTION!
Another guy recorded a conversation with his grandmother’s doctor where he asked REPEATEDLY for her to prescribe a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). For anyone who doesn’t know, a CGM monitors the blood sugar levels for diabetic patients. It lets them know if there’s a problem before there’s a problem. Gomer has been wearing one since January and everyone who we’ve met who have had diabetes since before CGMs are like, “You have no idea how amazing this product is. It’s a literal lifesaver!” It does give us a lot of peace of mind, for sure. There is even an app I have on my phone where I can see his numbers. I don’t check Life 360 for him anymore, I check his Dexcom.
This man was advocating for his grandma to get a CGM and the doctor said, “It’s not covered by Medicare.”
He insisted that he didn’t care. He would figure out how to pay for it if she’d just prescribe the damn thing. He told her that several times his grandma’s levels had dipped dangerously low and it was vital for her to have one.
That’s when the doctor said, “I don’t think you can afford it."
Ok. Yes, CGMs aren’t cheap. My co-pay for 1 CGM is $120. Gomer needs 3 a month. I’m not good at math, but I think that’s a lot of money. But she’s completely wrong to say they can’t afford it. How insane is that? That was completely uncalled for and she should be reported immediately to the medical board. That’s a horrible way to treat your patients. I’ve had NUMEROUS doctors bend over backwards to figure out how I can afford expensive medications for myself and my kids. I’ve been brought to tears by their efforts to save me thousands of dollars. And this bitch goes and ruins it for the whole profession!
As I watched more of these videos of people fighting with insurance companies and begging for medicine, it made me angrier and angrier. Doctors wouldn’t even have these conversations with patients if insurance wasn’t an issue.
If you’ve been here for a bit, then you know I have two kids with some major health issues and my (unpaid) part-time job is advocating for them to get the treatment and meds they need. It is a neverending to-do list of calls to make and letters to write. It is exhausting and can be overwhelming at times.
It should also be completely unnecessary. Supposedly we live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Then why don’t we have affordable (if not FREE) healthcare? We pay plenty for our taxes and if we’d just tax Apple and Amazon and Facebook and all of the other billion dollar companies at a fair rate, we’d have enough money for us to have free insurance—and a shit ton of other nice things.
Instead the government is taking our money and spending it on sci-fi, dystopian nonsense. They’ve given Northrop Grumman Corporation (a weapons contractor, BTW) money to come up with plans to build a train on the moon within 10 years.
Let me repeat that: A FUCKING TRAIN ON THE MOON.
We don’t have health insurance because the Department of Defense wants a train on the moon. Let’s see, homelessness is still a crisis, and we have shitty infrastructure, plus teachers spending their own money on their students, oh, and unclean water but by all means, take our tax money and spend it on a fucking train for billionaires!
Because we all know the train is for billionaires, right? They’re the ones who are going to colonize the moon. They’re going to wait until climate change is so bad they can’t live here anymore and then they’re going to fuck off to the moon.
I’m sure the train is also for weapons. It’s being commissioned by the DOD! The stupid fucking Space Force will need ways to get their weapons to their moon base so they can shoot people from the moon. It’s always about weapons.
At the end of the day, it all comes back to cool toys that kill and maim people who then can’t afford the medical treatment they need because there’s a train on the moon.
Remember when it’s time to vote that they want a train on the moon, Arizona has rolled their abortion laws back to the goddamn 1800s, and guns are the leading cause of death for children.
Also remember that people who are genuinely shocked the eclipse didn’t usher in the second coming will DEFINITELY show up to vote for the shit they care about.
You read the Substack, but have you read any of the books? Grab one today!
We can't have decent health insurance because that's bleeding Socialism and we can't have that!
"Hey, doc, if people can pay for CGMs for their dogs and cats, they can probably find the money to do it for their beloved relatives." Betcha that physician doesn't realize dogs/cats wear the same CGMs that people do. [sigh] Unfortunately, wanta bet that family doesn't have access to a different physican within reasonable distance? Some places are limited in their choice of doctors, which makes it all worse.