........bitterly ironic as that must sound.
Take last year's flu-shot shortage as an exapmle. last thing any of us wants is a nasty influenza, right? while everyone was wondering how they were gonna get theirs, I got my flu-vac a week before flu-season began. I guess in retrospect the shortage wasn't all
that bad, but there was a lot of anxiety swirling abound leading into flu season. I had no such worries, although i do recall a twinge of guilt. (who's giving up theirs so i can get mine?)
Anyway, today was the first time i refilled my meds in the new year. Needless to say the pharmacy was a madhouse, thanks in large part to the implimentation of Bush's goofy perscription drug plan. So now i'll get back to my original point of HIV having some bizarre advantages. I've been on meds for like 10 years and during that period my health insurance situation changes several times. At times i was
totally covered, sometimes (like now)woefully underinsured and even a year or so with no coverage at all. At no point in the past 10 years have i ever had a problem getting my meds. even during the lean times when i leaned on public assistance assistance ("welfare"), getting meds was never the challenging part. would you believe it is because of (rather than in spite of) my HIV status that i am ensured continuity each and every time I go to the pharmacy.
I am not sorry that my trip get refills was quick-n-easy. But there were at least a dozen others milling about the pharmacy who were in various stages of the approval process. Most looked completely impatient and defeated. There were a few old folks there too, who probably were in the worst shape. I was too ashamed to even make eye contact with them.
But it was my pharamcist who really seemed bent over a barrel since Jan 1st. She seemed really happy to see me. "you're an
easy one, Jay. " refering, of course to my 'script plan that come-what-may has been water-tight for the past decade. It's old-school style. Give her the script, walk away with the pills. No muss no fuss.
When I asked the phamacist how it's been since the curious Bush plan kicked in she told me in no uncertain terms just how bad it was. She looked like hell, totally beat up. I felt awful for her. My business took about 5 minutes and as i was leaving i got some frustrated snears from the others who's prospects seem a lot more complicated than mine. "Yo! why didn't his require a phone call??!!" Little did they know, I'm an HIV-VIP.
Let's face it, HIV meds are BIG BUCKS!! I may be
covered but somewhere a drug company big wig is smiling.
lassiter space