Welcome to Rationed Health Care as it exists today. My Dr. informed my wife today that Medicaid was forcing him to cut every patients Pain Meds to save money. I am a Chronic Pain Patient, actually disabled because of the amount of pain I endure on a daily basis. The Dr. asked my wife to have me make a appt. so he can explain to me the plan to cut my insufficient pain meds by 2/3s in the next couple months. I cannot believe this can happen in the US where we are bombarded with " America has the best Health Care in the World ". The next time you hear someone claim that call them a liar because it is no longer true.
I live with what some call a Cluster Headache, also known as a Migraine that never goes away. I live my life by the degrees of pain I am in at any given moment and to cut what little Medicaid will allow me is just Sadistic. Without all the sad and gory details let me explain the Hell I'm about to enter.
Some of you have read my diary The Caregivers Prison which will give you many more details if you are curious about my life. Since I wrote that diary not much as changed in my except the continued downward spiral of my wifes health but she is still hanging tough.
My current medications consists of 4 Blood Pressure Meds and 360 Percocet a month, that is 2 every 4 hrs, 24/7. The amount of pain I am in is what causes the high blood pressure. I have taken these same meds for more than a year now and even my Dr knows, and agrees that I should be able to be given more but Medicare had tied his hands so he was giving me what he could. My Dr. is not some hack, he is the Directer of our County Medical Clinic overseeing 12 Drs and a huge staff of techs, Nurses, a pharmacy, and support staff. He has sent to to a Pain Management Clinic in the past where they gave me a couple epidurals in the neck and suggested a higher dosage or strong med. and sent me on my way. The Epidurals did nothing for me and because I am not terminal Medicare would not allow stronger meds. BTW, terminal no longer matters as they plan on cutting back my wifes pain meds also.
I can already see my future. Every couple days I will go to the local ER to Beg for a shot to keep me from having to cut my head off. We will fight and argue about the Ca. Law that demands they treat my pain before they send me away. Sometimes I may win but with the new rules that may no longer be possible. I have not had to go to a ER in over 8 yrs so it's not as if I'm a habitual visitor to the ER. I wonder if that will matter? I can also foresee no longer being able to care for my wife, or even myself has the pain grows unbearable. Suicide will fast become a attractive choice. Sound too dramatic ? If so then you have never had a migraine.
Our US Constitution say every American has the Right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Without the Meds I need to barely survive on a daily basis I can have none of those and yet our Federal Gov. has mandated that I suffer in hell until I die. Who will stand up in Congress and demand this stops ? I have my doubts that anyone will have the balls to buck this penny-pinching outrage even tho 1 trip to the ER will cost 4 or 5 times what my prescription costs.