frustrated

My insurance company is trying to make a medical decision for me. I can't tell you how extremely pissed off I am about it.

I've been on the same birth control, Estrostep FE, since I was 17. I've never had a side effect of any sort-- no moodiness, no weight gain, no acne problems, no spotting, nothing. In fact, it shortened my periods and made my cramps almost completely go away. It's been a blessing as the reason I got on it in the first place was because I was bleeding for weeks at a time and in pain. It was $30 a month until last fall, when they bumped it to $50. No big deal, inflation and all that, I can handle $20 a month extra to keep taking this miracle pill.

Today, my pharmacist, bless his heart, sadly looked at me over his glasses and told me the insurance company had "changed the drug class" and that it's now $75 a month. Are you kidding me??

I could afford it, I suppose. I mean $25 a month-- basically just skip one meal out and we would be ok. And really, our insurance just changed at work a couple months ago and my premium went down about $20, so I suppose it evens out. But it's the principle of it, the fact that the insurance company is trying to price me out of a drug that I've taken for 11 years of my life. 11 years, every single day! And watching that $75 leaving my bank account every month... well I don't know if I can do that.

The reviews I've read of of the generic, Tilia, are terrible-- a good three-fourths of them are along the lines of "I was on Estrostep and switched to Tilia because my insurance changed. It's awful! I've had mood swings, painful cramps, and just generally feel like I'm losing my mind. I'm going back to Estrostep no matter the cost." The other one-fourth say they didn't notice the change. But I just can't imagine I can be on some pill every day of my life for eleven years and not have some sort of issue when I change.

I'm making an appointment with my doctor tomorrow. I went ahead and shelled out the $75 today so that I have a month to make my decision. I played around with the idea of the ring or something more permanent a while back, especially considering that if we do have kids, I know for a fact it won't be for another two or three years at least. But the last thing I want is to feel like a crazy, fat loon with acne and horrible cramps. I'd pay a lot more than $75 a month to avoid that. But maybe I'm already being crazy by not even giving it a try. I mean, what if I switch to something else and it works just as well and costs three times less?

I just hate that my insurance company is forcing me to make this decision, a decision I shouldn't have to and never wanted to make.