Wednesday, August 23, 2006

That'll be an arm, please

As I'm sure some of you will tell me, I have not been living in the real world. Because of Mr. Honey's job, we tend to get most medicines for free. And we're very grateful. But my eyes aren't covered as well under his insurance policy as the rest of my body is, so when I went in for my annual eye exam, we had to pay some out of pocket. No big deal - considering how well our insurance takes care of us with everything else, and considering what we'd have to pay for me to get my own insurance through work, I'm not about to complain about having to pay for a contact fitting and for my annual supply of lenses. But I am going to complain about my eyedrops.

Last year, my eye doctor declared that I had some allergy irritation in my eyes. Uh, yeah. I live in the south, land of 362 days of allergy season a year. Mr. Honey and I both take a cute little Claritin pill every morning so we don't spend the day wheezing and sneezing. Of course my eyes are going to have a little allergy irritation too. So the eye doctor hands me a little 1 mL bottle of prescription eye drops to try. They'll help, he tells me. They'll make my eyes feel lighter. I'll never know how I got along without them.

Last year, I scoffed at his suggestion. He wrote me a prescription, but I never filled it. This year, after a year of allergy hell until Claritin saved the day, I decided to go ahead and try the prescription. So Mr. Honey and I went out to our friendly neighborhood Walmart last night and I turned in my prescription. When I went back to pick it up fifteen minutes later, we checked out, and I was charged $9 for my 4-week supply of eye drops. That's my co-pay on non-standard prescription drugs at Walmart, and I'm happy to do my part to make myself happy. Mr. Honey, however, thought it was a little high. "Nine dollars?" he kept repeating as we walked out to the car. "Jeez, how much would it be without the insurance?"

A lot higher. Try $91. Nearly a hundred bucks for a 4-week supply of prescription eye drops. Holy crap. Without insurance, that's almost $25 a week. Just under a dollar for every drop. Why don't I just stick dollar bills in my eyes and see if that has the same effect?

Yeah, I know, quit my bitchin'. There are a lot of drugs much more expensive. My insurance paid for the majority of it. But for goodness' sakes, does that seem excessive to anyone else? For prescription eye drops?

I'm conducting an experiment now. I'm only putting drops in my right eye. If I can tell a significant difference after a week, I might consider using the drops in both eyes. If I can't... then I guess Mr. Honey and I will be saving ourselves $9 a month.

On an unrelated note, I remembered my dream this morning. Mr. Honey and I were moving to Germany, and I got to ride the train there. Yes, I rode the train over the Atlantic Ocean. Then when we got there, it had snowed, but since I've lived in the south for most of my adult life, I only had shorts and t-shirts. But we stayed with Barbara Samuel, (whose voice class is great, BTW) and she gave me warmer clothes to wear. Then some of my sorority sisters showed up, and then I went to a work meeting in the living room wearing my pajamas. It's so good to have my weird dreams back.

Posted by Honey :: 7:26 AM :: 3 Comments:

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