Author Topic: ObamaCare and My Mother's Cancer Medicine (her policy that covered essential Rx cancelled by Obamacare)  (Read 658 times)

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Offline mountaineer

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ObamaCare and my Mother's Cancer Medicine.
She used to have a policy that covered the drug that kept her alive. Now she's on her own.
By Stephen Blackwood 
Feb. 23, 2014 7:10 p.m. ET

When my mother was diagnosed with carcinoid cancer in 2005, when she was 49, it came as a lightning shock ... 

Carcinoid, a form of neuroendocrine cancer, is a terminal disease but generally responds well to treatment by Sandostatin, a drug that slows tumor growth and reduces (but does not eliminate) the symptoms of fatigue, nausea and gastrointestinal dysfunction. My mother received a painful shot twice a month and often couldn't sit comfortably for days afterward.

As with most cancers, one thing led to another. There have been several more surgeries, metastases, bone deterioration, a terrible bout of thyroiditis (an inflammation of the thyroid gland), and much more. But my mother has kept fighting, determined to make the most of life, no matter what it brings. She has an indomitable will and is by far the toughest person I've ever met. But she wouldn't still be here without that semimonthly Sandostatin shot that slows the onslaught of her disease.

And then in November, along with millions of other Americans, she lost her health insurance. She'd had a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan for nearly 20 years. It was expensive, but given that it covered her very expensive treatment, it was a terrific plan. It gave her access to any specialist or surgeon, and to the Sandostatin and other medications that were keeping her alive.

And then, because our lawmakers and president thought they could do better, she had nothing. Her old plan, now considered illegal under the new health law, had been canceled. ...

Read the rest at WSJ Online
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