Insurance Coverage Issues

We rely on health insurance to help pay for doctor's visits and medication. But what happens when suddenly your insurance company won't pay for the medication that is keeping you alive.
That's the situation one woman in the East found herself in until we stepped in. Marykay Bond asked us for help when she realized her insurance company wouldn't pay for all of the medicine she needs.

Marykay bond is a cancer survivor living with Crohn's disease and under doctors orders she has to take Arimidex every day to prevent the cancer from coming back and Asacol to function with Crohn's disease.

She's been on the pricey meds for about 2 years with her insurance company Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina paying the bulk of the tab until about three months ago.

Bond says, "They said that I have a $2,000.00 limit on non-generic drugs." The medications cost about $900.00s a month and they're not available in generic form.

Her health insurance costs around $500.00 a month and Marykay says she simply can't afford to pay for the medicine on top of the policy: "I need both of them to stay alive."

And she can't afford to go without the medicine either: "When I was a young girl, I used to say they're not doing enough for senior citizens that our country is not doing enough for senior citizens that our health care is in trouble and now I'm a senior citizen and it hasn't changed."

She had no luck fighting blue cross and contacted us looking for help after a few phone calls from Nine On Your Side Marykay got the call she was looking for.

Heidi Deja of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina says, "Blue Cross has a case manager and social worker on Mrs. Bond's case right now, they are making the calls again to her doctors to the pharmaceutical companies and to medical and community services trying to tap into any resources that may be available to her."

Heidi Deja says that includes asking drug companies to step up: "We are not giving up on Mrs. Bond, we have some very dedicated, loyal, empathetic, people working on this case."

Deja knows that with only a few samples of medicine left prompt action is vital for Marykay's well-being and she assures us Marykay is an important priority.

Friday afternoon Blue Cross Blue Shield called Mrs. Bond's doctor to arrange for her to receive some more medicine. We will keep following this story to make sure she keeps receiving her medication.