The Real Cost of Tennessee’s New Pain Management Laws

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/19/1357066/-The-Real-Cost-of-Tennessee-s-New-Pain-Management-Laws

My first shock was when I discovered that it was illegal for a pharmacy in Tennessee to fill a prescription for pain medication which had been written in another state. I mailed them back to my pharmacy in Colorado who filled it for me without question, and then mailed them to me. This gave me thirty days to find a doctor here.

Both of the first two pain management clinics, that I got appointments with, closed after raids by the DEA. The third clinic I tried, refused to write me the medications that I had been on. They wanted to switch me to the extended release form, which runs about 10 times what the instant release tablets cost. I explained that I was on Medicare, which allows me about 2900$ to spend on drugs yearly. What they wanted me to take would have used my benifit in less than three months. I explained, and was told that my financial problems wern’t their problem. They told me to go check into drug rehab. How, exactly, is that going to treat my pain? For that, Medicare paid for a new patient intake, and I paid a 45$ copay. What a total waste of time and money…

I finally found a clinic which writes the medications that I need. They do not accept any type of insurance. I pay them 250$ cash each month. I have been going there for three years now. I am drug tested every month, and I have to pay 50$ a month for it. That is my food budget for two weeks which is just gone. I would love to find a clinic that takes my Medicare. If I go to another pain clinic, even if all I do is check them out, I can be dismissed from my current clinic. I can’t risk that.

If I were to lose my clinic for any reason, they would blackball me in TN, making it almost impossible to find treatment elsewhere…

I used to be allowed to fill three months of all my scripts. That saved me a significant amount of money. The pain clinics in Chattanooga require that you see the doctor once a month. For a long term pain management client like me, that is not needed. I have been on my same regime for over 5 years now. It is the law in Tenneessee. It is designed to bilk me of my money, and give it to someone who already has plenty of cash…

My clinic has cameras and listening devices everywhere. I am certain that the DEA can listen and watch us by taping into that feed. They routinely stand by the entrance and take photos of people going in. They claim that they are searching for fugitives. I don’t believe their lame story. My picture has been taken a few times. I always ask politely if they would like to have my address, so they can send me a copy.

My Medicare Advantage plan took medications that were once Teir 1 and raised them to Teir 3 and 4. My cost went from 8$ per script to 45$ per scrip. That increase alone would feed us for a week…

I have had to muddle through being stopped, and searched, without my consent, by a policeman at a routine traffic stop. I was the passenger. When he asked me for ID, I told him that he has no probable cause to ask me anything. That pissed him off. He searched the car, then he searched us. Then he searched my handbag and found my prescriptions. He accused me of being a drug dealer. I was taken in, for questioning. The first words out of my mouth were, “I wish to assert my legal right to have my lawyer, please.” I used my one phone call to call our lawyer. He had me released within 10 minutes.

I am fed up with being treated like a junkie because I need pain medication to function. Do you know that untreated pain kills? It kills the inner organs. They fail in a sort of cascade. Once the process begins, it can’t be stopped. An ER doctor told me that bit of information…