[I Was Naked]
When I Wrote ThisOur Friend and Wyeth Labs
2007-05-22
First I love the irony of the old colloquioism for our period. We all have are own pet ways of discussing the Curse, Monthly Visitor, Cousin Dot, Mother's Little Helper..uh no wait, that's not right...
So Wyeth has finally developed Lybrel which quite frankly I thought of 20 years ago. I always thought it would be a great idea if you took a pill to start your period when you wanted to conceive. Prior to the 1960's and the advent of "the Pill" women didn't have their period every month. Ya know why? Because they were pregnant. I was born the during last years of the baby boomer generation 1963, and in the case of my family, my parents certainly did their part. Sure I'm the youngest of only three kids, but she spit us out quick. My brother was born November 17th, a year and a week later to the day, my sister was born the Nov 24th, then a short break and a year and 5 months later, me.
Like most women of my generation, we had several choices for birth control and when I was nineteen I started on the pill, and its tough on your body, but the trade off is the ability to control your cycle. As I got older and blessedly single, I discussed with my OB GYN extending my cycle.
This was over 12 years ago, and I did what Seasonale has done in the last three years. The funny part is, I would have my doctor write the script to dispense 84 pills with 4 refills that would last me all year. Total cost for my co-pay for this script was $10.00. If I had gone every month to pick up the same script written separately it would have been 10.00 per month.
So I happily went along for years, until fricken Seasonal came on the market. Why it was decided that I switch over to that was no big deal first, until I went to pick up my script. Here's where the insurance companies made their money. Same amount of pills I paid for for 10 years, 84, but since now conveniently packaged in one container, my co-pay shot to $65.00. My doctor had told me years before that the insurance companies didn't like long term scripts written, and that was obvious in what they were charging. This happens for a lot of drugs. Diflucan for example, was originally prescribed as an antibiotic and a normal script would be 7-10 pills. That is until the secondary use was found that it was much better used as a cure for yeast infections in woman with just one dose. Again, the co-pay increases for less number of pills dispensed.
So take away all the other arguments for why woman may or may not go for stopping their monthly cycle. I have to wonder if there will be a sudden influx of Cotton lobbyist in Washington, though many men might be smiling with glee, thinking the old phrase.."Not tonight dear"...could fall by the wayside. This would also present a new marketing challenge for personal care products, forcing Tambrands et al, to come up with even more ridiculous ways to buy their products. "Now even more fluff in our mouse mattresses" isn't quite a selling point. By the way, has anyone ever met anyone who worked at at tampon factory?
So along comes Lybrel and just listening to the reaction on the news, it seems most woman will stick to what they are comfortable with, and its only single women like me, who missed this pill by 10 years, are losing out. Only 1/3 of the women surveyed thought it was a great idea.
We could look at the benefits of doling out the pills and lowering the number of unplanned pregnancies, getting younger woman to stop working the system by spitting out kids and being on welfare. Until the pill proves itself, woman who are responsible will always use back up contreception, so any risk of increased STD's isn't an issue. If you don't protect yourself now, you aren't going to until you learn the hard way.
The way I see it, as convenient as it will be, the only ones who are really going to benefit are the insurance companies, since this pill must be taken daily. I can hear the registers ringing now, and though I always hesitate in investing in pharmaceutical companies, (too many people out there that can react badly to drugs)the smart bet now would be to sink my money into insurance companies. Might as well make some money back on all they take from us.
Interestingly enough, insurance companies came into being to police our doctors. Now the same companies that were brought into being to protect us, are controlling us, from the almighty dollar stand of what they will cover, what they won't, and what kind of medical care we receive.Another example of absolute power corrupting absolutely.
I used to work for a very good set of doctors, who refused to bend to the will of these HMO's and other insurance companies. The only claims we would submit would be on our Medicare Monday's since that is required by law. No double and triple booking appointments on top of one another, if they needed to see their patients for 5 minutes, or for an hour, that is the time and care they gave to their patients. We were the first line of defense against the pharmaceutical reps that came in with case after case of their samples. Only if something really new came onto the market, did they get 10 minutes of their time, otherwise everything they do is for their patients. However, they are few and far between in this day of get them in and out.
My OBGYN practice has fallen under the management of a male office manager who has directed the front desk that if a woman calls and is late for her appointment, she is only given 15 minutes time or she loses her appointment, and must rebook which can take up to another three weeks to two months to get back in. I informed them, that if that were the case, they are setting themselves up for a malpractice suit. Can you imagine, being told, you should have come in sooner, we could have caught this cancer? Yeah? Talk to your office manger. Truly I was late once, and gave them an earful. We are left to our own defenses when it comes to our healthcare, but since we are the ones that live in our bodies, we have no one else to blame if we don't stand up for ourselves.
Well I gotta get off my pillbox now, I think I hear the doorbell and its Aunt Flo taking a slow train to the Redlands.
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