We’ve recently had our insurance stop covering a medication because it is now available over the counter. This seems to be happening more often. It doesn’t really make a huge difference, but it does end up costing us more for the same medication.

I’ve never really understood this concept. So a doctor prescribes a patient a particular kind of medication, let’s call it Loopie, just for fun.

So Loopie is a special medication that is available only by prescription and costs quite a bit of money. Thank goodness that the health insurance I pay for every month covers this very special drug, Loopie, and I only have to pay a fraction of the price to get it. Now, someone decides that Loopie isn’t quite so special anymore and they start selling the drug over the counter for a fraction of the price that my insurance company was paying for it before.

Yay! I think. Now, it will be much cheaper for my insurance to cover the cost of this great medication, Loopie OTC. However, the insurance company says, now that anyone can get Loopie, we don’t see why we should have to pay for it. Pay for it yourself.

Wait a minute, insurance company. If you were willing to pay the pharmaceutical company $200 for the month supply of Loopie you used to require me to pay $20 to pick up from the pharmacy, why is it that you aren’t willing to pay at least a portion of the $25 that I now have to pay for Loopie OTC?

Am I alone on this one?