Drugs are bad, mmkay?

This is what we are always told. But I'm not only talking about the ones you get on the street, because those damn prescriptions will get you, too! Even if the drug is doing you a world of good, unless your medical insurance kicks ass, you're gonna get your ass kicked.

Back in the day when I was still employed in California, I was a life-long member of Kaiser Permanente. I bitched and moaned whenever their rates or co-pays would go up, but all in all I figured I was getting a pretty sweet deal. Now I understand just how sweet that deal really was.

Exhibit A - A two-month supply of Prozac from Kaiser. I suffer from minor depression from time to time, but I mostly take it to deal with anxiety. Total cost? Ten dollars.

Exhibit B - A one-month supply of Prozac from Medco. I was ecstatic when I found out my prescription from Kaiser was still valid and I wouldn't need to see a new doctor to get a new prescription. Unfortunately my excitement didn't last long as my jaw hit the floor when it came time to pay. Total cost? Fifty dollars!

So there you have it. With Kaiser, my happy drugs were costing me about five cents a pill. And now, with Medco, they are 84 cents a pill. That's super weak.

I think the moral of the story is this: if you have anxiety as a result of worrying about being able to pay for the pills that are supposed to cure your anxiety, why take them at all? I'll tell you why. Because it's super bad for your brain to just stop taking them, that's why!

They've got me by the gonads.