I have started a new drug therapy for a form necrotizing vasculitis. The drug is called Remicaid and it is an advanced immunosuppressant. Autoimmune diseases basically causes the body to attack itself. The treatment is to find a way to shut down the body’s immune response so the body will not attack itself.  The problem with this treatment has always been if the body cannot protect itself from itself, then it cannot protect itself from anything else either. From back in the late 1950s prednisone was widely used and is still used to this day with impunity. I am lucky in that my insurance has agreed to pay for a major portion of the new Remicaid treatment which for me is $4000.00 a dose. I pay $350.00 which on long term disability is not easy but the alterative is grim.

            Much more grim are the people who cannot afford these advanced drugs and specialized doctors who prescribe them. They get old cheap drugs that without good management can cause long term problems if not death. I have been on both sides of this coin. When I first got sick I had no idea how SICK the health care system was. I went to a local clinic that my insurance nursing service setup for me. The story is a long one but the outcome was that I was given prednisone and  not monitored. I gained 100 pounds and contracted an almost unstoppable infection that ended with open heart surgery. I also contracted AVN which is bone disease that is a side effect of prednisone that I was never told about. I have had both hips replaced and will have joint disease for the rest of my life.

            We are hearing a lot in the news right now about national security and many other issues that are going to be very important in the midterm elections. The health care system in the United States in something you don’t hear much about any more. I run a nation wide web site for the disabled and was able to frankly ask a few candidates why it was we do not hear about this very important issue. The only answer I could get was off the record and sad. It went like this.

We know the problems with the heath care system is wide spread and is in both public and private medical and prescription insurance, drug companies, doctors billing practices and out right fraud. Where do you start?

Only if the voters press this issue will we see any concern at all from our leaders.

I do not advertise for my web site so if you are interested you can send me a message and I can give you the web site.