Venting

So apparently, having dry-eye is a side effect of Lasik. To the point where it affects your vision, the very reason for having Lasik in the first place. Fine, I can deal with that. That is why eye drops were invented, right? The doc prescribed Restasis, which is supposed to help your eyes produce your own tears if tear production is decreased due to inflammation. The main ingredient is cyclosporine, which has been used for years to help dry eye in dogs.

Restasis is an actual drug, approved by the FDA and everything. So that must be why my insurance doesn't cover it! Or maybe they are just cheap bastards and don't want to shell out the $1080 (with my 12 co-pays of $10 each) it would cost for them to cover it for a year.

They say they won't cover it because the Lasik was elective and not medically necessary. To me that means they shouldn't cover the cost for chemo/radiation if somebody has lung cancer caused by cigarettes. Is smoking medically necessary? They shouldn't cover the cost of fixing a broken arm for somebody who was walking their dog and riding their bike at the same time; cause that is both stupid and not medically necessary. Want a mole removed? Unless it is cancerous and not caused by indoor tanning or by time spent by the pool(not medically necessary), can't help you!

But they will do an abortion if you accidentally get pregnant, all you have to pay is a $20 co-pay.
They will let you talk to a psychologist for an hour about your fear of bananas, for only a $20 co-pay.

Contacts aren't medically necessary either, but if my dry-eye was caused by them, Kaiser would help me. Lasik is better for the environment because you are not throwing away two pieces of plastic every night before bed, and it is more econmically sound because you don't have to keep buying new contacts or glasses every year or so.

And when your eye doctor tells you that you are so blind without vision correction that you couldn't find your way out of a burning house without contacts or glasses, I think the "elective" issue becomes a little more subjective.

Maybe I should just try to get the cyclosporine from a vet's office. All I know is if I decide to shell out the $1200 for a year's supply of Restasis, I'm not getting it from Kaiser. They are not getting any more of my money. I'll go to the Target pharmacy or something.

I'm switching to Blue Cross next year. Screw Kaiser.