I Need Some Help Scoring Some Drugs - Seriously

I need some help from anyone out there who knows about buying drugs online. Here’s the situation:

Some months ago I wrote about our situation with health insurance. My wife left her job, and we foolishly thought we’d be able to get insurance. After all, we felt like we were pretty healthy people.

That’s when we found out the truth. If you work for a company with group insurance, you’ve got it made. As long as you stay employed and insured, the insurance companies have to cover you, even if you have pre-existing conditions. If you lose your job you have something like 60 days to find another one with insurance benefits and jump onto their group policy. That new policy must cover you and your family with all of your pre-existing conditions.

However, people who are self employed, disabled, unemployed, laid off, or work for a company without health care benefits are on their own. Being on your own is not a good thing. You’re at the mercy of the insurance companies. They can turn you down for any reason or limit your coverage if they even suspect you might have a health issue.

And believe me, they will call your doctor and found out everything. The people you deal with when you try to get individual health insurance are paid to find reasons to turn you down. That’s their job.

Unfortunately, every company we contacted turned down me and our middle daughter Shelby. Me because I take Wellbutrin. Shelby because she had some emotional troubles and spent some days in a psych unit in 2007. She was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and put on medication. She’s done wonderfully ever since, and we’re thankful to have had that time at the psych unit. It saved her life. (She’s fine with me telling you this)

In desperation we contacted a health insurance specialist who explained things to us. “Shelby is uninsurable,” he said. “Forget about her. She’ll never get health insurance.”

“Can’t she get some kind of insurance that wouldn’t cover her for any mental health issues?”

“Nope. She’s not going to get any insurance of any kind as long as she’s taking her medication.”

“That puts us in a hard place,” I said. “If she stops taking that medicine she’ll fall back into that horrible state that she was in. The medicine helps her.”

“I know it,” he said. “But that’s the way it is. You best just forget about her being able to get insurance. Put it out of your mind. No insurance company will touch her with a ten foot pole. You’ll need to keep her on your wife’s old plan with COBRA until that runs out in 18 months. I know it’s expensive, but after that she’ll be eligible for the Texas pool for the uninsurable. But she has to exhaust every other possibility before they will take her, so keep her on COBRA until they kick you off.”

“As for you, Gordon, I know an insurance company that will probably take you. I’ll have to talk to the underwriter, but I can help her understand your situation. You’re not in counseling, are you?”

“No. I’d like to be. Can’t really afford it now that COBRA insurance costs us like $1000 a month!”

“Thank God for that. If you were taking Wellbutrin AND in counseling, I couldn’t help you. That’s the kiss of death.”

“Yeah, but doesn’t counseling actually help people who are depressed? I mean, isn’t that actually a good way for them to get better?”

“Doesn’t matter. The insurance companies don’t like it. They don’t like the sound of someone in counseling AND on medication. It makes it sound like you’re a high risk person.”

“Do you know I’ve never been in the hospital since I was born? And I’ve only missed two days sick at work in 18 years.”

He didn’t look up from his papers. “That doesn’t matter.”

“Now Gordon, understand that if I can get you covered - IF I can - it won’t be with any mental health benefits. That’s over for you. I think I can get you health insurance, but anything having to do with a psychiatrist or any medications like Wellbutrin, well, you’re going to have to pay for those yourself from now on.”

I swallowed hard. “Okay.”

Here's the part where I could use your help:

Does anyone out there know anything about buying drugs online?

I’m about out of Wellbutrin and will have to purchase my first batch myself. I found out that one month’s supply of Wellbutrin is $475 at our local pharmacy.

Yeah, right. I mean, isn’t that just laughable? It’s a handful of little white pills. How is that $475? I’ll tell you how. The drug companies try to soak the insurance companies for money since the insurance companies have to pay. That in part fuels the insurance companies' fears about getting involved with people like my family. Since they have to pay for all the people with group insurance, they are especially fearful about individuals. Again, you’re fine if you have group insurance with a company, but God help you if you don’t have insurance that covers medication, and you have to pay for it yourself.

You don’t even want to know how much Shelby’s medication would cost us. My gosh, it’s not like these pills are made in outer space and flown in on the Space Shuttle.

I’ve heard that you can buy drugs online at a discount from Canada or wherever. I tried to look online, but I have found that the online drug industry is filled with con-artists, counterfeit drugs, and other illegal activities. But I hear there are some legitimate places.

I have to find a place to get my medication at a reasonable price. Does anyone out there have any experience in negotiating the rather frightening world of online drug sales?

Let me know. I have to figure something out pronto, or else I just stop taking this medication. I can’t tell you how much I’d love to stop, but I backed off of it experimentally a few months ago and it wasn’t a good thing.

Waiting to hear from someone....

rlp

I've written rather extensively [1] about my struggles with depression. I’m unhappy about needing Wellbutrin. I’m even a little embarrassed about it. I feel suspicious about the diagnosis process in general. But I can’t argue with the profound difference it has made in my life. I’m a better husband and father with a little help from Wellbutrin.

I didn’t want to, but I did. And it helped. I don’t know that I would have done anything different, but it would have been nice to have known that by taking those medications, I was putting my ability to get health insurance at risk.