Emergency Preparedness

Some insurance plans let you go the mail order route and let you get up to a 90 day supply for pills, but I think they would balk at the injectables with their cost so high. In the event of an actual Emergency, if Hospitals have it you will pay through the nose for it, Phamacies and drug stores Point of sales depend on the internet for credit cards, insurance verification.

Basically, you would be without if it hits the fan.
If the infrastructure goes down, it won't be pretty.
When I was getting the Remicade infusions they only had a few days worth of stock on hand. I saw them "loan" out vials of Remicade to another group in the building because their delivery was delayed and they ran out. So they had very small on hand stocks. The hospital just down the street was probably just as bad. (Regional Trauma)

The saying " We're from the government and we're here to help." does not seem to help.

T

This is my kind of subject! :p

I think about this quite often. Sometimes I include zombies, just because.

In my case, I have an ileostomy. I can eke out my current supplies for maybe 3 months if I got the longest possible wear-time out of each bag. Once the bags run out, I am stuffed. Ileostomy output is corrosive and will destroy the skin. You'd be much better off having a colostomy than an ileostomy in a situation like this. However, in the past people used to wear rubber bags which I think were reusable. I want to ask my stoma nurse about ordering a rubber bag, even if she thinks I'm crazy.

If the crisis had happened in the 18 months before surgery, my survival would have depended on being to stockpile Prednisolone. Any other meds would've been a waste of time. Without steroids, I'd have probably flared up and died. But come to think of it, at no point during my 13 years with Crohn's were maintenance meds anything other than a waste of time for me.

So you lot can have the Remicade and the Humira, the azathioprine and the 6MP, and the 5-ASAs: I won't be fighting with you for any of it. I'll be fighting old ladies tooth and nail for the ostomy supplies instead.

A lot of insurances will let you refill a week ahead of time, so sometimes I do that and then pilfer away a week's worth at a time. It's slow going, but you can easily have a few weeks' worth in 3 months. Sometimes your doc can & will write you a script for 10 mg pills when you only need 5mg, that way you can cut them in half and the prescription lasts longer. You can set aside pills that way. If you're on a biologic, that one is tougher. You'd have to go the 90 day supply route and hope you have enough to get through if something happens.