About a year and a half ago, I was diagnosed with Acid Reflux. Simply put, that means that if I look at food I get heartburn. My doc in Savannah got me on a sweet little drug called Prevacid which stops such heartburn. Since then, I've been heart burn free so long as I took my pill every morning. Miss it one day, and the burn is back.

When I got to Chicago I was on another insurance plan for a month as my company was in a healthcare provider changeover. I ran out of Prevacid during that little changeover and tried to get a refill. The pharmacy said that my healthcare provider said that there was an age restriction. I thought maybe I was too young or something so I called them for clarification. They told me that I was not too young, I was too old. I said, "Too old? I'm 27, how old is too old?"

"We only authorize it for infants."

I stared blankly at the phone. "But it's a gel cap, does it come in other forms?"

No answer to that question but, "We can offer you something else." So I went and got replacement A and proceeded to have terrible heart burn from that day on. I was popping extra strength tums like candy and swigging Malox at night.

So that was my routine for a while. October came and I made an apointment with my new doc and had it this week. When I asked him about it, he smiled and said there was no reason for that restriction, but that insurance companies make deals with drug companies and put asanine restrictions on said drug company's competitors. Nice, everyone wins....right?

Turns out my new provider has a deal with the makers of Prevacid and so I can go through the day now and not feel like my stomach acid is going to burn though my lungs. . . go healthcare!