Being on AISH is supposed to mean being financially covered for all perscription drugs, but that is not always the case. Yesterday afternoon, I went to my local OB/GYN to talk about how I have been having severe pelvic pain lately and I wondered if it was part of the endometriosis. I showed her a 'pain diary' I had been keeping since I started taking depo-provera shots to stop periods and she said that it didn't appear the depo shots were working well based on pain and bleeding levels.
The doctor said that in that case, she wanted to try me on a different drug, which she referred to as 'the big guns' and will give her an idea of what is going on 'down there. The drug would "shut everything down there down" and invite menopausal symptoms and I would also be on pills to steady the severity of those symptoms. I agreed to the drug and dropped the perscription off at the local pharmacy yesterday, fully expecting to have the drug by today and be able to make arrangements to get it into my system.
Unfortunately for me, I got a call from the pharmacy this morning and one of the drugs is not covered by AISH at all while I have to make an application for the other one to be possibly covered by AISH. The pharmacy phoned the doctor to see if I could get on a generic version of the same type of drug that would be covered by AISH, but no word as of yet. I may have to pay for the medicines myself and I think I can afford to do that, but I shouldn't have to.
It makes me mad that the powers that be in charge of AISH don't seem to care whether or not their recipients are healthy. I am on AISH, yes, but I live a full life by freelancing, volunteering, and doing things with my day. I have been physically crippled by this endometriosis to the point where I can barely do anything some days and that is just humiliating. I am 30 and I want to have a productive life, but my body is not behaving and I cannot get what I need to help me because of governmental policies.
The government throws around so much money to other programs and people, but they ignore those with disabilities because they see them as 'dead weight' to the province. I am simply on AISH because I can't find and keep a full-time job due to my social disability, but I volunteer and give back to the community in other ways. I have a college and university education and both work and volunteer experience. I am valuable to this province, so why doesn't the province want to help me feel better? Without this medicine, I probably will not feel better, but governmental policy is barring me from getting what I need and what is supposed to be covered under disability.
The provincial government doesn't want to make me feel better simply because I am on disability. I pay taxes, I volunteer, I have education, and I do much good with my time. Am I not valuable to the province of Alberta simply because I am trying my best to live a happy, productive life? Even though the province can afford to help make me well, they don't want to and I feel like they really don't care about me as a person.
Why don't you care about me, Alberta? There is much more to me than my disability, but I can't show that to you without the medicine I need to help make me feel physically well again.
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