Our HMO just redid their prescription plan. I guess that since unemployment is now up, employers don't need to offer as many benefits to attract employees, so benefit packages are trimmed.

Initially the three maintenance medications we needed we got with just the $5 copay each, then they hiked the copay to $10, which put the 3 month price of my medicine (phenobarbitol for seizures) below the cost of the monthly copays, so we had to start paying for that ourselves. Now they hiked the copay to $15 which makes the 3 month bulk rate for Cortef $8 less than the three month mail order price for the HMO (which seems to takes 6 months to be delivered) and much much less than the monthly copay price. So now we will need to pay for the Cortef ourselves.

What makes it even more frustrating is that while unemployment was down service at places that paid minimum wages (fast food, grocery stores, Wal-Mart, etc.) became notoriously bad. I was having to stand and go through the stuff I'd just bought to make sure they put everything in there, because 9 times out of ten they'd lose something and charge me for it anyway. Now that unemployement is up, with all the accompanying headaches, service still sucks at minimum wage stores.