Thanks everyone for the posts on medicare & immune suppression. There are SO many factors that weigh into this (age, type of transplant, coverage/payment for transplant .....) that it gets really confusing! I’m not typically old enough for medicare either (I’m 63) but I qualified for medicare part A 15 years ago due to disability. That is when I had my pancreas transplant (2005). This past year due to COVID my husband lost his job & insurance. We started COBRA insurance but quickly found out that I was eligible for medicare part B and that it was considered to be my primary insurance. (To BAD I wasn’t signed up for it!) I immediately got signed up for part B, part D and a medigap supplement policy. My husband found new policies for himself too.
Flash forward to now. The medicare immune suppression coverage is STILL chaotic but I’m starting to get my “parts” in place and member cards on file. I have had various entities from my previous insurance and medicare tell me that immune suppression coverage falls under part B, part D and even under durable medical equipment! I was also told that it depends on the organ transplanted, how the transplant was covered, whether there was prior authorization for the medication and how long the medication would be prescribed (as if transplant patients can stop taking their immune suppression at some point)! It sure is a “clusterf————“! Sorry Siri couldn’t find an acceptable alternative word.
Meanwhile I continue to take my meds and am still SO thankful to God for my transplant. I believe that providing immune suppression shouldn’t be a problem for God. But He does work in mysterious ways. I’ll update again if/when I learn anything that may be useful regarding the payment for immune suppression.