Blog Post from My Journey with Familial Hypercholesterolemia and Heart Disease
… and why I am fighting for this still.
I have been sitting on this post for a while, not wanting to write it. There is so much negativity in the world today that my heart constantly aches. And I felt like this blog post will be negative, and I really don’t want to add to that at this point in time, in our world, today. But I felt, on the other hand, that I needed to continue with the saga of my trying to control my numbers and my advancing heart disease, and since a new chapter has been developing, I knew I needed to relate it. As usual, I hope this helps folks trying to stay healthy, out there. A brief recap is needed: in December I was posting about how I was trying to refill my Praluent prescription and how the refill was denied twice, by the same insurance company that approved it 6 months before (see post from December here: https://livingwithfh.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-struggles-to-stay-on-praluent-and.html. The doctor’s (cardiologist) office faxed them all the information they requested, and they denied the refill twice. I received the denial letters on both occasions. What struck me as complete ‘bogus’ reasoning (for lack of a better word) was that in the first letter, they mention that I was denied the refill because I was not meeting 2 conditions, based on the information sent in by the cardiologist. After the nurse faxed them even more information, they sent the second letter of denial and this time, there were 5 (FIVE) conditions that they were looking for and I did not meet. So, it seems like for no reason, every time you give them what they want, they keep moving the finish line, raising the bar even higher. It definitely does not feel fair, but I am sure insurance companies are not in the business of fairness. But I digress. I examined the list of the 5 conditions to see if I meet them. I am not going to reproduce them here, but if you want them, leave me a comment and I can share them with you. They are written very much in ‘lawyer talk’ with ‘either / or’ and ‘both or…’ caveats, so they are a bit challenging to decipher, but I meet all five of them. This made me wonder if the nurse filled out some paperwork with mistakes in it, where she might have missed some of the conditions that I am sure I qualify for, unequivocally. On my last week’s appointment with the cardiologist, I asked the nurse if she can share with me what she sent to the insurance. She was not happy to share, but then again, this is not a happy nurse, usually. But she gave me a copy of what she sent, begrudgingly. She added that ‘none of her patients ever gets approved for refills and from what she knows, about three quarters of all patients get denied for refills. They are approved for the first 6 months, and then get denied for the refills.” I asked the cardiologist, after she said all that, and gave me the papers, and he confirmed he statement. My cardiologist is also the head of the research program for Praluent and Repatha, for our state, so he works closely with patients just like me, as part of his daily practice. When looking at the papers that the nurse filed, I could see she missed to check several boxes of conditions that I definitely have recorded in their files. The following things were missed and unchecked on the form she faxed to the insurance company:- The diagnosis of Atherosclerothic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD);
- The ASCVD symptom of stable or acute angina;
- The ASCVD symptom of coronary or other revascularization;
- They checked that this medication (meaning Praluent) is being used in combination with another PCSK9 drug, which is incorrect;
- They checked that there is no presence of tendinous xanthomas in me, or any relative, which is incorrect.
- They sent my confirmed diagnosis as HeFH (heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia);
- For the symptoms of ASCVD, they checked acute coronary symptoms and history of myocardial infraction;
- They mentioned that I have been on high dose of statins coupled with zetia for more than 12 months (since 2011);
- They showed that my LDL is higher than 100 mg/dl on statins (the value they used is 184 mg/dl and that was on statins, zetia and one month of 75 mg of Praluent) in addition to the ASCVD;

To view original post visit: https://livingwithfh.blogspot.com/2017/01/between-rock-and-hard-place-with.html
Blog Post by A.W. About this Blog
In this blog I will follow my everyday journey of living with familial hypercholesterolemia (or FH). I am sharing my own experience with this inherited disorder, and how I manage it daily – from what literature I read on the topic and what my doctors say to how I live my life (what I eat, what medicine I take, how I exercise, etc). This is solely a personal account that might or might not offer some insight on what to expect when diagnosed with this condition. This blog does not offer advice, in any way, to anyone suffering from this disease.