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I was a pharmacy technician for 6 years.

It hurt to hate a job that I really loved.

* I found the work to be challenging but not overwhelming.

* I enjoyed being part of the health care system because I was helping people and seldom had to see blood or open wounds.

* I loved the customer contact - even though they seldom felt well. I miss each and every one of my customers.

* I loved the people I worked with. We all had a great deal of compassion.

* I loved the company I worked for. It was the largest retail drug store chain in the nation, CVS. They were Number One and I loved being on the winning team.

It is difficult to explain what would make me leave the field I loved although that explanation is actually rather simple. The emotions that come with the telling are poignant and painfully difficult.

I witnessed first hand an awful truth about the state of health care in America.

The cost of medications and the availability of medication are generally controlled by the insurance companies and/or the drug manufacturers. We've heard it all before

Drug manufacturers are simply trying to recoup their research and development costs. But, in many cases it was obvious that advertising costs were also being rolled into the rising prices. Rising prices were passed along to the patients and/or to the insurance companies.

For many patients, their insurance company dictates whether a drug is dispensed or not.

A qualified physician prescribes the drug but the insurance company can cancel the dispensing.

This process was frightening and demoralizing. I was a part of it. I knew as well as the patients that they or someone had paid good money for a licensed physician to diagnose and treat their physical bodies. Yet, an insurance formulary could diminish the quality of individual human lives without so much as a consultation or second opinion.

It was heartbreaking to witness the reactions of people when their insurance company would reject coverage of a new medication or cease covering a medication prescribed for decades. The price of the new medication would be printed on the patients receipt and the cashier would, in all innocence, ring the sale without consultation.

It is not easy explaining to a businessman or woman, with remarkable insurance coverage, that their insurance company denied the claim. It was difficult to explain that the new miracle arthritis medicine was not covered but that ibuprofen was the recommended drug in that category.

A consultation with the patient would lead

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