New to Medicaid – How to handle narcolepsy in a new state

Hello all! I’m struggling to understand how insurance works when switching and needing medication. I got Medicaid this year in New York, previously I was on my mom’s insurance until I aged out. I began to not function very well at all and struggled with daily life. I was diagnosed with narcolepsy and other things 6 years ago and cycled through tons of medications until I found ones that worked.

Due to living overseas I stopped all medication for some years. I never really functioned well and procrastinated getting help until this year everything hit me extremely hard for various reasons. I realized I’m literally sleeping life away and can’t focus or barely get out of bed. I can’t keep living like this and have been self medicating. Due to going back to school/studies I figured I need to just say f it (not a fan of harsh pharmaceuticals) and might be time to get back on. It was the only time I felt like a normal human.

My previous doctors/pulmonologist said they would fax my records to my new doctors in New York. After waiting three weeks for a primary care appointment through Healthfirst/Medicaid I went in and turns out the doctor had a medical emergency and wasn’t there. Had to wait another couple weeks for an appointment. When I finally went in, they said there was no need to see my records and that they would make appointments with a pulmonologist in their building. Couple weeks later I went to that specialist and he said the same thing they did not need my records. He went on to make six appointments with different doctors and wanted me to retest for narcolepsy and sleep apnea. I tried to emphasize that I really can barely even function at this point and to keep going to all these doctors is a bit tough right now.

I know Medicaid is free so probably have to jump through a ton of unnecessary insurance hoops. I not knowledgeable about how insurance works. I was just hoping/assuming that if I can have all of my records and diagnosis sent to new doctors that they could maybe talk to them and prescribe me at least 1 of my previous daytime meds in the meantime. I have no idea what to do at this point and I’m a little bit hopeless. The thought of having to go through the entire process again I’m dreading. Does anyone have any experience with this or maybe advice? I’m not sure if it would be quicker or smarter to switch back to my previous state or if that wouldn’t really do anything and I’d have to do this anyways.

I’m grateful I don’t have anything extremely serious but does suck when you’re chronic depressed/bipolar/chemically unable to get deep sleep 24/7 with an autoimmune issue 🙃 Thank you all!