Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a day in the life of someone with a spinal cord injury, like Christopher Reeve. Then, open your eyes and be thankful. For thousands of Americans, including myself, spinal cord injuries are the challenging reality we wake up to every morning.

Yes, it’s true that we’ve lost the mobility so many people take for granted. For us, just getting out the door becomes an enormous undertaking. Most of us endure numerous treatments and medicines – sometimes dozens a day – to help our bodies function the best they possibly can under extreme limitations.

I don’t typically whine. Since my injury 30 years ago, life has been full of meaning, and I am grateful for every minute. However, lately I’ve been spending almost my entire day struggling just to exist, at times. I need to manage personal care, maintain medical supply inventory, and appeal decisions which have been made affecting my well being. I’m even able to include volunteer activities surrounding my disability and, of course, I need to be the best father I can be.

But I certainly don’t understand when people – especially those who are charged with looking out for our welfare – insist on making life harder for us. That is exactly what has happened under the Maine’s new prior authorization program, which sets severe limitations on the medicines Medicaid recipients can receive.

As head of advocacy committee of the most local chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, I am deeply concerned about the devastating effect this new program is already having on patients throughout Maine who suffer from many different types of diseases and illnesses.

By switching us to less expensive (and often less effective) medicines and requiring us to refill maintenance prescriptions every 34 days (difficult for someone who uses a wheelchair and takes most medicines on a long-term basis), the state hopes to cut Medicaid program costs. But saving money shouldn’t come at the expense of treating people in a fair and humane manner.

Frequent refills, challenging doctors’ opinions and increasing mounds of paperwork to file and complete lead to a more expensive bureaucracy. As an example of how this program works, one of the medicines I take is Prilosec to treat an ulcer. This prescription drug has worked wonders for me. However, under Maine’s new restrictions, I would be automatically switched to a cheaper substitute, even if it would not be as effective in treating my condition.

If my doctor, David Pickul, said I needed Prilosec, he would have to justify his decision by letter as well as the usual prescription. Approval is then requested and someone, certainly not as familiar with my medical issues, gets to make and justify that decision, again through time-consuming paperwork.

If not approved, there are appeal steps, but those, too, cut into the time and contribute to the bureaucratic bloat. It is cruel to deny us consumers the right to have the proper medication at the right time. It is senseless to add cumbersome paperwork to generate and file. Tragically, it seems like the bureaucracy is superceding patient care, and it impacts us.

I urge Gov. Angus King, Commissioner Kevin Concannon and our state legislators to reconsider these severe restrictions known as prior authorization. If they are left in place, patients will continue to needlessly suffer.

Mike Warshawsky is chairperson of the Advocacy Committee of the Greater Boston Chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association