Ugh

[telophase]

Insurance prescription woes. Not, in the scheme of things, a big one, as I'll still get all my meds at the same amount I've been paying for them, which I can afford, but an annoying one: my job's prescription coverage uses Preferred Pharmacies (which may be a new thing), and my pharmacy isn't one of them. So I'm going to have to transfer everything by the first of the year, and it's going to be one that I have to drive out of my way to, as there isn't one close by.

And my prescription coverage really doesn't understand I WOULD RATHER PAY MORE TO BE ABLE TO GET MY MEDS TODAY THAN TO PAY LESS AND TRUST THEM TO THE VAGARIES OF THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE (and my own inability to get my prescription mailed in on time - ADHD folks, it's a SYMPTOM!). They periodically try to suggest their mail-in service to me, and their latest attempt to make people switch was to force us to choose whether we want to use our own pharmacy or the mail-in service by telling them explicitly on their website. And when I did that, they STILL phoned me up to ask me the same question. And now this Preferred Pharmacy crap.

It's annoying enough that they switch brands of generics without TELLING me. I just want to use the most convenient pharmacy to me!

Comments

[movingfinger]

It's not just you. I assume that all these doofus policies are made by high-paid executives who have someone to do all the running around to drugstores out of the way and to spend hours on the phone with the mail-order pharmacy after an order never arrives. I have tried mail order twice and it fails even for mostly-harmless substances; I would hate to use it for anything valuable.

[telophase]

And they propose it to us as a way to save us money. No, honey, you're trying to save yourself money! I'd rather pay more and, y'know, RECEIVE MY MEDS.

[kore]

Insurance companies must have some kind of sweet deal with the mail-order pharmacies or something because EVERYONE, doctors clinics ins cos whatever, keeps pushing me to use them - I've lost enough regular packages that the idea of running out of a script and then having to deal with someone stealing it is alarming, and isn't the post office in its death throes anyway?

[telophase]

I wonder if the mail-order pharmacies are cheaper because they don't have the costs of a storefront operation? Either that or they're laundering money.

[awamiba.livejournal.com]

My prescription program did something similar recently, causing me to have to both go online and then talk to them on the phone to switch a prescription I'd prefer to pick up 5 blocks away to a mail order one that requires 6 weeks lead time. After 3 transfers to wrong departments, I was finally told that through the "Quick Start" program I'd be able to get my first prescription in the mail in the short, short time of 3 weeks. When did I need meds? Umm, last week, when I went to the store to pick them up and was told that I couldn't get them there. And yes, this was my heart medicine. I was also told I could get a short term prescription at the pick-up pharmacy, but only if I hadn't exceeded my 3 pick-ups already. Hahahaha. I did finally get my meds, 3 weeks later, 2 days before my next appointment with the doctor, where we'll determine if I want to stay on these pills. Well, of course I do now; I've got a 3 month supply to use up.

*tearing my hair out*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

It's ridiculous! And if you complain that they didn't tell you they were changing things so you didn't know until you were out of the medication and trying to pick it up, they say it's on the company's website and you should be checking it.

Like I'm going to check the damn insurance website every week on the off chance that they might be changing the terms of the policy and that they've updated the website in a decent amount of time.

[chomiji]

Yeah, I now have to mail order all my long-term maintenance drugs. And it only takes an (automated) phone call to do so - unless I have no refills left, in which case I have to call the doctor myself. Even the big, anonymous CVS used to FAX the doctor themselves in that case.

And they still waste my time and lots of dead trees by both sending me autodialled voice messages reminding me when things are running out (the calls invariably come to the home number during the business day, so I get message recordings of their voice system trying to interact with the answering machine, which was hilarious the first time ... now, not so much) and sending me postal mail reminders, which contain personal informaiton and have to be shredded before I can recycle them.

Dudes, I can look into my pill bottles and see that I'm running out of stuff, OK?

And yes, the random generic switching is a huge problem! Right now, my tamoxifen (cancer treatment) and my buspirone (anti-anxiety) are almost identical white tablets. The code numbers even start with the same digits! And of course the bottles are pretty much identical unless you read the wee tiny print. But the tamoxifen dose is one per day, and the buspirone dose is three per day. And I have mixed them up at least once! (Fortunately I have now noticed that the buspirone has a break-line on one side of the tablet - tamoxifen doesn't because they are not supposed to be ever split or crushed.)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I got a robocall from them fifteen minutes ago (which I let voicemail pick up because I don't answer phone calls from numbers I don't recognize unless I'm expecting one) informing me that Walgreen's had decided not to offer customers a discount (read: didn't want to agree to your cuts) and therefore I had to switch to another pharmacy and that they would be glad to help me do so because they have my best interests in mind. Sorry, dudes, do not trust you to transfer my prescriptions, I will do it myself!

And too bad they didn't tell me that two weeks ago, before Walgreen's did!

(I think I'll be going to CVS because they also offer a drive-through window and there's one next to work, so at least I can pick up and drop off before and after work.)

ETA: And yikes! about the med mix-ups! I'm glad that all mine are distinctly different right now.