it's be nice if my insurance company warned me

[DaphnesandFreddysmom]

So I call in my prescription today and go in to pick it up. I have $6 and no debit card. My prescription cost $6 and has for the past year. So I basically had just enough for my bc pills which I need for medical reasons and everything has gone to bills and groceries.

Anyways my insurance will no longer cover my bc pills and ofcourse their closed tomorrow when I need to start my next round.

Hopefully monday it'll get straightened out and I can start otherwise I probably will have to wait until wednesday.

I just can't believe I got no notice from my insurance company they are no longer covering my medication.

 

[oxchincerelyxo]

that sucks...I mean think about it...what if these were pills you needed to live and this happened.


You should take to someone about not recieving notice, I'm pretty sure they have to tell you when they drop your coverage...

 

[InkedupTara]

I dont know that they have to tell you that, but I am surprised you didnt get a mass paper in the mail stating the coverage change.

It would be near impossible to send a letter to each person for each med they did or didnt cover. My RX INS did send a letter stating they were changing things but it covered a ton of things.

I feel your pain, that has to suck to have to wait....

 

[DaphnesandFreddysmom]

Well our insurance is sort of iffy. They will try to get out of paying anything and everything they possibly can.

Who knows if it's not covered or what we have to wait until monday to call.

 

[InkedupTara]

Well. Good luck, any chance it is on the walmart 4 dollar list? I am not sure what all is on there, if BC is even on there at all but doesnt hurt to look.

 

[DaphnesandFreddysmom]

I never checked wal-mart we always went to walgreens because there's one on every corner. I'll have to stop in to wal-mart tomorrow.

 

[alpayton]

See? This saddens me. If you'd have been loyally doing business with an independent pharmacy in your town, here's more than likely what would have happened.

1) You go in with you $6 and your Rx to get your meds and present them to the pharmacy staff.
2) They run the Rx to the insurance company and find out the med is no longer covered.
3) They give you the medication and charge it to an account until Monday.
4) Monday, you return to pay for the medication and all is well.

If you're loyal to an independent pharmacy - they'll do things like set up charge accounts for you in case of emergency or need, where those large chain stores won't even think about doing that.

 

[equus_peduus]

If you're loyal to an independent pharmacy - they'll do things like set up charge accounts for you in case of emergency or need, where those large chain stores won't even think about doing that.

And how do I find one of those? I know they exist... but when you move every so often, and you don't get meds that frequently, you know you can reliably find a pharmacy at Safeway, RiteAid, Longs, Walmart, Walgreens... but unless one happens to pass something labelled "pharmacy," I don't know that most people would think to check the yellow pages or whatever for one...

(The Walmart $4 list can be found here: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=546834 )

 

[alpayton]

And how do I find one of those? I know they exist... but when you move every so often, and you don't get meds that frequently, you know you can reliably find a pharmacy at Safeway, RiteAid, Longs, Walmart, Walgreens... but unless one happens to pass something labelled "pharmacy," I don't know that most people would think to check the yellow pages or whatever for one...

(The Walmart $4 list can be found here: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=546834 )

If you have insurance, a list of all pharmacies (not just the chain stores) that accepts your insurance is available usually on your insurance carrier's website and is definitely in the booklet that you receive when signing up.

If you don't have insurance, as you suggested, a quick browse in the yellow pages for pharmacies will give you things like " 'your city name' Drugs" or " 'Bob's' Pharmacy" or something along those lines, that's not Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, etc. If they offer delivery service, I can almost guarantee it's NOT a chain store and it's independently owned.

And I just wanted to say that maybe it's NOT common knowledge - which is why I posted this....I'm hoping that someone will learn something here that may very well be beneficial to them. (And of course, I'm not all that fond of chain stores gobbling up the smaller independents that do so much for the community anyway.)

 

[Parkerspetchins]

I got a rude awakening when I went to get my prescription the other day...I was told that I can no longer go into the store to get my refills, I HAVE to mail order. I have never heard of this and even the pharmacy tech thought it was strange. I wish I had known BEFORE I went in to pick up my refill since they wouldn't cover it and I had to pay full price :yuck:...

 

[peachydays]

I got a rude awakening when I went to get my prescription the other day...I was told that I can no longer go into the store to get my refills, I HAVE to mail order. I have never heard of this and even the pharmacy tech thought it was strange. I wish I had known BEFORE I went in to pick up my refill since they wouldn't cover it and I had to pay full price :yuck:...

It seems like a lot of insurance companies are doing this now. If you're on a long term medication, you HAVE to recieve it by mail order if it's available via mail order. My mom gets one of her medications this way. The only good thing about it is that I think she gets a three month supply at a time, thereby saving a trip to the pharmacy each month.

I wonder how much money they save by making you get it via mail order?

 

[DaphnesandFreddysmom]

well I just hope this was an oversight. i'm pretty peeved at the insurance company. We calledd another guy from my husband's work who's wife also takes bc for the same reason as me and shhe picked hers up last week and it was covered.

we're hoping maybe they just need my doctor to fax over another sheet saying it's medically needed. i know they don't cover it if not medically needed (because I guess paying for kids is cheaper than pay $25 a month for bc).

 

[HedgeMom]

Call your DR and ask for a sample pack until it gets straightened out.