With the snow piling up outside, work seems to be piling up in my office. I have a very busy schedule over the next few weeks (practically all of February). I will do my best about posting, but I may only get around to posting a couple times a week. Now for the frustrations . . .
Back in November, my husband and I switched insurance because my husband got a new job and we had previously been on insurance through his work. When we made this switch, I had only been taking my medicine for about a month and I had a 90 day supply. I updated all of my insurance information with everyone that I thought needed it for purposes of getting my meds. I learned that a new pharmacy would be delivering my meds. Lucky I had that 90 day supply because it took them a MONTH to get the prior authorization all squared away. It seemed like I was talking to someone (doctor, insurance provider, pharmacy representative, etc) almost daily. Finally, that all got squared away and in December I called to order a new supply of medicine. I think I had about 10 days worth of meds when I called. They told me the delivery date and it was 5 days from the day I called (I thought this was kind of crazy since the other pharmacy had taken one day). I asked whether I needed to be present to sign for delivery and was told no, so I thought everything was good to go. Then, the day that delivery was supposed to occur came and went with no medicine. That evening, I called asking where my meds were. They didn't know anything, but re-ordered the delivery and gave me a new date of delivery (I started thinking how lucky I was that I called when I did, had I waited any longer I may have been without meds for days). The day before the new delivery date, I got a call from the place that would actually be sending the meds. They told me that their state law required that the meds be signed for; since my husband and I work during the day, I ended up having to have them ship the medicine to my work address (I really didn't want to do that, but really had no choice). The next day, I got the delivery at work with no hitches. I then realized that I had only gotten a 30-day supply (I didn't know why that had changed, but was happy that I had gotten my meds so didn't worry too much about that). Fast forward to last week Thursday. I, again, had 10 days worth of medicine left when I called to re-order. They set everything up and tell me that delivery will be made on Tuesday (yesterday). Then, on Monday, I got a call from the pharmacy telling me that the insurance company was reporting that coverage had terminated (WHAT!?!?! not possible). I came to find out that, somehow, they still had all of my old insurance information (not sure why they ever had that since I never used this pharmacy with the old insurance). We got everything updated, I ended up talking to 3 different people until they finally got everything updated and taken care of and set up a new order for delivery (shipment was to be on Thursday - tomorrow). Then, last night (after getting stuck in the snow at the foot of our driveway and having my amazing husband shovel me out) I had a voicemail from the pharmacy telling me that they were now out of my insurance network and my prescription would now be taken over by ANOTHER pharmacy company.
Apparently my insurance provider switched to a new pharmacy company and somehow I did not know this. So, I called the new pharmacy. The woman I spoke with explained that they would get everything transferred over to them, that they would get the prior authorization and then could set up an order. I then voiced my concerns about not getting my medicine on time and how it took a month for the last pharmacy to get the prior authorization, etc. She eased my concerns explaining how their company works and that there should not be any problem. She said that they would put out all of the transfer and prior authorization requests as urgent and then delivery would take place the day after an order was made (barring weather problems of course, which with the weather we are having doesn't make me feel a LOT better). She told me that the whole process shouldn't take more than 72 hours, but that if I didn't hear anything within 24 hours, I should call (today) to check on the status to try to speed up the process as much as possible. I called this evening and the woman I spoke to said that everything was ready for delivery (unfortunately, due to the weather, the earliest I can get delivery is Friday). I think I run out of meds on Saturday (cutting it close).
Although, I have been frustrated about this whole situation and I am somewhat worried that I may not get my meds on time, I do feel as though this new pharmacy knows what they are doing and I feel confident that I will not have the same or similar problems as I had with the last pharmacy. The woman I spoke with last night explained to me how their company works and I started to feel better. Then, the woman I spoke with tonight told me more about what the company does and she said that they will call me when I have 2 weeks left of my prescription to begin setting up delivery (something that the last pharmacy would never have done). So, overall, I am feeling pretty good about this new company.
Now, I just hope that I am able to get the new order delivered before I run out of my current supply. FINGERS CROSSED!
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