So my sugar has been pretty bad now for nearly 3 weeks. I don’t eat the best, but I certainly am careful. Oh, wait.
Maybe it’s because Blue Cross is holding my health hostage. They literally will not pay for my scrips now unless I switch to the Magellan mail pharmacy.
One of my diabetes drugs is pioglitizone, and that’s where it started. I went to Walgreens to see what the “insurance issue” was. They simply got a message that I had to fill out a mail order form.
I don’t want mail order. I have a slot in the door for mail. I have a shared hallway in my 2-family. Granted all my Amazon stuff and other packages have fared well, but my meds? Don’t really want to gamble there.
And lo, I am out of pioglitizone.
I go home and try to call Blue Cross. Oops, my bad. They only have power over people’s health, therefore, they only answer phones from 8:30-4:30. I guess too bad for me, since I work 8-5.
My job is fairly demanding. I don’t like to waste my lunchtime on one of these calls, especially if I may not have everything I need at hand.
On a whim, I try the number for Magellan, and yay, I get someone. But boo, there really isn’t fuck-all they can do. I explain my situation, but while the rep is sympathetic in the way all customer service folks are supposed to be, she can’t actually help other than noting my account and emailing Blue Cross with my concerns. I’ll have to call back, of course. It’s too much to expect anyone to reach out to me.
That was a Thursday. I didn’t call Friday, because I assumed nothing would get done in one day.
Yes, I am now out of pioglitizone, but I will brave the weekend and just be very careful of what I eat.
Come Monday, I get home from work. I call Magellan, and guess what? Blue Cross hasn’t responded. I try not to lose my shit on the rep, but honestly, this is robbery. A huge monopoly far worse than cable. I mean, I go thru this or come up with about $300 to buy a month of the drug.
I finally ask what I need to do to go mail order. The rep days, “this is what you want to do?”. I said, “no, it’s not, but I’m being held hostage here and I really can’t wait on the whim of Blue Cross to bother helping me.”
I go thru all kinds of info exchange. Drugs, dosages, etc. I think that I’m set for both pioglitizone and jardiance, which is also pending a refill. I get off the phone thinking I’m set. Not happy, but I’ll have my pills soon.
Wrong.
A day or two or three later, my doc’s office calls. The nurse says that Magellan called them looking for my phone number, but in consideration of confidentiality, she didn’t give them anything. Instead she alerted me and gave me the callback number.
So I call them back that night, and I’m telling you, I am heartily sick of this shit.
The rep tells me that the two drugs come to $130, which is over my allotment of $80. And here, folks, is where I don’t care if the rep has anything to do with it. Even after all my own customer service years, taking abuse, I finally lose my shit. I’m not yelling, but I’m crying in frustration. My drugs have never cost that. Not even close. And I take 5 total; this is the cost for 2!?
And they want me to give them a credit card. I’m sure you can guess my response to that.
Ok, we figure it out. The pioglitizone is about $12, but that’s 90 days. That’s fair. And they’ll bill me.
Can they rush it? Sure, if I pay them $20. You can’t waive that since I’m out and you’re forcing me to jump thru hoops? No. Well, fuck you. If my sugar gets that bad, before I die I’ll make sure everyone knows what a money-grubbing circus this is, but you aren’t getting another dime. Ship it normally.
But jardiance is name brand, and very expensive. I said the pharmacist at Walgreen’s found a savings card online that she applied that lowered my copay considerably (because, you know, she was a human being who cared). Great, the rep says, we need the bin id, group id, etc etc etc. I said I don’t actually have the card, the pharmacist put it all into their system.
Long story short (too late), I have to call Jardiance and get that info. That was over the course of another weekend, whereupon that scrip ran out. That was messed up because the site recognized that I was registered, but couldn’t find me.
At least the rep at Jardiance was very understanding and helpful. She also had some kind of Caribbean accent that was soothing and beautiful to listen to. She tried to reregister me all over again…time consuming, but worked.
Of course, it’s too late to call Magellan back (they’re open til 7). So more time passes, but that finally gets taken care of, at a discount of $10 copay for a month. A lot less than the original $130 they wanted to gouge out of me. Now I wait for the Jardiance.
Total of 11 days without pioglitizone. I have them now. 6 days without Jardiance and counting.
These companies should not have this kind of control. I can’t imagine what will happen when my other 3 refills come up.
Healthcare? I don’t think so.
azbaelus 