Another reason to hate the insurance industry (customer experience, rant)
by at 4:46 PM
So, because of my ongoing stomach issues, my doctor had put me on an acid reducer, and gave me a week's worth of samples, but he said to not bother filling the prescription if it didn't help while I still had samples. A week went by, and my issues cleared up very quickly, so I filled the prescription. The pharmacy, however, had trouble filling it, because insurance denied the prescription — they wanted me to either use a different (cheaper) acid reducer, or get a specific statement from my doctor that the one he prescribed me for is the one I have to take. The pharmacy can't just change the prescription because the closest generic formulation isn't quite the same, so legally they have to get permission from my doctor to change it.
Of course, this week my doctor is on vacation, so I get to wait a whole week for him to get back.
Meanwhile I'm just taking the OTC version of the same acid reducer, but the lower dosage and isn't nearly as effective, and my ulcer is coming back. And of course the OTC version is just as expensive as the prescription version, and isn't covered by my insurance.
So I get to pay out of pocket for a while until my insurance and my doctor can work this all out. Meh.
Comments
Actually ended up in the hospital over it. Severe blood loss, I was down to about 1/3 of a normal red cell count. So instead of paying for prescription, they paid for six units of blood, an upper GI, a lower GI and three days in the hospital. Stupid bastards.
Gedvondur
Wait. No.
Anyway, that sucks, though completely unsurprising. You'd think insurance companies could allow a one-time (for each problematic rx) automatic approval giving you a chance to either get the doctor to say the insurance's preferred alternative is okay or not. But of course that would put the health of their customers before the miniscule profit they get by denying the prescription in the first place.