Back to Where I Started

As the days draw closer and closer to January 1, I have been trying to get all my prescriptions filled. It is not that I need them filled or will incur more financial strain if I do not get them, but my insurance changes at the beginning of the year.

The pharmacy I currently use will no longer be an in-network pharmacy. I have yet to completely understand what this means for me, but the preliminary answer has been on January 1st, none of my drugs will be covered by my insurance at the pharmacy I usually use. This means I will have to sift through all my prescription records at my current pharmacy and have my new pharmacy call my old pharmacy to transfer the prescriptions. This would not be a big deal if I took medicines consistently, but many of my drugs are once in a while drugs. I get them filled once or twice a year. To alleviate this hassle, I have trying to get all my meds filled. That way, I will be set for a majority of next year.

I have one prescription which I have a three month supply left on the drug. I submitted the drug to be filled online last week. Today, I received a notice my insurance does not cover online medicine refills. I need to call my local pharmacy and have them fill it. I call my local pharmacy, They tell me they cannot full it because it has been filled at another location. I am given the store number. I either was given the wrong store number, or I wrote it down, but a quick internet search told me the branch was located in the Chicago area.

I call the Chicago branch and talk to a very sweet man. (I believe he was the pharmacist.) He looks up my information and tells me the store number where the prescription was filled is the online branch. He gives me their direct phone number.

I call the online branch. I am told there is an issue with my account. There are two insurance numbers on it. The woman asks for my insurance information. She updates the system and says she will try to get the drug out to me ASAP. I hang up.

About an hour later, I receive an email, My prescription cannot be filled. I had another prescription filled at the beginning of the month. I take nine tablets a day. The prescription was for 90 pills. Doing some simple elementary math, ninety pills would be a ten day supply. According to my insurance, ninety pills should last me 30 days. Hence, I am not eligible to fill my prescription until after January 1st.

I could call and contest my insurance and explain 90 pills will only last me ten days. But I have already lost an afternoon calling pharmacies and getting no where. I will just wait until after the first of the year and try to get the prescription transferred. If I am unsuccessful, it is not a huge deal. I will have to try to find a primary care doctor and attempt to get a new prescription sent to my new pharmacy. (I really don’t have a primary care doctor. I usually ask for prescriptions when I am hospitalized. It saves me time and effort trying to explain my medical conditions to yet another doctor.)

So, at the end of this all, I am right back where I started. I have a prescription which needs to be transferred to a different pharmacy after the first of the year.