scrabbler1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2009
- Messages
- 6,705
My health insurer allows me to get an initial fill of a prescription drug and one refill before requiring me to use this mail-order outfit, Express Scripts, to fill subsequent refills or else I have to pay for the drugs myself. But my recent experiences with Express Scripts have been terrible.
The first time I needed a refill was mildly annoying because they supposedly "reached out to my doctor" for authorization to simply transfer to Express Scripts (why would they need that?) but my doctor did not receive any phone calls or faxes. It took several phone calls to both ES and my doctor to finally get the refill processed. Thankfully, I had begun the refill process about 2 weeks before I ran out of pills so I received the refill several days before I needed to take the first one.
The second time was far worse and has still not yet been fully resolved. I placed a refill for a drug back on October 27th (2 weeks before I would run out of pills) and once again, I received an email stating that ES had "reached out to my doctor" but got no reply. I had even warned my doctor's office that I had put in for a refill and to be on the lookout for any request. They received nothing. But this time, unlike the last time, this authorization process dragged on for so long that ES canceled the order so by the time the authorization arrived, they had to begin a new order, setting me back more. The new order was placed November 4th but I just got an email saying that it won't be ready to ship until Thursday, November 12th! Eight days just to process an order? I will run out of pills before the order is due to be shipped, which means I will have to get a short-term supply of the drug to hold me over, on my own dime. But with each day's pill costing me $10 it ain't cheap. I have already put into place with my local pharmacy this Plan B so I can pick up a week's supply before I run out of my current supply.
Although it probably won't do me any good, I will call my insurer and yell at them for forcing me into this crummy outfit which seems incapable of processing a refill order on a timely basis and thereby risking my running out of my drug or buying it on my own dime.
With open enrollment for ACA plans (mine is ACA) starting up, I will surely change to a new insurance company, one which doesn't require my using Express Scripts for my drugs, and one which covers some of my other prescription items (not very costly going into 2016) my current plan does not.
Anyone else here have trouble with Express Scripts processing and delivering drugs on a timely basis?
The first time I needed a refill was mildly annoying because they supposedly "reached out to my doctor" for authorization to simply transfer to Express Scripts (why would they need that?) but my doctor did not receive any phone calls or faxes. It took several phone calls to both ES and my doctor to finally get the refill processed. Thankfully, I had begun the refill process about 2 weeks before I ran out of pills so I received the refill several days before I needed to take the first one.
The second time was far worse and has still not yet been fully resolved. I placed a refill for a drug back on October 27th (2 weeks before I would run out of pills) and once again, I received an email stating that ES had "reached out to my doctor" but got no reply. I had even warned my doctor's office that I had put in for a refill and to be on the lookout for any request. They received nothing. But this time, unlike the last time, this authorization process dragged on for so long that ES canceled the order so by the time the authorization arrived, they had to begin a new order, setting me back more. The new order was placed November 4th but I just got an email saying that it won't be ready to ship until Thursday, November 12th! Eight days just to process an order? I will run out of pills before the order is due to be shipped, which means I will have to get a short-term supply of the drug to hold me over, on my own dime. But with each day's pill costing me $10 it ain't cheap. I have already put into place with my local pharmacy this Plan B so I can pick up a week's supply before I run out of my current supply.
Although it probably won't do me any good, I will call my insurer and yell at them for forcing me into this crummy outfit which seems incapable of processing a refill order on a timely basis and thereby risking my running out of my drug or buying it on my own dime.
With open enrollment for ACA plans (mine is ACA) starting up, I will surely change to a new insurance company, one which doesn't require my using Express Scripts for my drugs, and one which covers some of my other prescription items (not very costly going into 2016) my current plan does not.
Anyone else here have trouble with Express Scripts processing and delivering drugs on a timely basis?