Meet Me in This World, or the Nexium
Today, Medcrap emailed me the following:
During the day when I was out doing my normal monkey business, I got a call from the assistant for the doctor who had prescribed the Prevacid. She told me that they had received some phone messages from Medcrap as I had told her they would. I asked that when she returned the call, would she find out if they would authorize a stop-gap prescription of longer than five days given the upcoming holiday weekend.
She called back about 15 minutes later. Seems like the co-pay for Previcid is $72, for Nexium it’s $36, and for a generic it’s $18. She said that the doctor was indifferent among the three. (I did not ask the question that if this were the case, why he had not signed the line “substitutions acceptable” on the prescription form.) She asked if I cared. I said I would take whatever drug the doctor wanted me to take. She thought Nexium would be the best choice. And she said that she would ask Medcrap if they would authorize a seven-day supply that I could pick up at Walgreens.
Five minutes passed this time before her next call. She was told that Medcrap would not authorize any short-term supply of Nexium since they were sending me my full order today via next-day delivery.
I wish I had something pithy to say at the end, but this entire thing has been pithy.
P. S. The next day, I received an email from Medcrap which said, in part: “If you need medication before your order arrives, please contact your physician to obtain a prescription for up to a 14 day supply of medication. This prescription may be filled at your local participating pharmacy.”
Say what? I guess they forgot the offered me that before (then refused to allow it when I got the prescription), told me to get a five-day supply (which I was going to), and then told me not to get any short-term supply since they were sending me the pills via overnight delivery. Finally, it’s mid-afternoon and the pills have not arrived. Their web site shows an enigmatic “order partially shipped” on it. How is something partially shipped? Like being partially pregnant?
I called customer service, fought my way through the automated voice whose program really did not want me to talk to a live person, and talked to a customer service representative. Overnight? Well, it’s semantics: seems it’s being sent overnight, but not out of there until today. Partially shipped? She had no clue.
“Thank you for your online inquiry. We sincerely apologize for the delay in your order. Please be assured that we are working diligently to get your order processed as quickly as possible. A request has been sent to your home delivery pharmacy asking that they expedite the filling of this order. As soon as your order is filled, we have requested it be shipped via an expedited carrier at no charge to you. You should expect to receive your order within the next 3 to 5 days.Okay, three to five days and I can get a five-day prescription filled. I looked at my account online and found out that they showed shipping on May 25. I am out of medicine as of May 24.
To receive medication before your order arrives, please contact your physician to call you in a 5 day supply at your retail pharmacy. We have entered an override into the system for this short term supply to be covered at no additional cost to you.”
During the day when I was out doing my normal monkey business, I got a call from the assistant for the doctor who had prescribed the Prevacid. She told me that they had received some phone messages from Medcrap as I had told her they would. I asked that when she returned the call, would she find out if they would authorize a stop-gap prescription of longer than five days given the upcoming holiday weekend.
She called back about 15 minutes later. Seems like the co-pay for Previcid is $72, for Nexium it’s $36, and for a generic it’s $18. She said that the doctor was indifferent among the three. (I did not ask the question that if this were the case, why he had not signed the line “substitutions acceptable” on the prescription form.) She asked if I cared. I said I would take whatever drug the doctor wanted me to take. She thought Nexium would be the best choice. And she said that she would ask Medcrap if they would authorize a seven-day supply that I could pick up at Walgreens.
Five minutes passed this time before her next call. She was told that Medcrap would not authorize any short-term supply of Nexium since they were sending me my full order today via next-day delivery.
I wish I had something pithy to say at the end, but this entire thing has been pithy.
P. S. The next day, I received an email from Medcrap which said, in part: “If you need medication before your order arrives, please contact your physician to obtain a prescription for up to a 14 day supply of medication. This prescription may be filled at your local participating pharmacy.”
Say what? I guess they forgot the offered me that before (then refused to allow it when I got the prescription), told me to get a five-day supply (which I was going to), and then told me not to get any short-term supply since they were sending me the pills via overnight delivery. Finally, it’s mid-afternoon and the pills have not arrived. Their web site shows an enigmatic “order partially shipped” on it. How is something partially shipped? Like being partially pregnant?
I called customer service, fought my way through the automated voice whose program really did not want me to talk to a live person, and talked to a customer service representative. Overnight? Well, it’s semantics: seems it’s being sent overnight, but not out of there until today. Partially shipped? She had no clue.
posted by Bud Hirsch at 7:16 PM
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