It’s available as a generic, so there are a number of manufacturers and I can find lists of them online. I’m certain they have access to that information. It’s not unobtanium. It exists.
At this point, it seems like there may be some kind of shortage. If they can find it they will ship it, or so I’ve been told. I called my doctor’s office and was told that they had been contacted again by the insurance company and that he was going to call them back. I’m hoping that maybe they found it available in a different strength or something and they just need him to okay it. (I can always adjust how much I inject.)
I told them that I do not feel well and I’ve lost 3 pounds since yesterday. I’m thinking I may end up needing IV fluids.
There is a drug shortage bulletin dated March of 2015. It states that some companies are shipping. I have no idea if the info from March still applies or not. I’ve successfully refilled it several times between March and now.
A doctor’s office change location within the mega-hospital network, and gained a new fax number as a result. Pharmacies will only fax to the old number and will not change their authorized fax database to the new number (probably a fraud-prevention situation). Direct calls between the doctor, pharmacy, insurer, and/or distributor all fail to get the fax number updated consistently.
Every month is now:
Request refill from pharma
Fax never gets answered by doctor
Explain that they are faxing to an old number, here’s the new number
Get refused for unauthorized number in the database, sorry call corporate customer service because we can’t fix it.
Hours of phone tree navigation and patching in conference calls to get doctor to talk live with pharma corporate because the patient obviously can’t be trusted…
System “fixed” and scrip gets filled.
Next month’s refill again faxed to the old number…
Tell them if you can’t get more of this medication before you run out, you will go to the Emergency Room, and they will give you a dose of it. And ER visits are very expensive but they are 100% covered by the insurance if medically necessary. So they will have to pay a lot more if they don’t get organized enough to get you the medications.
It was my doctor who told me about this strategy.
I only had to use it once (not actually go to the ER, just threaten to) and when their profits were on the line, the insurance company somehow managed to straighten it out within the day.
Along with deciding that they are secondary to Medicare Part B (which I don’t have), UnitedHealthcare has been amusing themselves by refusing to pay for my Norco every 2-3 months. It’s not like it wasn’t bad enough that I have to get a new paper RX each month, and that they will only dispense 30 pills at a time so here I am each month standing in line on my only barely worthwhile legs. Fine, whatever, that isn’t UHCs fault what is their fault is that after I’ve stood around and waited, the pharmacy tells me that the insurance won’t pay, and because of that I simply cannot have it. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, if the insurance doesn’t cover it, I’m not allowed to buy it on my own.
Fuck drug addicts, fuck the stupid laws they cause and fuck UHC. If you find out who to sue davidm, please let me know!
I didn’t know that it was a supply problem when I started this thread. In fact, I still don’t know that for certain. I get different stories from different parties.
In any case, there still seems to be some fault with BC. There’s apparently some sort of bureaucratic issue as to whether this drug should be direct shipped or not. What I’ve been told is that they’ll do it this one time as an exception and then we’ll have to figure out how to handle it in the future. It sounds like that issue is on BC and either they’re mistaken now, or they’ve been mistaken all of the years that they had it shipped to me. But why did it take nearly a month for them to figure this out? If they didn’t want to ship it, why didn’t they tell me that immediately? If there was a supply problem, why didn’t they tell me that immediately?
Why suddenly, when it’s become urgent, can they cut through all of the red tape and get it to me but they couldn’t before? (Actually I’m not completely convinced yet that I’m getting it but it seems more certain than the previous promises.)
My wife has a clotting problem. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY knows why. She has been poked and prodded at all the Boston hospitals, and after throwing 3 PE’s, the last while on warfin, the word was given that she would be on Lovenox forever. At $100 per shot, there was some blowback from the insurance people. That ended when they were told the only other option was admitting her, forever, and hanging a IV.
Now they are even happier–she is on a $50 a day pill. Alas I no longer get to stab my wife every night:mad:
I can identify with nobody being able to diagnose the cause. I’ve been through test after test. I don’t have celiac. I don’t have anything else that they can diagnose. So all they can do is treat me, and this medicine is the only thing that works.
Tell who? The pharmacy that can’t fill an order they didn’t have, or the doctor that hasn’t gotten the request for the order? And why on earth would either of them care if the patient has to go to the hospital, really?
Even the insurance company drone doesn’t give a shit if you go to the hospital. Its not like they get docked pay or anything. If you go to the hospital, you’re no longer on their backs, at least for a little bit. And then your medical insurance, not drug coverage, has to pay money for you. Sounds like winning!
A person rarely needs hospitalization for missing a couple of meds. That would be a horrendous misuse of the already overtaxed ER, not to mention a pain in the ass and very frightening for elderly homebound patients like mine.