My current online pharmacy, which is associated with our Medicare supplement insurance, has become impossibly incompetent to deal with, and I want to change. So I have come here, as with so many other issues, to get recommendations from actual users, like you. All our meds (so far) are generic maintenance meds for chronic conditions. For emergency or one-time meds, we usually go to our local pharmacy.
The only up-front requirement, really, is that they accept Medicare and our supplementary insurance (Humana). They should deliver the meds in a reasonable time frame (7-10 days would be the ideal upper limit) from ordering, with free regular delivery, and optional faster delivery on request at a fee. Their site should be relatively easy and intuitive to use, but I’m so used to crap that I probably won’t complain about more of it. I can’t think of any other requirements – they should just do what they’re paid to do.
I have looked at a Forbes Magazine rating of some of these services, so I am interested to hear if you have used any of these: Amazon, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Costco, Birdi, or Capsule. I have Amazon Prime, and am a Costco member. I am interested in any and all experiences, positive or negative. I am frankly inclined towards Costco because I am used to dealing with them.
Humana has their own online pharmacy, called Centerwell (I’m not sure all Humana customers were sent to that one, maybe it’s only a subset, like Medicare subscribers, I don’t know). They’re the ones I’m having serious problems with.
According to the Forbes review, Express Scripts doesn’t accept Medicare or outside insurance. I guess they have their own drug insurance plan?
Blue Shield of California uses CVS/Caremark, and I haven’t had significant issues. Note however that BS of Cal is switching to Amazon as of January 1, so perhaps that says something.
I just logged into Express Scripts and I see my three prescriptions. I go through BCBS of Montana and they use Express Scripts. I guess that’s not Medicare.
I think you don’t understand the situation as the cost of alternatives are going to depend on your specific plan. Most plans have three types of pharmacies you can get drugs from: out of network, network and preferred network. You can only use out of network pharmacies in emergency situations. The preferred network pharmacies will have a lower copay than the network pharmacies which are not preferred. Look up some alternatives in your pharmacy directory for the plan. I would doubt that the other mail order pharmacies are preferred–as they compete with the plan’s mail order pharmacy. But I really don’t know.
One option is to look at the big supermarket chains in your area. They are likely to be preferred network and some of them have mail order options.
Also consider not using your plan at all for the very cheap generics. Check out Mark Cuban’s Costplus drugs or its competitors:
Your drugs may be cheap enough that it may be a good alternative for you.
I’ve been using OptumRx for a number of years and am satisfied with their service. I think they meet all your requirements except I don’t know if they accept your specific insurance; you’d have to check on that.
So far all of our maintenance drugs are costing us $0 as generics, except for my asthma inhaler.
I will see if I can find anything on their site about what pharmacies are in their network. I have had no problem using local Walgreens for one-time prescriptions. I hope not, but this whole thing may require me to change companies for my supplementary insurance.
Apparently I have to call them to get specifics about what other pharmacies are in their network. All they have on their site is “There are other pharmacies in our network.”
This is the answer. Your specific drug plan within Humana’s California-specific portfolio of many drug plans has a list of retail and mail order pharmacies that they’ll consider in-network. You can only choose from that list if you want in-network prices. Which you very much do. So start there.
The fact that Medicare is a national program but all the supplemental stuff is different in each state (and sometimes each county) is a real PITA. It means that only advice from other people near you is necessarily valid advice.
I’ve had them a year now. No complaints. They are the mail order wing of Walgreens. Like CVS Caremark is the mail order wing of CVS.
I have used OptumRx for several years and was very satisfied with their service. Last year things changed and I was required to switch to CVSCaremark, which I am also very satisfied with.
Thank you. When I log into Humana I am sent by default to a site (MyHumana) that doesn’t seem to have that finder feature. It does appear to be storefront locations, however, so far I haven’t found any mention of online pharmacies.