[poodlebone]

I get my medications from various places. I get my Levoxyl from Drugstore.com and just pay for it, not through insurance. I started that a couple of years ago when the local stores said I had to take a generic, and I'd get a different brand every time. I discovered it was cheaper to get 3 months of my preferred brand name at a time from Drugstore.com.

I get my Advair inhalers (and was also getting Lipitor & fosinopril, which I no longer take) from Caremark, the pharmacy benefits provider for my insurance. I get 3 months at a time for 2 months co-pay.

I was always afraid of doing my diabetes stuff mail order, especially insulin. But I think I might start. Last month I brought in a new prescription for test strips to my usual pharmacy (one of a big local chain). The script was for 300 strips, my doctor wrote "test 10X a day, insulin pump" on it. When I picked it up the pharmacist only gave me 200 and insisted that's all my insurance will pay for. I knew that was a lot of **** and called my insurance, who put me through to Caremark. The woman there said that there is no limit on the strips and that the pharmacist never even tried to put it through for 300, he just put it in as 200 from the start. I went back and had another big fight with him (a total arrogant jerk) and got the other box of 100.

Today I go back there with my script for Humalog, 2 vials. My idiot PCP had written "50 units daily" on it because she insisted she had to write a dosage. I went to pick it up later and only got 1 vial. The pharmacist (another one, same store) said that's all they pay for. I tell herno, I've been getting THREE bottles and cut it down to two. She put sit through again, gives me 2 bottles and charges me 2 co-pays. I refuse it, call Caremark, and I'm told that they have to enter it as 30 days even if the doctor's instructions end up being less than 2 vials/month. I tell the pharmacist what Caremark said, she insists she has to enter the dosage like my doctor wrote and that 2 vials = 40 days supply. WTF?! So what, if I need 30 days are they supposed to open a vial and give me half of it? I took the script to another store (Walgreens) and they tried the same thing so I took it back.

I see my CDE on Monday. I'm getting a new script for 2 vials a month, 3 months at a time and I'm sending it to Caremark. I'm also getting a new script for my strips. I can't stand dealing with that pharmacy anymore. There used to be one pharmacist who was there all the time and was always really helpful and went out of her way to look things up for me.

I'm still nervous about getting insulin via mail order but I'll give it a try. I have my meds delivered to my job so I know it won't be sitting in front of my door all day, or returned to the UPS warehouse because I wasn't home.

[duck]

Originally Posted by poodlebone

I get my medications from various places. I get my Levoxyl from Drugstore.com and just pay for it, not through insurance. I started that a couple of years ago when the local stores said I had to take a generic, and I'd get a different brand every time. I discovered it was cheaper to get 3 months of my preferred brand name at a time from Drugstore.com.

I get my Advair inhalers (and was also getting Lipitor & fosinopril, which I no longer take) from Caremark, the pharmacy benefits provider for my insurance. I get 3 months at a time for 2 months co-pay.

I was always afraid of doing my diabetes stuff mail order, especially insulin. But I think I might start. Last month I brought in a new prescription for test strips to my usual pharmacy (one of a big local chain). The script was for 300 strips, my doctor wrote "test 10X a day, insulin pump" on it. When I picked it up the pharmacist only gave me 200 and insisted that's all my insurance will pay for. I knew that was a lot of **** and called my insurance, who put me through to Caremark. The woman there said that there is no limit on the strips and that the pharmacist never even tried to put it through for 300, he just put it in as 200 from the start. I went back and had another big fight with him (a total arrogant jerk) and got the other box of 100.

Today I go back there with my script for Humalog, 2 vials. My idiot PCP had written "50 units daily" on it because she insisted she had to write a dosage. I went to pick it up later and only got 1 vial. The pharmacist (another one, same store) said that's all they pay for. I tell herno, I've been getting THREE bottles and cut it down to two. She put sit through again, gives me 2 bottles and charges me 2 co-pays. I refuse it, call Caremark, and I'm told that they have to enter it as 30 days even if the doctor's instructions end up being less than 2 vials/month. I tell the pharmacist what Caremark said, she insists she has to enter the dosage like my doctor wrote and that 2 vials = 40 days supply. WTF?! So what, if I need 30 days are they supposed to open a vial and give me half of it? I took the script to another store (Walgreens) and they tried the same thing so I took it back.

I see my CDE on Monday. I'm getting a new script for 2 vials a month, 3 months at a time and I'm sending it to Caremark. I'm also getting a new script for my strips. I can't stand dealing with that pharmacy anymore. There used to be one pharmacist who was there all the time and was always really helpful and went out of her way to look things up for me.

I'm still nervous about getting insulin via mail order but I'll give it a try. I have my meds delivered to my job so I know it won't be sitting in front of my door all day, or returned to the UPS warehouse because I wasn't home.

I think the doc was right, they have to put a dosage on the Insulin (or any med). Ask them to double the dosage to avoid any issues with the pharmacy.

[JediSkipdogg]

My doctor does the numbers on both the test strips and insulin. I had the exact same problem when I switched from Humalog to Novolog. My mail order didn't have Novolog yet so I had to go through a local pharmacy. At first they gave me one bottle for a script written for 80 units a day (my doc adds 20 units a day for priming and a bonus.) That comes out to 2400 units a month or 2.4 vials.

Well, the pharmacy handed me one vial. So I stated I need three and they said insuarance won't pay for three. I told them how do I survive then when I use 80 units a day and my insurance never questioned it on my Humalog. Finally they changed it to 2 bottles a month. Still that's 400 units short. I questioned about the 3rd vial and they said they would call my insurance and get an answer by the next time I fill my script.

So the next time I go in, they said my insurance only approved 2 vials a month. Well, by this time my insurance covered Novolog through their mail order. Guess what, they send 3 months supplies...and they did 80 units a day times 90 days which is 7200 units and they sent me EIGHT vials, not 7, not 6, but 8.

I'll never understand it.

[lgvincent]

That's something that worries me, too. During the winter months, I will use around 1.5 vials per month so I asked the doctor to write me a prescription for 50 units per day but the stupid pharmacy will only give me 1 vial per month so I was lucky in having some spare to make up for what I should have gotten from them. Don't know what will happen when my insulin needs will increase this winter. Guess I may have to end up doing without, buying it on the black market, or maybe breaking into a pharmacy?

[camjen1]

Poodle I'm also havng troublewith my pharmacy and getting my meds covered. I also had to have my DR write out a new script with a rounded estimate of how much insulin I used so that it would be covered every 12 days and not every 30.

I've had nothing but problems for the last few months. I have had pretty good service the whole entire time until the one day I go to pick up my insulin and they tell me I couldn't get another refill until 14 more days. Ok I guess I'll just go home and hope I don't keel over and die by tomorrow morning. I stomped my feet a little bit and got it approved. So now every 2 weeks when I go to get my refill I'm told the same scenario that I can't get another refill for 2 weeks blah blah blah. Now because of an error they madeI have to remind them everytime I pick up that I'm on a 12 day refill and not a 30 day refill. They also used to give me two vials of insulin and have reduced me to 1 now. They still can't give an answer of to why they did that.

[Tim_Roy]

I think the insurance providers do this bit so that you'll go mail-order on the more expensive insulins. I've had major grief between Costco and Medco. No shock, since Medco sees Costco as a competitor rather than a vendor or partner.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by poodlebone

I was always afraid of doing my diabetes stuff mail order, especially insulin. But I think I might start. Last month I brought in a new prescription for test strips to my usual pharmacy (one of a big local chain). The script was for 300 strips, my doctor wrote "test 10X a day, insulin pump" on it. When I picked it up the pharmacist only gave me 200 and insisted that's all my insurance will pay for. I knew that was a lot of **** and called my insurance, who put me through to Caremark. The woman there said that there is no limit on the strips and that the pharmacist never even tried to put it through for 300, he just put it in as 200 from the start. I went back and had another big fight with him (a total arrogant jerk) and got the other box of 100.

Today I go back there with my script for Humalog, 2 vials. My idiot PCP had written "50 units daily" on it because she insisted she had to write a dosage. I went to pick it up later and only got 1 vial. The pharmacist (another one, same store) said that's all they pay for. I tell herno, I've been getting THREE bottles and cut it down to two. She put sit through again, gives me 2 bottles and charges me 2 co-pays. I refuse it, call Caremark, and I'm told that they have to enter it as 30 days even if the doctor's instructions end up being less than 2 vials/month. I tell the pharmacist what Caremark said, she insists she has to enter the dosage like my doctor wrote and that 2 vials = 40 days supply. WTF?! So what, if I need 30 days are they supposed to open a vial and give me half of it? I took the script to another store (Walgreens) and they tried the same thing so I took it back.

I see my CDE on Monday. I'm getting a new script for 2 vials a month, 3 months at a time and I'm sending it to Caremark. I'm also getting a new script for my strips. I can't stand dealing with that pharmacy anymore. There used to be one pharmacist who was there all the time and was always really helpful and went out of her way to look things up for me.

I'm still nervous about getting insulin via mail order but I'll give it a try. I have my meds delivered to my job so I know it won't be sitting in front of my door all day, or returned to the UPS warehouse because I wasn't home.

I can sympathize... I got a little flack from my insurance company when my endo wrote me up for 300 strips/month. After a few phone calls between the pharmacy and the insurance company, we were able to get an override. Sounds like you have a booger of an insurance company.

The best pharmacy I've been to is CVS. But going every month is a pain. I started getting my test strips and insulin via mail-order with my pump supplies. I'm going to get as many scripts filled in that manner as possible. I find the mail-order companies are more lenient than the pharmacies and less work and worry. I've never gotten bad supplies from mail-order.

[camjen1]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

The best pharmacy I've been to is CVS. But going every month is a pain. I started getting my test strips and insulin via mail-order with my pump supplies. I'm going to get as many scripts filled in that manner as possible. I find the mail-order companies are more lenient than the pharmacies and less work and worry. I've never gotten bad supplies from mail-order.

I have to go every 12-13 days! I would love to get into the mail order but don't know where to start or who to even go with. Any suggestions?

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by camjen1

I have to go every 12-13 days! I would love to get into the mail order but don't know where to start or who to even go with. Any suggestions?

I used Advanced Medical. After a few messed up orders, they seem to be doing a good job now. Another good thing is that you get your supply every 30 days, needed or not. For me this is good, since I am trying to build a stock pile for whatever "situations" may happen...

[butterflykisses]

Originally Posted by poodlebone

I get my medications from various places. I get my Levoxyl from Drugstore.com and just pay for it, not through insurance. I started that a couple of years ago when the local stores said I had to take a generic, and I'd get a different brand every time. I discovered it was cheaper to get 3 months of my preferred brand name at a time from Drugstore.com.

I get my Advair inhalers (and was also getting Lipitor & fosinopril, which I no longer take) from Caremark, the pharmacy benefits provider for my insurance. I get 3 months at a time for 2 months co-pay.

I was always afraid of doing my diabetes stuff mail order, especially insulin. But I think I might start. Last month I brought in a new prescription for test strips to my usual pharmacy (one of a big local chain). The script was for 300 strips, my doctor wrote "test 10X a day, insulin pump" on it. When I picked it up the pharmacist only gave me 200 and insisted that's all my insurance will pay for. I knew that was a lot of **** and called my insurance, who put me through to Caremark. The woman there said that there is no limit on the strips and that the pharmacist never even tried to put it through for 300, he just put it in as 200 from the start. I went back and had another big fight with him (a total arrogant jerk) and got the other box of 100.

Today I go back there with my script for Humalog, 2 vials. My idiot PCP had written "50 units daily" on it because she insisted she had to write a dosage. I went to pick it up later and only got 1 vial. The pharmacist (another one, same store) said that's all they pay for. I tell herno, I've been getting THREE bottles and cut it down to two. She put sit through again, gives me 2 bottles and charges me 2 co-pays. I refuse it, call Caremark, and I'm told that they have to enter it as 30 days even if the doctor's instructions end up being less than 2 vials/month. I tell the pharmacist what Caremark said, she insists she has to enter the dosage like my doctor wrote and that 2 vials = 40 days supply. WTF?! So what, if I need 30 days are they supposed to open a vial and give me half of it? I took the script to another store (Walgreens) and they tried the same thing so I took it back.

I see my CDE on Monday. I'm getting a new script for 2 vials a month, 3 months at a time and I'm sending it to Caremark. I'm also getting a new script for my strips. I can't stand dealing with that pharmacy anymore. There used to be one pharmacist who was there all the time and was always really helpful and went out of her way to look things up for me.

I'm still nervous about getting insulin via mail order but I'll give it a try. I have my meds delivered to my job so I know it won't be sitting in front of my door all day, or returned to the UPS warehouse because I wasn't home.

Caremark, they're who turned me off to mailorder!!! When we got insurance that had the mailorder option I thought GREAT, save me some money. When I called my doctors office to get the precription to send in, the woman who answered assured me that they do this all the time and they knew how to write them out. Well, unlike some of you saying that you needed a specific dosage, I had never had prescription with a specific dosage, just how many vials per month and "use as directed in pump". Never had a problem with local pharmacies. So when he writes out the script for mailorder he does the same thing. Off to Caremark it goes. About 10 days later I got my order. Open it up and they have really shorted me. So I call them and they tell me that they called for more specific dosages and that they filled it accordingly. What they did was fill it with my basal rates, NO boluses for me! I get to starve I guess!!! I tell the pharmacist that it's a mistake, and even if they just went by my basal rates, they STILL shorted me! She said they would send me the rest of my insulin based on what the precription was written for and there was nothing else they could do. I asked her if she knew what an insulin pump is and how it works. She said "of course". So I asked her if the precription said to use such and such per hour in my pump that would mean that it's a constant dose. She agreed. So what do you think I do when I eat?! She said there was nothing she could do, that's what the doctor gave them. I asked why he couldn't call and change it. She tells me it's against the law to change a prescription. Huh? I asked her why, if there was a mistake, it couldn't be rewritten, she just kept telling me it was against the law. I was PISSED because basically, I was getting enough insulin for about a month for a 3 month co-pay! I argued with her for a while and they finally gave me a credit, but would not call the doctor to have it corrected!!! When I talked to my doctors nurse she calls them to correct it...I don't know this until I go in a month or so later. She sees the note on my chart I guess and asks if I got that all straightened out. I told her no, they would not correct it. She said, well, when I called they said that they already took care of it!!! yeah, right! I didn't care whether I was paying more month by month, I would rather cut off my nose to spite my face on this one. At least I knew that if I went to the pharmacy to get my insulin, and it's wrong, I could refuse it and get it fixed. But as far as getting it through the mail...it was packed very well, insulated and in ice. As a matter of fact, the box for the two vials they sent me was big enough to hold a hundred vials. All that unwrapping to find two little vials! GRRRR.... Oh, and by the way, my present prescription does not have any dosages, it's vials per month...use as directed in pump.

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by duck

I think the doc was right, they have to put a dosage on the Insulin (or any med). Ask them to double the dosage to avoid any issues with the pharmacy.

In the past, when I used pens, I had her just write "use as directed" and didn't have a problem. I can see if this was for something like Lipitor, which is a one size fits all drug. There are a couple of different strengths, but pretty much everyone takes one pill a day. Show me two people who take the same amount of insulin a day. Show me one diabetic who takes the same amount of insulin every day! It sucks arguing with them.

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by lgvincent

That's something that worries me, too. During the winter months, I will use around 1.5 vials per month so I asked the doctor to write me a prescription for 50 units per day but the stupid pharmacy will only give me 1 vial per month so I was lucky in having some spare to make up for what I should have gotten from them. Don't know what will happen when my insulin needs will increase this winter. Guess I may have to end up doing without, buying it on the black market, or maybe breaking into a pharmacy?

Call your insurance company or the pharmacy benefits provider and get them to tell you how the prescription needs to be written. The people I spoke to today said the instructions of # units per day shouldn't matter if my doctor wrote for 2 vials, that the pharmacy should just go by that. Or, just have your doctor write the prescription for as many units a day that comes out to 2 vials, or 3 vials or whatever you need.

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

I can sympathize... I got a little flack from my insurance company when my endo wrote me up for 300 strips/month. After a few phone calls between the pharmacy and the insurance company, we were able to get an override. Sounds like you have a booger of an insurance company.

The best pharmacy I've been to is CVS. But going every month is a pain. I started getting my test strips and insulin via mail-order with my pump supplies. I'm going to get as many scripts filled in that manner as possible. I find the mail-order companies are more lenient than the pharmacies and less work and worry. I've never gotten bad supplies from mail-order.

Actually, it has nothing to do with the insurance (Empire BCBS) or the pharmacy benefits provider (Caremark). It's the idiot pharmacist refusing to enter the script as a 30 day supply, which Caremark said they should do! My insurance definitely covers 2 vials - I was getting 3 vials a month when I first started pumping. I get 300 strips a month no problem (except for that one moron pharmacist) and Caremark told me that there's no limit on the number of strips. I plan on getting a new script for 400 on Monday, because I do test at least 10X a day every day and some days I need to test more. I had bought 200 strips from someone last August so I managed to have some backup, but that extra is almost gone since I've been using my 300 from insurance plus extra from my stockpile. Now I have no backup, just the 300. And, I managed to lose a brand new (2 used) vial of strips in the park on Sunday.

I'm going to ask my CDE for two sets of prescriptions. One written for 3 months to mail away and one set written for 1 month, just in case I do have problems with Caremark and need to get them filled locally. I will have her inflate the units to equal 2 full vials. And if I do have to go locally it won't be to that pharmacy.

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by butterflykisses

Caremark, they're who turned me off to mailorder!!! When we got insurance that had the mailorder option I thought GREAT, save me some money. When I called my doctors office to get the precription to send in, the woman who answered assured me that they do this all the time and they knew how to write them out. Well, unlike some of you saying that you needed a specific dosage, I had never had prescription with a specific dosage, just how many vials per month and "use as directed in pump". Never had a problem with local pharmacies. So when he writes out the script for mailorder he does the same thing. Off to Caremark it goes. About 10 days later I got my order. Open it up and they have really shorted me. So I call them and they tell me that they called for more specific dosages and that they filled it accordingly. What they did was fill it with my basal rates, NO boluses for me! I get to starve I guess!!! I tell the pharmacist that it's a mistake, and even if they just went by my basal rates, they STILL shorted me! She said they would send me the rest of my insulin based on what the precription was written for and there was nothing else they could do. I asked her if she knew what an insulin pump is and how it works. She said "of course". So I asked her if the precription said to use such and such per hour in my pump that would mean that it's a constant dose. She agreed. So what do you think I do when I eat?! She said there was nothing she could do, that's what the doctor gave them. I asked why he couldn't call and change it. She tells me it's against the law to change a prescription. Huh? I asked her why, if there was a mistake, it couldn't be rewritten, she just kept telling me it was against the law. I was PISSED because basically, I was getting enough insulin for about a month for a 3 month co-pay! I argued with her for a while and they finally gave me a credit, but would not call the doctor to have it corrected!!! When I talked to my doctors nurse she calls them to correct it...I don't know this until I go in a month or so later. She sees the note on my chart I guess and asks if I got that all straightened out. I told her no, they would not correct it. She said, well, when I called they said that they already took care of it!!! yeah, right! I didn't care whether I was paying more month by month, I would rather cut off my nose to spite my face on this one. At least I knew that if I went to the pharmacy to get my insulin, and it's wrong, I could refuse it and get it fixed. But as far as getting it through the mail...it was packed very well, insulated and in ice. As a matter of fact, the box for the two vials they sent me was big enough to hold a hundred vials. All that unwrapping to find two little vials! GRRRR.... Oh, and by the way, my present prescription does not have any dosages, it's vials per month...use as directed in pump.

I never have prescriptions called in. I always get them in person, so I can review them and tell the doctor what she did wrong! Even if I have some refills left I'll get new prescriptions when I see my PCP. I haven't had any problems with Caremark getting my other medications, but pills & inhalers with standard doses are hard to mess up.

I know that I read something about refrigerated medications being shipped overnight at a cost of $16.95. That sucks, because then I'll end up paying more if I have to pay shipping. Instead of $30 for 3 months supply I'll end up paying $36.95 with shipping. It still might be worth it just to avoid going back to the pharmacy.

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

I used Advanced Medical. After a few messed up orders, they seem to be doing a good job now. Another good thing is that you get your supply every 30 days, needed or not. For me this is good, since I am trying to build a stock pile for whatever "situations" may happen...

That's what I'm going to do from now on. I hadn't gotten the insulin filled in awhile because I had extra, but from now on I'll get it every time. And actually, 1 vial is enough for a month as long as nothing goes wrong. I have had to throw out a reservoir or vial of insulin because it seemed like it had gone bad.