topic Re: Mail Order Prescriptions in Wellness

Mail Order Prescriptions

drizzellla — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 02:11:35 GMT

I retired 7/1 and went onto Medicare. Apparently, that went seamlessly. BUT trying to get my prescriptions filled is another story. My Insurance Agent recommended AARP/Walgreens for my prescriptions. I had always used whatever mail order pharmacy was associated with my health insurance and never have a problem. My prescription were filled and delivered within about 3-5 days.

I expected the same with Walgreens. OH MY, was I wrong. I have been trying to get 4 prescriptions filled since July 5. And so far I have received 1 prescription. There are 2 prescriptions that said there were "being processed" for the last week and a half. And 1 prescription they have no record. My Doctor has sent the missing prescription in 3 times.

Tonight I went into my status and they said they were going to cancel the 2 prescriptions that they were "Processing" unless I wrote and told them Walgreens could fill the prescription. Why would my Doctor bother to send in the prescriptions unless they were to be filled.

I can not believe how long this is taking and how they have no record of a prescription that was sent 3 times.

Glad I retired - gives me time to straighten out this mess.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

Gooday — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 02:16:03 GMT

@drizzellla wrote:
I retired 7/1 and went onto Medicare. Apparently, that went seamlessly. BUT trying to get my prescriptions filled is another story. My Insurance Agent recommended AARP/Walgreens for my prescriptions. I had always used whatever mail order pharmacy was associated with my health insurance and never have a problem. My prescription were filled and delivered within about 3-5 days.

I expected the same with Walgreens. OH MY, was I wrong. I have been trying to get 4 prescriptions filled since July 5. And so far I have received 1 prescription. There are 2 prescriptions that said there were "being processed" for the last week and a half. And 1 prescription they have no record. My Doctor has sent the missing prescription in 3 times.

Tonight I went into my status and they said they were going to cancel the 2 prescriptions that they were "Processing" unless I wrote and told them Walgreens could fill the prescription. Why would my Doctor bother to send in the prescriptions unless they were to be filled.

I can not believe how long this is taking and how they have no record of a prescription that was sent 3 times.

Glad I retired - gives me time to straighten out this mess.

How timely!

My insurance company (BC/BS through the Notsoaffordable Health Care Act) has been Walgreens. I also manage my 89 year old Dad's mail away meds which is Walgreens through Prime Mail. We used to have Caremark mail away.

The lag time is at least a week longer than it used to be. I have always allowed enough time to re-order but, this has really been cutting it close and I am uncomfortable with this.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

sophiamarie — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 02:29:47 GMT

We have Express Scripts and I love it. Everything is done by them. They contact the doctor for refills and send e-mails, letting us know when our Rx is being mailed out. They make it so easy.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

jbinrwc — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 02:44:37 GMT

I went with OptumRx through AARP when I retired. I use their mail order service and have not had any problems. Delivery of meds is very quick. Like Express Scripts, they do everything for me - contact the doctors for refills, call when I need to reorder, send emails when meds ship, etc. I am very satisfied with their service.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

Moonchilde — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 02:44:40 GMT

This is exactly why I will never do mail order prescriptions. I wouldn't save enough money to be worth the stress and uncertainty. I have Silverscript/Caremark/CVS and they have enough issues (like anyone else) that I don't need to add mail order into the mix.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

drizzellla — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 02:51:20 GMT

@sophiamarie wrote:
We have Express Scripts and I love it. Everything is done by them. They contact the doctor for refills and send e-mails, letting us know when our Rx is being mailed out. They make it so easy.

I used Express Scripts and Cignas mail order. I did not have to do a thing. The Doctor sent in the prescriptions and I received them. They sent out the prescriptions automatically. That is why I have no idea why Walgreens has sent 1 prescription in a month's time. And I am still trying to get 3 more.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

wishmoon — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 02:59:39 GMT

I have Express Scripts too and am pleased with it. I like that they fill prescriptions for 3 months where when I deal with the local drugstore, they give me a month at a time. They're especially good for expensive scripts.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

Lapdog — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 03:00:33 GMT

Took a friend Saturday to pick up a script at CVS. They were told their insurance would no longer pay a drug store for maintenance drugs, had to be mail order.

They could pay full price themselves (which wasn't much) this time.

My problem with this is, our mail is completely untrustworthy. Smashed packages, lid not closed properly, and mail delivered to the wrong address.

Plus, they make it extemely difficult to contact them either by phone or on the internet.

I am with United Health and they send letters saying I could save this much using mail order. So, it is probably just a matter of time.

I asked the Tech if the insurers were trying to put CVS out of business. He smirked and said yes.

I will say I have had several issues with CVS, but I can go there, they know me and they have fixed most things. Plus, they answer the phone.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

drizzellla — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 03:08:30 GMT

Walgreens you can have a chat on the computer. But they are no help. I was just told "They have no record" of the prescription. And they cut off the chat. So that is why my Doctor has sent the prescription in 3 times. And so far there is no record of the prescription.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

sophiamarie — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 03:13:42 GMT

@wishmoon wrote:
I have Express Scripts too and am pleased with it. I like that they fill prescriptions for 3 months where when I deal with the local drugstore, they give me a month at a time. They're especially good for expensive scripts.

@wishmoon I forgot about the 3 month at a time. Also, we have no co-pay and all my Rx are generic. My husband has one medication that is "Brand" and he pays $20 every 3 months.

ETA: I take thyroid meds and I don't use Express Scripts for that because I want/need them from the same drug co. (Mylan). I get those at my local Publix. I don't know if Express Scripts would be trusted to use the same drug co. for the thyroid pills. I think the cost is under $4.......

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

Kachina624 — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 03:24:48 GMT

@jbinrwc wrote:
I went with OptumRx through AARP when I retired. I use their mail order service and have not had any problems. Delivery of meds is very quick. Like Express Scripts, they do everything for me - contact the doctors for refills, call when I need to reorder, send emails when meds ship, etc. I am very satisfied with their service.

My insurance recently switched from Caremark to OptumRx and so far I'm very impressed with their efficiency, much more so than Caremark.

Funny story about Walgreens.... I recently saw a new doctor and his assistant mistakenly called in a prescription for me to Walgreens instead of OptumRx. The cost at Walgreens was well over $150., I canceled that and got it from mail order for less than $5. I've always found Walgreens to be the most expensive, least efficient option.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

Nonametoday — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 03:48:19 GMT

Express Scripts was okay for BP pills and things that can wait a while because you get them in quantity so you have a year's supply but my husband's insulin and my antibiotics that I take for maintenance and his heart medicine was a nightmare and way over-charged us.

Walgreen in one store locally was good but in another was horrible.

We had CVS before and for years, never a glitch. Perfect. The most perfect business I ever dealt with and then Zap! it was taken away from us in favor of these two disasters. I cannot wait for 15 months for antibiotics.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

wishmoon — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 04:30:13 GMT

@sophiamarie wrote:
@wishmoon wrote:
I have Express Scripts too and am pleased with it. I like that they fill prescriptions for 3 months where when I deal with the local drugstore, they give me a month at a time. They're especially good for expensive scripts.
@wishmoon I forgot about the 3 month at a time. Also, we have no co-pay and all my Rx are generic. My husband has one medication that is "Brand" and he pays $20 every 3 months.

ETA: I take thyroid meds and I don't use Express Scripts for that because I want/need them from the same drug co. (Mylan). I get those at my local Publix. I don't know if Express Scripts would be trusted to use the same drug co. for the thyroid pills. I think the cost is under $4.......

Why not call them and speak to one of the pharmacists and ask them if they can get them from Mylan? Three months at a time is a big convenience, even though I'm in the drugstore all the time picking up stuff!

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

NickNack — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 11:20:37 GMT

For those who are saying you can only get one month at a time from local pharmacies, this is not true. I fill all my prescriptions at CVS locally, and they are 90-day prescriptions. I also pick up my father's prescriptions locally, and they are all 90 days as well.

Also, someone mentioned waiting a while to get a prescription for an antibiotic. You're never supposed to order something like that from mail order. Anything you need immediately it is suggested you get that locally. That's in the literature from the mail order companies.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

SilleeMee — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 12:13:28 GMT

When I was on a RX drug, I had it mailed to me from Wmart. Then one day, while trying to place another order for the same drug, Wmart told me that they were no longer mailing out their drugs and that I would have to come to their pharmacy to pick them up. For me that is was not a big deal because I could still get the 3-month discount at their counter and my Wmart is only five minutes from me.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

drizzellla — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 14:37:15 GMT

I got a notification today from Walgreen's. They are going to send out 2 of my prescriptions "as soon as possible". Yippee! On August 5th it will be a month since the first set of prescriptions were sent in.

Still no record of my 4th prescription that my Doctor sent 3 times.

PS These are not controlled substances. They are medications for thyroid, blood pressure and cholesterol.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

drizzellla — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 15:01:26 GMT

OH - they are trying to drive me crazy! Walgreens just emailed me and the heading for the email was they might cancel my prescriptions.

They said I had to give them permission to fill the Doctor's prescriptions. I sent the permission via email yesterday. That is why Walgreens said earlier today they were going to send the prescriptions out as soon as possible. Now over an hour later I get the email stating they might cancel.

This is getting ridiculous. I am going to go to the Doctors office and get paper prescriptions. And also call and see if I can go to another pharmacy.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

chlema — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 15:57:32 GMT

@jbinrwc I totally agree about the efficiency of Optum RX. Dh and I have used them for 15 years and never had a problem. They are great at responding to inquiries also. Mail delivery has never been an issue.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

ID2 — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 16:06:53 GMT

@sophiamarie wrote:
We have Express Scripts and I love it. Everything is done by them. They contact the doctor for refills and send e-mails, letting us know when our Rx is being mailed out. They make it so easy.

I'm not so happy with Express Scripts. I just wish I could go to my local drug store to get my meds filled. Express Scrips screwed up with a delivery of two of my meds. It was their fault and they admitted that. BUT I am out one refill now. Every time I personally call them for them to replace that one script, they refill and not replace. So by the end of the year I'll be short a refill. Grrr! I'm still going round and round with them. As I said I wish my BCBS would just let me go to my local drug store to get my meds/refills, I really dislike mail order meds.

Re: Mail Order Prescriptions

Mom2Dogs — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 16:43:33 GMT

DH does not mail order his meds, CVS manages his, they call (A LOT) when a script is ready. We really don' like he notifications but can seem to get them stopped.