I seem to be going through the never-ending medical saga. For the past few years, our insurance plan has required us to order any long-term prescriptions through a mail-order pharmacy, Medco. This is supposedly supposed to be an easy way for us to get our prescriptions, and also helps save the insurance company money. Fine, whatever.
But it's not 'fine, whatever.' Our family's personal experience with Medco has been mediocre, at best. Since the beginning, there have been issues of generics being changed, prescriptions not getting refilled on time, and other similar things. Then for awhile it evened out. Our doctors' offices and Medco finally seemed to be communicating, and our prescriptions were filled regularly and on-time.
A few months ago, I noticed an odd change when I received my birth control pills in the mail. After my doctor mailed in a refill, I received pills with a completely different dosage than the one I had been receiving. I was furious, after having dealt with Medco's errors before. However, it turns out that one was on my doctor (they had the wrong dosage listed on accident), and my doctor's office offered to change the prescription immediately. I said I would stay on the new dosage unless I found it to have adverse side effects, in which case I would contact them for a new prescription.
Two months later, the adverse side effects are there in full force. I call my doctor's office and ask them to change it as soon as possible. They comply.
The following week, I receive a prescription in the mail and I assume it is the one I had switched with my doctor's office. Nope. Not only is it the wrong dosage (1.5/30 instead of the 1/20 I requested), but it is a completely different brand than the pill I've been taking for over 2 years. Needless to say, after having my generics switched around on a monthly basis about a year in (and having my body protest each time), I refused to take them. Naturally, I assumed this was an error on Medco's part and called them to sort it out.
After an hour on the phone with 2 customer service reps and a pharmacist (who I forgot to ask if she was even licensed in NYS), I have heard the following things from Medco:
As I was reading Gothamist when I got home from work today, I came across an interesting article about a recall on birth control pills. My curiosity was highly piqued after my saga of the never-ending birth control pills (my mom actually called me today after finally receiving the correct pills: "Good Lord, how many times are you going to get birth control pills this week?!"). I followed up with that article on Jezebel, which linked to the manufacturer Qualitest's recall list. Guess what? Gildess Fe 1.3/30 and Gildess Fe 1/20 (both of which were sent to me) ARE ON THE LIST!
So, let's recap: first, Medco changes my generic prescription due to 'corporate interest.' Second, the corporation's preferred drug of choice is now *gasp* under recall! Fan-fucking-tastic job, Medco. You would think an organization that calls itself a pharmacy would put its patients before its pocketbooks. But no, silly Kim, we live in an overbloated capitalist society where even those who are supposed to be looking out for our best interests sell us out for a quick buck.
The pharmacist I spoke to at Medco said that even my local pharmacy would do something like that. Possibly, but my local pharmacist would also work with me to make sure I was getting exactly what I wanted and needed. I've grown up with my local pharmacist's daughter (kindergarten through high school, and our parents still live down the street from each other), so she knows me and will want to make sure that my health is being taken care of. While the company may try to cut costs, I know she won't let that happen.
Point #4: in what other place in the United States would you be forced to pay for something you have not used, and also returned back to the place you got it from? I can understand some issues about things being tampered with before they were sent back, but a) I would assume they would automatically destroy whatever comes back for that exact reason, and b) they're blister packs, which would usually be pretty obvious if someone tampered with them. Medco's tune was very nice at the beginning, but once I started getting angry and upset (they're screwing with my body, and also keeping me on hold for 5 minutes at a time), they shut down. Now there's a company that can't take criticism.
And even on top of all this personal stuff (oh BTW, they've also been screwing with my mom's blood pressure medication- something you should never ever mess with, especially if you're not a doctor), I found some other very interesting stuff doing research.
In 2003, Medco was brought to court for a bunch of illegal, unethical, and questionable practices by none other than the United States government (this will open a PDF that I highly suggest you read). They cite numerous things that Medco has allegedly done wrong, such as having non-pharmacists doing things that should only be done by licensed pharmacists, changing prescriptions, falsifying records, and flat-out lying to patients, among other things. I found numerous citations in the suit that reflect exactly what Medco has been doing to me, 7 years after the case was settled out of court (with Medco paying a hefty settlement: $29 million to 20 state governments and $115 million to the federal government).
Oh, and one more thing: up until recently (and definitely as recently as that 2003 civil case), Medco was actually Merck Medco Managed Care, L.L.C., which was owned by Merck. One of the largest drug manufacturers in the world. Now tell me, how is it ethically or legally possible to have a Prescriptions Benefits Management company owned by a drug company? The case cited evidence of Medco giving preferential treatment to Merck-manufactured drugs, even in spite of doctors' explicit orders for specific medications.
The case goes on and on, and there has been some recent news from other places in the country about Medco's ongoing unethical practices since that time (including a former Medco pharmacist in Florida undergoing a hunger strike in 2010 in protest). My own personal case highlights these ongoing practices.
I plan on contacting Medco again on Monday morning, and taking this further if they refuse to at least eliminate the co-pay for my unwanted medications. From there, it's the HR staff with our health insurance company, and if needed, the Attorney General's office. Clearly Medco hasn't changed a bit since 2003. Maybe if enough people get on board they will finally be forced to change their tune.
But it's not 'fine, whatever.' Our family's personal experience with Medco has been mediocre, at best. Since the beginning, there have been issues of generics being changed, prescriptions not getting refilled on time, and other similar things. Then for awhile it evened out. Our doctors' offices and Medco finally seemed to be communicating, and our prescriptions were filled regularly and on-time.
A few months ago, I noticed an odd change when I received my birth control pills in the mail. After my doctor mailed in a refill, I received pills with a completely different dosage than the one I had been receiving. I was furious, after having dealt with Medco's errors before. However, it turns out that one was on my doctor (they had the wrong dosage listed on accident), and my doctor's office offered to change the prescription immediately. I said I would stay on the new dosage unless I found it to have adverse side effects, in which case I would contact them for a new prescription.
Two months later, the adverse side effects are there in full force. I call my doctor's office and ask them to change it as soon as possible. They comply.
The following week, I receive a prescription in the mail and I assume it is the one I had switched with my doctor's office. Nope. Not only is it the wrong dosage (1.5/30 instead of the 1/20 I requested), but it is a completely different brand than the pill I've been taking for over 2 years. Needless to say, after having my generics switched around on a monthly basis about a year in (and having my body protest each time), I refused to take them. Naturally, I assumed this was an error on Medco's part and called them to sort it out.
After an hour on the phone with 2 customer service reps and a pharmacist (who I forgot to ask if she was even licensed in NYS), I have heard the following things from Medco:
- The prescription for the 1.5/30 was automatically refilled (note: I do not recall authorizing this)
- My doctor's office sent a prescription in July for 1.5/30 which was unable to be filled; they sent me notification that they would hold this prescription until it was time to be filled (note: I never received a notice, and also, they received 2 prescriptions on the same day in July for 1.5/30 and 1/20. Wouldn't you think they would clarify which was the correct one?)
- The generic for Loestrin has been switched from Microgestin (which I've been on for 2 years) to Gildess due to 'corporate interest'.
- Even though I cannot and will not use either Gildess prescription mailed to me (both 1.5/30 and 1/20) and offered to mail them back, I am still responsible for the co-pays on both.
As I was reading Gothamist when I got home from work today, I came across an interesting article about a recall on birth control pills. My curiosity was highly piqued after my saga of the never-ending birth control pills (my mom actually called me today after finally receiving the correct pills: "Good Lord, how many times are you going to get birth control pills this week?!"). I followed up with that article on Jezebel, which linked to the manufacturer Qualitest's recall list. Guess what? Gildess Fe 1.3/30 and Gildess Fe 1/20 (both of which were sent to me) ARE ON THE LIST!
So, let's recap: first, Medco changes my generic prescription due to 'corporate interest.' Second, the corporation's preferred drug of choice is now *gasp* under recall! Fan-fucking-tastic job, Medco. You would think an organization that calls itself a pharmacy would put its patients before its pocketbooks. But no, silly Kim, we live in an overbloated capitalist society where even those who are supposed to be looking out for our best interests sell us out for a quick buck.
The pharmacist I spoke to at Medco said that even my local pharmacy would do something like that. Possibly, but my local pharmacist would also work with me to make sure I was getting exactly what I wanted and needed. I've grown up with my local pharmacist's daughter (kindergarten through high school, and our parents still live down the street from each other), so she knows me and will want to make sure that my health is being taken care of. While the company may try to cut costs, I know she won't let that happen.
Point #4: in what other place in the United States would you be forced to pay for something you have not used, and also returned back to the place you got it from? I can understand some issues about things being tampered with before they were sent back, but a) I would assume they would automatically destroy whatever comes back for that exact reason, and b) they're blister packs, which would usually be pretty obvious if someone tampered with them. Medco's tune was very nice at the beginning, but once I started getting angry and upset (they're screwing with my body, and also keeping me on hold for 5 minutes at a time), they shut down. Now there's a company that can't take criticism.
And even on top of all this personal stuff (oh BTW, they've also been screwing with my mom's blood pressure medication- something you should never ever mess with, especially if you're not a doctor), I found some other very interesting stuff doing research.
In 2003, Medco was brought to court for a bunch of illegal, unethical, and questionable practices by none other than the United States government (this will open a PDF that I highly suggest you read). They cite numerous things that Medco has allegedly done wrong, such as having non-pharmacists doing things that should only be done by licensed pharmacists, changing prescriptions, falsifying records, and flat-out lying to patients, among other things. I found numerous citations in the suit that reflect exactly what Medco has been doing to me, 7 years after the case was settled out of court (with Medco paying a hefty settlement: $29 million to 20 state governments and $115 million to the federal government).
Oh, and one more thing: up until recently (and definitely as recently as that 2003 civil case), Medco was actually Merck Medco Managed Care, L.L.C., which was owned by Merck. One of the largest drug manufacturers in the world. Now tell me, how is it ethically or legally possible to have a Prescriptions Benefits Management company owned by a drug company? The case cited evidence of Medco giving preferential treatment to Merck-manufactured drugs, even in spite of doctors' explicit orders for specific medications.
The case goes on and on, and there has been some recent news from other places in the country about Medco's ongoing unethical practices since that time (including a former Medco pharmacist in Florida undergoing a hunger strike in 2010 in protest). My own personal case highlights these ongoing practices.
I plan on contacting Medco again on Monday morning, and taking this further if they refuse to at least eliminate the co-pay for my unwanted medications. From there, it's the HR staff with our health insurance company, and if needed, the Attorney General's office. Clearly Medco hasn't changed a bit since 2003. Maybe if enough people get on board they will finally be forced to change their tune.
