Fort's Cancer Sux!!

I hate to take away from the warm-fuzzy, inspirational feelings you all got from my last post, but I have to just get this out while it is fresh in my mind...

WHY I HATE MEDCO

Well...where do I start... First of all, thank your lucky stars if you dont have to deal with health insurance/pharmaceutical issues because I am going to tell you a story....a story about a girl with cancer, standing in front of a 34 Billion Dollar mail-order company, asking it to love her. (just kidding, i just wanted my f**king medicine. thats all)

To give you some background on my medicinal needs...I take Xeloda Every day for two weeks...three 500mg pills in the morning. Three 500 mg pills at night. I do this for 14 days and then im off for seven days. Then Im back on for another two weeks. I am stage four, so this is by all accounts, something I will probably do forever.

At the very least, I would venture so say Im looking at five years on the meds before Romer MIGHT take me off. Thats just a guess. Xeloda is a praised medicine because it gives us sorry souls with metastatic cancer the opportunity to skip the IV chemotherapy treatments in exchange for the pills we can take at home. This way we can make it to work EVERY DAY!! YAY!!! And guess what??? They only cost FOURTEEN DOLLARS A PILL!!!

Its a wonderful trade off....the drug companies let you live, and in excange, you get to keep going to work while drowing in debt from the drugs that are keeping you alive that you cant really afford. I hope xeloda keeps me alive for another 80 years so I can have my descants burdened with hundereds of thousands of dollars in co-pays that a full-time, college-educated, double-income home couldnt even keep up with.

I have my insurance through John's Company. Now its not so easy to just tell your doctor to write an Rx and let you take it to the pharmacy and give them your insurance card. Now companies can have insurance with one group, outsource their pharmaceuticals through another, and even outsource colonoscopies to homeless perverts on the street, so long as they arent wearing the expensive rubber gloves. Anything to save a buck. Screw the patients, they can wait for their meds.

Since I have been on Xeloda, for almost a year, I have been instructed by my insurance company to order my meds online through Caremark. Its hard to start doing things differently, but it wasnt long before it became a very easy process. I could call the wednesday or thursday before the week I was supposed to start my meds, and they would say, no problem, and I would have my meds the VERY NEXT DAY. The Fed Ex guy is cute too, and he liked it when I called him my drug dealer. All in all it was a pleasant experience.

What was the best though, was that they just billed me for everything, so if I didnt have $250 lying around for a two week dose, I could still get it and pay for it when I could. This was clutch. I hate to take medicine but the situation was all in all, tolerable.

Well, a few weeks ago , I was supposed to start my next two week dose on a Saturday. Not thinking anything of it, I called in the Rx and found out that my insurance was not using caremark anymore. I had remembered getting something in the mail but I thought that it was just a renewal of some sort so I didnt open it. My bad.

Caremark had the last of three refills on file and informed me that I needed to have the Rx # transfered over to the new pharmacy my insurance was using and they would need to fill it. I was a little confused and frustrated, but more frustrated in myself that I wasnt on top of this. I have never been one to pass the blame around. I should have been on top of this. But for now, I knew what I had to do, and it seemed like something easy enough. Maybe it would take a few extra days to get things "processed" (remember that word) but Id get things back on track.

That was a few weeks ago. I cant exactly remember how things transpired, but I really needed the meds and so I, after tons of phone calls to MedCo, and then to CVS, and then to medco, and then back to CVS, and a bunch of calls from the CVS pharmacist to Medco, I was able to get that last refill transferred to the pharmacy up the road. Crisis averted.

Now, keep in mind, that I had not quite gotten involved with MedCo so I just thought that when my next Rx was due, I would just have Dr. Romer call it in and I could have it sent right out, just like Caremark. I mean, they do the exact same thing, right? Their performance and service couldn't be too far off from one another, right? Wrong.

• I was supposed to start my meds the Saturday of Scrapbook Mountain. I Called Dr. Romers office on Thursday, February 15 to ask them if they could fax my Rx to to Medco. I was going to try and call medco to have it sent at the end of the day (I was even going to pay a $14 OVERNIGHT FEE....which Caremark never charged). I called MedCo at the end of Thursday to see if they could have my Rx sent out and their response was, "we dont even have it in our system" (It was faxed by Romers on Thursday)
• So now its Friday, and Im only working a half day in CIncinnati because I have that PET scan in Dayton. I know im screwed with the meds so I call Dr. Romers office to see if they can get me a 4 day supply of 24 pills that I can just pick up at a local pharmacy in Dayton. This way I can just swing by, pick them up, and have a few days before the mail order came in early the next week.
• Romers office said they could do that, but I get a call from their office and they wrote out a PAPER rx that we needed to pick up at the office. I was hoping that they were going to call it in, but I was desperate so I wasnt going to get picky.
• Here the problem though. I had my mom pick me up in CIncinnati for my appt (so I could ride from Dayton to scrapbook mountain with my aunts and ride back to cincy with Stacy) and she had a massage appt in Centerville with her teacher friends. I dropped her off and was going to drive myself to my to my PET Scan and then pick her up. But my pet scan was running late and Romers office closed at 4:30. So I called my moms cell and she had one of her friends drive her to Romers to get the Rx.....and then drive her to the CVS so she could pick up the four day supply.
• By the time I get out of the PET SCAN, and then get out of the parking garage (You cant get a signal in either), my mom had been at CVS for about 30 min fighting to get the prescription filled. CVS was telling her that my insurance wasnt going to cover it (we still dont know where that hiccup occured) For a four day supply, she was going to have to pay the full price, over $500 dollars. I told her not to get the meds, I would work on getting them through the mail order place first thing on Monday. She was NOT going to pay that.
• I go to pick my mom up and she is pissed. She is upset that this has become so difficult, but I am the one feeling worse, because the woman calls me about 3-4 times a day, to either remind me to take my medicine, or more importantly, ORDER MY MEDS if its during my off week. Im ususally busy and Im a horrible procrastinator so I either lie or pacify her in some way. So now, my mom is bearing the stressful brunt of this situation and what makes it worse is that she has practically dedicated her life to making sure I TAKE and ORDER my meds and this is her reward? I was embarassed and pissed at myself for not having control of this situation, and vowed to her I would get them as soon as I could come Monday. She was still pissed as she dropped me off with my aunts en route to scrapbooking weekend.
• So on Monday I call MedCo. Do they have my prescription in the system? Yes! Are they able to Overnight it? YES! Of course they can overnight it! But it was still being "Processed" and and will be "Processing" for up to 3-5 days. THEN they would be able to OVernight it. What the hell? DO you people know what NEXT DAY SERVICE MEANS? Do you appreciate the premium that people are willing to pay your company for NEXT DAY SERVICE??? You did not get the authority from Websters to change the definition of Next Day Service. Next day does not mean, "The day we get off our ass and finally decide to fill your order."
• So I ask if I can have the Rx transferred to the local CVS since I am now pushing three days late on starting the medication. They say that would be ok. I also contact the HR Insurance services lady at Johns work to let her know what is going on. She says the MedCo change came from corporate and their offices had nothing to do with it. But she is going to help me. She calls MedCo to find out whats the quickest way I could get my meds.
• She's got me on a conference call and shes researching the 4 day prescription that is sitting up in Dayton, as well as the one that was faxed to MedCo five days ago. We're talking to the guy at the CVS in Dayton and the guy at MedCo. After about 40 min on the phone, she not only attempts to override the rx in dayton (really no good to me now) and while on a conference call with the guy from MedCo, gets him to CONFIRM, that YES, the FULL Rx with THREE REFILLS has been "OVERIDDEN" to allow me to have my local Pharmacy call them and have them transferred so I could pick them up at the retail location.
• So now I have to call the girl at CVS.....again....to make her deal with MedCo....again....
• I call her and ASSURE her that MedCo will release this Rx for me to pick up that day. Now, keep in mind, that I DONT EVEN REALLY WANT to get this retail, because Id rather them send it so they can bill me, but I need it, so $230 that was needed for food/gas/mortgage/ccbills will now go to Xeloda.
• I dont have my cell phone at work on monday, so I tell her to call my cell and leave a message if she had any problems. I would be home by five.
• I get home at five and check my messages. I have three.
• Message 1: Mom asking if I got my meds.
• Message 2: The Dayton CVS telling me that my 4 day Rx that I needed on Friday, is now ready for pick up. (Not much good for me now)
• Message 3: Cincinnati CVS....annoyed Pharmacist calling to tell me that she DID Call MedCo, and was on hold for TWENTY MINUTES before someone from MedCo informed her, that despite a MedCo employee telling ME AND ANOTHER PERSON...about FORTY MINUTES AGO that they would transfer the rx, that they would NOT in fact, transfer the Rx, citing the reason that they "have never filled this particular medication for the patient so they cannot transfer it" I am so confused? Is the pharmacy jealous? Does it have to be the first?
• So I get home and email the gal at John's work. I tell her what has happened and hope to hear from her the next day.
• I call my mom and Im so frustrated Im bawling on the phone. I dont know what to do. I tell her that the Rx is cleared in Dayton, (Now at the Bargain basement price of $78 for 24 pills) and she immediately hangs up the phone, picks up the meds and drives an hour to CIncninati to bring me the pills before I left for my volleyball game. She didnt even take up my offer for some of J-Macs special jumbalya....I invited her to come over and watch my volleyball game since she was in town. She looked at me like I was an idiot and explained that '24' was on that night.
• Took my meds, went to volleyball. Ive got a few days now.
• Again, Tuesday, I call MedCo and the gal at Johns work again, and we all, again, get the Message from MedCo, that YES! OF COURSE! The override is there! Call the PHarmacy! Have them transfer it! Go right ahead! Its ok!
• So I got out to pick up tax forms at the library and swing by a Walgreens. While Im walking through the aisles looking for hair gel, I think to myself: "You know, its TUESDAY! They've got to have this order "Processed" by now! I think im just going to wait, call Wednesday morning, and see if they can just go ahead and send it out, pronto.
• SO NOW ITS TODAY - I call MedCo and tell them that I need for them to refill the product ASAP. Is it ready? I will pay for overnight. Would you belive that they told me it would take another EIGHT DAYS? Yes. Eight days. AND......The guy says theres something going on with my "Program" that only allows me to be billed for $100 at a time. Meaning I have to pay upfront for about $130 of the $230 Rx. They can only bill me for $100 of it. THIS IS THE FIRST IVE HEARD OF THIS....EVER...IN LIKE, HOW MANY CALLS? So I give him my debit card info and tell him to go ahead. Then he tells me they cant get it out for EIGHT DAYS, and he AGAIN, confirms the "override" in the "System" and according to the "System" I can still have it transferred to a retail store...again...and pick it up. And I belive him...Again. I cancel the mail order and tell him Ill get it transferred on my lunch break.
• So I go to Walgreens on my lunch break. I decide to break free of CVS since I am so incredibly embarassed of all the fruitless effort I have put them through and cannot bear to show my face in there again. I know when Im being despised.
• I tell the gal at walgreens and shes smiling and nodding until I utter the word "MedCo". She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "MedCo is hard to reach and impossible to work with" I am now embarassed because I have a bad feeling this is going to go sour quick. "I know.....Ive been dealing with them for a week. I hate them." So now she at least feels my pain. She knows I know. I give them all possible necessary information to get the ball rolling...again....and I even tell them: "Dont hurry with this." Ive got a few days before I need it.
• Im barely back at my desk digging in to my Jersey Mikes Club sub when Danielle at Walgreens called me. "Yeah....we called both numbers at MedCo...They're not going to release it and we're not even going to waste our time dealing with them. What is your Dr. Office. We're just going to call them and request another rx." I give them the info.
• I send a follow up email to the woman who has been trying to help me.
• She writes back. Walgreens is not in our network. I will pay full price if I go through Walgreens.
• I have to call the girl at Walgreens back, apologize profusely and tell her to cancel the request to my Drs office. She at least sympathetic in knowing what Im dealing with.
• IN the meantime, my mother has called Dr. Romers office, for what I dont know. Its not going to accomplish anything at this point. All they've been doing is writing me Rx after Rx....none of which can be filled in a timely manner. Rhonda from Romers calls and says she talked to someone who was going to try and get the Rx expedited overnight. and that they were going to call me tonight.
• The gal that has been helping me told me that If I had Romers office call in a Rx to Krogers (In network) I would be able to get that with no copay. So im getting a deal for all the trouble. God love that woman, she's trying to help me, and running into the same problems every turn. God help her if she's dealing with the same issues for the ENTIRE COMPANY. She even gave me her cell phone number. So again, today was a fruitless effort, but it sounds like I can get Somethign tomorrow, and Im actually confident because in no way will this process involve Medco.
• I will call in the Rx tomorrow.
• MedCo still has not called me as promised, and its 7:25 pm

All we wanted to do was to buy this house, try and get out of debt and make some needed improvements. But this medicine has basically become a rent payment on an apartment that we cant even use. Im thinking about turning to the CHI as my sole source of medication. and Im not kidding.

So anyway....thats been frustration my life has been in the last week. I feel terrible that my mom has suffered because of this, and so help me God, if you are a decision maker in anyway who is being lured into using MedCo for your companies pills, Im sure you will reap the benefits of this cheap option, and Im sure your overprivelaged, ungrateful high school children will hardly appreciate the BMW you buy them to get back and forth to school, and your trophy wife will no doubt look like an idiot with her botox injected lips that were paid for with money that should have been used for JUST ONE competent customer service person.

May every penny wasted on overindulgence at the cost of frustrating metastatic cancer patients who just want to try and live another day come back in spades to you and yours. In a really bad way.