Anyone else with chronic illness (or not) feel like every January you spend the entire month making insurance phone calls because nobody can seamlessly transition into the new year? Seriously, it is the very end of January and I can't even tell you how many hours I have spent on hold trying to fix insurance glitches. Somehow I had problems with my regular insurance coverage accidentally switching my info with my daughters and then disenrolling us because of it. This took maybe 4 hours total to straighten out via phone... seriously I wish I was joking. Thank goodness for cell phones and speaker phone so I could do chores while waiting! I can't imagine being tied to a corded phone in the kitchen and being on hold that long.
I also spent several hours on the phone to my insurance company that covers Orkambi. I am sure the fact that I have 3 different pharmacies doesn't help because one is bound to mess everything up. And no, I have no idea why I need three different pharmacies!! I used to get everything from one pharmacy, Walgreens, but then my insurance told me I needed to get Orkambi from Accredo. I am assuming they got a better deal on the cost of Orkambi? And then somehow I needed to go through Foundation Care to get Cayston and so now, yes I deal with three completely different pharmacies every month. As you can imagine it makes for plenty of month phone calls. Of course, Accredo (the supplier of my Orkambi) had to be the one that gave me problems. Despite refilling my Orkambi two weeks before I ran out I am now down to 4 days of the medication and still no word on when they will get their act together. My clinic even called a few times to try to help me out, but everything is moving so slow. Since the drug cost $21,583 a month (yes, you read that right, it cost $258,000 a year) I am probably not going to be able to pay out of pocket. Ha!
The most frustrating aspect of this whole ordeal is that I have the exact same insurance as last year! So you wouldn't thin it would be that difficult, but apparently it is. And the even more frustrating issue is that every single year for the past three years I have had some issue that took the entire month to resolve.
I have no idea what I am going to do with all my free time in February when I don't have to spend all day every day on the phone!
I hate Accredo!! I have to use them for most of my medications and they drive me nuts! In fact, they just called me this morning saying that I no longer can get my Cayston through Walgreens Specialty, but now I have to go through them - in my head I was thinking, "NOOOOO!" Haha! I really hope you're able to get your Orkambi soon - stupid insurance!!
ReplyDeleteNooo!! I remember hearing in the past that they were bad, but I had no idea until I was forced to switch to them! I wish I could opt out of giving them my business, but since I need my meds (even if they mess everything up and they send them late) so I guess I am stuck. Sorry you have to use them too.
ReplyDelete