Arthritis Mom

The pharmacist had a phone number to an actual person who worked the weekends and knew something at my insurance company. He was able to discover the insurance had approved the prescription but had not entered it into the system. That makes sense, because when you approve something you should just keep it to yourself!

Anyway, they were able to fill it at the local pharmacy today. So I am officially on Humira weekly instead of bi-weekly, I'll let you know how it goes.

This is the biggest run around I've gone through in a long time, if ever.

My doctor gave me a script for weekly Humira, I gave that to my pharmacist, who submitted it to my insurance, where it was denied. Pharmacist called me, I called doctor, doctor called insurance, insurance asked for more info, doctor submitted more info, insurance asked for even more info, doctor submitted even more info.... That's all normal and expected, it's expensive and I don't blame the insurance for having a rigorous approval process.

Then it gets ridiculous.

The insurance company's mail-order pharmacy group called me earlier this week to tell me my weekly dose of Humira was approved. Hurray! They wanted me to get it through them, I said I prefered to continue using my local pharmacy. They said they could send it to me that day, I said I'd think about it for the future but did not want to switch to mail-order right now. They said okay. I called to get my script filled and my local pharmacist says it would not go through! What?!?!?!?

He gave me an 800 number to call. I went through three automated options each time entering my member ID, confirming it was entered properly, stating my birth date, and being transferred, only to then hear the office is closed until Monday morning. Finally I chose the option for the mail-order pharmacy group who had told me my prescription was approved. They said they could not help me, that I had to call the insurance company directly. I called them, choosing several options to reach a person, each time entering my member ID, confirming it was entered properly, stating my birth date, and being transferred, only to then hear the office is closed until Monday morning.

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!