Gosh, Ain’t It Great To Have Insurance?

I’ve run out of a medication and have begun to feel the effects of not taking it for a few days, but I haven’t received my usual text that the medication is ready. I decide to stop by my pharmacy on the way back from work to pick it up. I go up to the counter and ask for my medication. 

Pharmacist #1: “It looks like we’re unable to fill your prescription at the moment as you’ve already picked up your medication this month, and your insurance won’t cover it again until next month.” 

This is strange, but I tend to be forgetful, and I occasionally forget that I’ve already picked up one medication while getting a different one. At the same time, however, I’m currently packing to move next week, so if I did already get the medication, it is probably in the bottom of a box somewhere.

Me: “Can you tell me when I last picked up the medication? It may help jog my memory.”

Pharmacist #1: “Sure, it looks like you last picked it up here [date two months prior].”

Me: “That can’t be right. I remember getting the medication a bit over a month ago while I was out of town.”

Pharmacist #1: “Sorry, but I can only look up the most recent transaction from our store.” 

There is a line forming behind me, and it feels like this is going nowhere, so I step out of line to think. I speculate that I had extra meds I must have forgotten about, and what I got while I was out of town was due to me forgetting to bring that medication with me. I guess that my insurance put it toward this month rather than last month.

I need to take this medication tonight, and it could be weeks before I find the medicine in a random box, so call my insurance and give a simple explanation. 

Me: “Hi. I seem to have misplaced my medication for this month and am told that my policy won’t allow me to get any more this month.”

Insurer: “It does look like you’ve already filled that prescription for this month, so you’ll have to wait for next month for more.”

Me: “I’m out of this medication, and I can tell it’s affecting me. Is there any way that I can get the meds now?”

Insurer: “We do have a once-per-year option to use for lost medications. Just go to your pharmacist and tell them that you’d like to use that option. They can give us a call, and we can get it sorted.”

Me: “Great! Thanks for your help!”

I hang up and go back over to the pharmacy counter and wait in line. I notice that a different pharmacist is now at the counter. When I reach the counter, I explain the situation. 

Me: “…so my insurance said to give you a call and it can be put in as a lost medication so I can get my prescription refill.” 

[Pharmacist #2] looks at her computer, types and clicks on a few things, and then lets out a very long sigh. 

Pharmacist #2: “Your medication’s just at another pharmacy. We can transfer it over.” 

Me: “What?”

Pharmacist #2: “It looks like it stayed in the system at the last pharmacy you went to, so we just need to transfer it back here and fill it.”

Me: “Really?” 

Pharmacist #2: “It’ll take about thirty minutes.”

I think back to all that has happened within the past forty-five minutes. I can only mutter out one response. 

Me: “…Okay.”

I got my medication thirty minutes later and purchased my favorite candy bar, too. I needed it.