Katherine is not the only one having problems with Medco. I sent in a few prescriptions to be filled 3 weeks ago. Yes, 3 weeks, as in 21 days, as in almost a month. And they haven't even shipped yet. Talk about ridiculous!
So, I decided to call today. And they inform me my medication hasn't shipped yet because they need to call the doctor and "comfirm" that this is the medication I need. That gets a big fat "What the heck?" in my book. I mean, isn't that what a prescription is for? Stating I need a certain medication?
So I ask what the hold up is. And after much prying, am told there is a medication availible in generic they would like to substitue. I'm fine with generics. Said medication doesn't have a generic though. They want to totally change what medication I am taking so I can take a generic. I told them this is unacceptable, just send me my non-generic-medication-with-the-higher-copay. They told me I they need to hear that from the doctor.
Ok, so fine, call my doctor. But does it take 3 weeks to get ahold of my doctor? They say they have been calling for 5 days now. Yeah right. On a daily basis too, they say.
So meanwhile, I go trick-or-treating at my friendly specialists' and GP's offices for sample packs. But I am almost out of those too.
So I ask my dear Medco CSR what her suggestion is. Her idea? Get a weeks worth of medication at local pharmacy. Fantastic! "What will my co-pay be for that?" asks Megan. She has no idea. Then she tells me it will be the same as a 1 month copay. Deal or No Deal? No Deal. I tell her if I am gonna get it filled at a local pharmacy, I am getting as much as I can. And I tell her that This is unacceptable customer service. And that they still better shipped my 3 month supply!
I asked to speak to the pharmacist 3 times, was placed on hold once so they could "transfer" me, and still never managed to speak to a pharmacist at any point in time.
Then, I proceed into a less-than-eloquent tirad on how I realize this is just a business for them, but to me, this is my health we are talking about.
My only hope is that they indeed recorded the conversation and that some exec will listen to it.
35 comments:
Hello Megan.......It is my experience, "that they could care less". It is just a "job" to them and for most they could not care about your situation. Did you speak to their supervisor? It is unfortunate, but maybe you have to literally go to your Doctor's office and ask him to give verbal Rx orders over the phone to that lousy company. I have had this same kind of experience many times regarding health care issues. It appears (logically) that you are the only one who cares about what is going on. You should record the phone conversation on your end as well. As such, you have to "not give up"!!
Oh, wow. This is incredibly rediculous. I guess the good news is that once you finally DO get the medication, all you will have to do is refill it from here.
Still, this is no consolation to someone who can't seem to get it filled in the first place.
Is one of your prescriptions for an insulin? If it is, at least they should overnight the whole shipment.
What a P.I.A. You are entitled to rant about it!
Oh that's just infuriating. I recently had to beg for infusion set samples b/c J*slin f'd up my prescription and didn't return the mail order pharmacy's phone calls.
I hate how much time dealing with this crap eats out of our lives.
As if we don't already have enough crap to deal with right?
Like Art says - it sucks how much time it eats out of our lives.
So here's a new trick they just started. I have an existing 90 day supply prescription to be refilled. So I go on the web to request a refill that will require a doctor's OK. What you do not see is that the request that the doctor gets is a 30 day supply. The doctor signs off without question and you only get 30days worth in the mail. You pay the same copay whether its 90 or 30 day. Just a coincidence? Think not.
Mike, that's horrible! I guess I better get the refills myself!
My husband has Medco for Medicare Part D and as far as we can see, it is useless. First, they spent about 6 months claiming that he had applied too late. I kept saying that he had applied on time and offered proof (they were never interested in seeing it). Finally they admitted that he is enrolled, but now they won't fill prescriptions. The pharmacy claims that Medco doesn't allow the dosage level, while Medco claims that the pharmacy asked for 60 rather than the 30 tablets received. At the moment we can afford to pay for the prescriptions. I think we'd be better off (cheaper and less stressful) cancelling Medco and buying our meds from Canada.
So far I have complained to Medco, our congressman and to an agent with the Council on Aging who specializes in Medicare insurance issues. Ranting on forums like this is all very well, but for real action we have to tell the insurance carrier, our congressperson (especially the Republicans who pushed through this disaster) and anybody such as my contact at the Council on Aging who can file formal complaints.
a follow-up: I also complained to the pharmacy, who called a few days ago to tell me that they have a $200 refund for us. I haven't had a chance to check receipts to see how this actually turned out, but complaining to everybody in sight definitely helped.
I called Medco mail order and asked them how much my Prevacid would be for a 3 months supply. The lady on the phone told me $75. I gave her my credit card to put on file for processing; not thinking it would be a bad thing.
My doctor calls in my prescription to Medco and a few days later I receive the Prevacid in the mail. I open it up to only find half an order. I call Medco’s customer service at once to ask why I was sent 90 pills when my prescription clearly states “1 tablet 2 times daily” and that I should get 180 pills.
Customer service says that is all my insurance would cover. I tell them the Target Pharmacy has not had a problem filling 60 pills a month for the last 6 months. I asked them why they filled half the order and charged me full price. I asked them why someone at Medco didn’t call me or the doctor first. They did not have an answer. I tell them I want to just return the order. Customer service says they do not accept returns. I tell them to just to credit me half of the money. Customer service said they feel like only crediting me $25. I said ok, how about just crediting me back $30 which would put me in the same place, had I got it filled at Target Pharmacy. Customer service said they could only credit $25. They said it is still a valid order because they fill 30 day and 60 day supplies as well. I told the Medco customer service they were committing fraud and I will just look into disputing the credit card charge.
After this incident, I Googled Medco and found all sorts of fraud they have been involved in. Be very cautious when dealing with Medco. They lie and they steal. They are very, very, very biased because they have ties with Merck.
About a week into January of 2007, I received a letter from United Health Care that they would no longer cover long-term medicines that were bought at any pharmacy other than Medco by Mail. This letter included instructions on how to make purchases from that company. I gave the fax number of Medco, along with my relevant insurance information, to my doctor's office and asked them to send my wife's prescriptions.
A week later we received the prescriptions, but there were problems. First and foremost, one of the medicines was incorrect. My wife needs Metformin Extended Release, but she received plain Metformin. Secondly, the amounts on two of the prescriptions was incorrect. Rather than a 90-day supply, we were sent 90 pills. On one of the drugs this would last 45 days, on another of them it would only last 15 days.
The customer service representative of Medco was supremely unhelpful, claiming that they filled exactly what the prescriptions called for, and disavowed any responsibility to make things right. My doctor's office has agreed to cover the cost of the incorrect prescription, but if they had not stepped foreward I would have been obliged to pay for medicines which we could not use.
I have occasionally experienced similar situations with Walgreens, but have never had to accept the wrong medicines, nor incorrect amounts. They always corrected mistakes on the spot.
To make matters worse, there seems to be no middle ground when it comes to daytime telephone calls from Medco. They will either call about every inconsequential step of filling the prescription, or they will not call at all. "Only call if I am needed to authorize something" does not seem to be an option. As a 3rd-shift worker, I find this completely unacceptable.
The company I work for has taken away all choice of medical coverage with the exception of United Health Care (or "none," which is of course not a viable option in today's world). And UHC has taken away all choice of pharmacy other than Medco. When you add to this the fact that the pharmacy from which I am being forced to buy pills is costing more than I was paying before, this amounts to yet another effective pay cut for me, and very likely many other employees. This is certainly not what I expected after "upgrading" to a UHC policy with premiums more than twice the levels of the plan I previously had.
Early in April I had to re-order medicines from Medco. When they arrived I learned that two of them had been replaced with generics without my permission. The accompanying letter stated that the change had been authorized by my wife's doctor.
The doctor's office told a different story. They remembered the call from Medco. The office staff spoke to the Medco caller, and deferred the decision to the patient (my wife).
No one from Medco ever spoke to my wife about this, nor to her doctor, nor to me. If they had, then they would have learned that my wife has had serious side-effects from past attempts to substitute another medicine for that which was prescribed.
Once again resolution of the problem proved to be difficult. Medco claimed that they could only replace one prescription at a time. pending payment, blaming the cost of the pills for this decision. After much debate and negotiation, my wife decided, against my advice, to try the generic brands, on the condition that they would be replaced should any problems ensue.
I remember when this company offered multiple choices for health care coverage. It was part of the cafeteria plan which was touted as an excellent employee benefit at the time. I also remember that each different plan carried a different level of employee contribution. When I was forced to choose between United Health Care or no group health coverage at all, my personal contribution to health insurance premiums increased dramatically as level of service decreased reciprocally. Perhaps the company is saving money, but with my costs increasing fourfold, I hope to be forgiven if I am skeptical that this change in employee benefits was in the best interest of the employees.
In any case, lower costs mean nothing if the level of service is worth nothing. If Medco cannot be trusted to gain proper authorization before making changes to prescriptions, then they cannot be trusted to fill prescriptions at all. Lack of competition - and regulation - has made these providers lax and uncaring. Because we cannot take our business elsewhere, Medco feels no pressure to improve customer service.
You can sometimes get help from your state. In my case Medco is hired by Mamsi to do their prescriptions, so I contacted the Secretary of the Corporation Commission's Ombudsmun for Managed Healthcare. A competent person has responded to my complaint, unlike the treatment I received from Mamsi or Medco. I have yet to see how effective their response will be, but at least they are responsive.
Good luck!
I have had it with Medco. I have been covered by my wife's insurance for over 3 years now and for all three of these years we have had the displeasure of having to deal with Medco.
To me Medco really doesn't care about the person taking the medications, all they care about is your money and money that they make off of the businesses who pay for there services.
They try to shove the mail order part of there business down your throat and make you pay a higher cost if you use your local pharmacy.
Here is an example. On October 23rd, my PCP put me on the diabetes drug Byetta.
My PCP gave me a script for one month's use of Byetta and the stupid needles that go with it.
I took it to my local pharmacy and got it filled there, thinking(which was a mistake on my behalf) that it would cost me that much since it was only for one month and was not a maintenance medications.
Boy was I wrong. My total cost was 53.23 for the one month of Byetta, that is just the syringe. The needles cost me 20.00 for 100 needles. So my total cost for one month's use of this medication came out to 73.23, I nearly had a heart attack when I had to pay that price.
I contacted Medco and told them that I was over charged because this wasn't a maintence medication since I hadn't take it for more than three months.
There reply was "too bad", this is the price you will pay every month at your local pharmacy.
Since this is the price that is set by your employer, really my wife's employer.
This is getting to be too much, since when does an employer set the price of medications for there employees?
In a way I am lucky as "Open Season" starts today for my employer and I am looking real close at coverage that other Health Insurance companies have and especially there prescription plans.
I think I have found one major Insurance Company(no company name will be listed by me)that has an option that has a Pharmacy only plan that does not cover mail order and from what I can see right now the pharmacy prices will be lower than what Medco charges me when I go to my local pharmacy.
As for my use of Medco's mail order, I made that mistake before and they even once cancelled a prescription because I had an Accounts Receivable balance with them. They never asked my Specialist if they could cancel that prescription, they just cancelled on there own with no Doctor's permission.
I think that come the first of January I will be able to tell Medco those two words that I have wanted to tell them for over three years now "Your fired"
In the past Medco has wanted me to call one of there Pharmacists because I have done and said things that they did not like.
In the e-mails from Medco I was told to call there phone number and use option 0 to speak to a pharmacist.
Hope this helps anyone trying to get through to a pharmacist.
Medco is just about the money. Medco has decided that I do not need the medicines my doctor has prescribed for me. I have Rhumetoid Arthritis and take 4 Humira shots a month. My doctor has tried for two months now for Medco to approve it but has failed. I did not realize they new what a person needs to get out of the bed and live life as normal as possible with the help of medications. Everytime you call Medco they have a different story of why they will not approve it. It is sad that I have to deal with this crap on top of having to deal with the pain of what I live with each day.
Medco has decided i need another authorization for my medicine. When my doctor called the first time they gave him a auth, but failed to mention that two auths were required. So now he needs to call back and answer additional questions to make sure i need this quantity of the med.
where do they get off playing doctor and second guessing my doctor who actually went to medical school.
This is rediculous! Now i have gone 2 days without my meds which is dangerous for this medication. I am going to have to go and pay out of pocket, exactly what they wanted.
BASTARDS!
Medco is doing everything in their power to dicourage the use of WalMart and other $4.00 per month generic pharmacies. Read the whole story at www.medco-sucks.info
You know I am reading all of the information that you are writing about Medco and it really bothers me. As a former employee of Medco I can tell you that you are all very wrong and pretty much all need to look at yourself for some of these issues. I do agree that some things do go wrong, but most things are preventable. I am now a Medco member which when I was an employee I was not. I can tell you that no changes can be made to your prescriptions unless your doctor authorizes it. You people act like it is a sin to have to contact your doctor for a prescription when you do not realize that Medco pretty much tries to do everything for you and when your doctor does not respond, you do not blame your doctor, you blame Medco. And you say that Medco does not care about your health issues, they have pharmacists available 24 hours a day to help you with those issues and they do care if you would listen to them. But you know what, from my experience, when you call, you are just ready to rip someone's head off because things did not go the way you wanted them to and you do not care what that Pharmacist or CSR or Supervisor is telling you to do because you want them to do it for you. What do you expect. You know, I am with a company now, that does not do half, not even one forth of the customer service that Medco does for their customers and you know, my customers now are more willing to help themselves. If you ask me, Medco has babied their customers too much. You people do not want to do anything for yourselves. As long as I have been a customer, I have never received my medications late, I have always ordered my medications early enough just in case the post office lost the medications or just in case my doctor had to be contacted. I mean you can order like 21 days early. Why do you people wait to the last minute, and don't say you do not, because you do. And just for your information, when your doctor writes your prescription for a 30 day supply, that is your doctor's fault and when your doctor changes your medication, that is your doctor's fault too, and Medco does not have to notify you because it is a valid prescription from your physician and your physician is a professional and Medco should not have to second guess your doctor and they do not. Take some responsibility. Instead of leaving it to your doctor to fax your prescription in and chance it to get messed up. Go in the office, have them write you the prescription, look at it, make sure it is for the 90 day supply, and mail it in yourself. Take the responsibility. Stop blaming everything on everyone else. Your doctor's office is busy and they make mistakes, so does Medco, no doubt, they are people too, but this is your medication, you can prevent some of these errors that you are complaining about. I swear, people from the age of 18-65 are the biggest babies I have ever seen. You want everything on a silver platter and the world does not work that way. Every company has rules. You just need to make yourself familiar with your rules, not only for your prescription plan, but your medical plan, your AD&D insurance, Life insurance, Dental and Vision. They all have rules you must go by. And to let you know, Medco offers your benefits office these packages, your benefits office is the ones that makes the decision on what plan they want regardless of how they want to say it is Medco. So when a medication is not covered, it was authorized by your benefits office because they did not want to pay extra. Just to let you know.
Oh and P.S. Vman, it is so funny that you mention the $4.00 promotional programs at Walmart and Target, I had a Medco CSR just tell me to use whatever the cheapest for me would be, it is just they could not tell me which meds it is because they do not have access to that information. All they have is what my plan shows and what my copayments are. I think you all just want to complain.
wow! A lot of you have a lot to say about Medco. It's funny how many of you have not taken one second to understand your own health insurance plans and how they work. It really is YOUR responsibility to read your plan, ask questions if you do not understand and listen to the answers you get. Maybe every Medco csr does not care personally about your health, but I can assure you, they are only there to help you get what you need and to help you understand the guidlines of the plan picked out by YOUR employer. Trust me Medco handles thousands of plans from just as many different employers and each one of them can be different. Covered drugs can vary, prices definately vary, prior authorizations can be dfferent from one group to another, Medco however did not make that choice. YOUR employer chose a plan based on what they wanted to pay and for what services they want to pay for. Some plans don't require the use of mail order at all. Some plans don't ever offer mail order as part of the plan. I do know if you request to talk to a supervisor or pharmacist every single customer service rep is trained to get you where you want to be. You might have to hold the phone for a minute or 2...maybe even 10, but you will get there. Try this call when it's convenient for you, Medco is open 24 hours a day. If you are pricing a medcication, tell the customer service rep how many pills you take per day, that can with some plans make a huge price difference or learn to take some initiative and look the price up for yourself online. Realize there are, in most cases several different drugs to treat almost any condition and if one of those newer, more expensive drugs or injectables is not covered by your rx plan, maybe your employer chose not to pay for that one, because there were so many other lower cost alternatives available.
I have learned from my physician how the drug industry likes to you work you. They have money insentives to your Dr to prescribe some of these newer, more costly drugs cause they make so much from them. They throw elaborate parites and hand out 100.00 bill door prizes. This is info I got straight from my Dr, not Medco. So next time you are upset about a price, ask your dr if there is maybe a lower cost drug he could prescribe.
The cost of covering employees have become so expensive to employers it has become necessary to have to employee help cover the cost of their own rx and medical treatments...hence copay's or coinsurances and deductables. Sometimes there is a generic available for a medication and a patient refuses to take the generic, helping the company save possibly thousands of dollars, so it has become necessary to have the patient pay more for choosing name brand, when a generic is available.
As far as Medco switching your name brand to generic, that is policy for ANY pharmacy. Noone needs to ask your permission. The only time your permission or your dr's permission is required is when switching from one drug to another.
My goodness you people can surely get someone worked up. I could go on and on forever. Take responsibility for yourself and take some initiative.
I agree with you Lost, people do need to take an initiative for their medications, as it is their responsibility. No medication should take 21 days, therefore, I am sure Medco offered to send the medication out overnight at no charge and also offered to pay for medication at their pharmacy if the order was delayed. Now, I know for a fact that Medco does this even when it is the Dr's fault for not responding. What people do not understand is that Medco makes money by filling prescriptions and going by the plan design of their clients. Why would Medco want to purposley hold up a medication unless it was absolutley necessary. For one, everyone in the USA is so into filing multi-million dollar law-suits of corse Medco is going to make sure they do not break the law. If someone's Dr is not specific or clear on a prescription, do you think Medco should just fill it, no!!!! Because when it comes up wrong, you will be writing again on this blog how Medco messed up your order. But, if your Dr writes your prescription and Medco has to contact your Dr for clarification, then it is Medco's fault because your Dr cannot return one clarification page so that you may get your medication. And in response to what Mike said about the faxing the Dr a prescription for a 30 day supply .... WRONG!!!!!!! If Medco faxed the Dr a 30 day supply prescription then the previous prescription must have been written as a 30 day supply because the fax will only generate what the last prescription was written for and from the exact same Dr, no one can change that. If any of the information changes, you are suppose to get a new prescription. Or your Dr has marked out the 90 and wrote in 30. Some Dr's do that because they want you to come back in the office, but heaven forbid you put any of the blame on your doctor. My doctor's have messed up, I have caught them, but you know what, that is to be expected. They are humans, and humans are not perfect. "He without sin cast the first stone." I think you people really need to participate in your benefits and understand that yes Medco is a business, and their business is to lower healthcare costs for their client which is your benefits department. That is what they hire Medco to do, manage your prescription benefits. And Lost is absolutly correct, why would company want to pay for dome new drug that may cost them $5000 a month, apoosed to maybe an older drug that would work just as well and maybe pay $60, that is just common sense. But the prior authorizations are there if your doctor has tried or does not feel that the other medications will work for you, but they have to document medical necessity, so if your prior authorization was denied, more than likely, your doctor did not provide enough information or proof that the high cost medication was medically necessary. And whoever put on here that they had to have 2 PA's, you are joking, maybe you had one the year before and ran out and you needed another one, but if a medication is not covered without prior authorization, it is just simply not covered, you do not ever have to have 2 prior authorizations for the same medication. Or it is possible that you were not listening to the CSR, maybe the Dr did not respond the first time and Medco had to send the paperwork over a second time, but never ever do you have to have 2 prior authorizations on one medication. See you complainers are just making stuff up. You know the truth. Thank you Lost for your input, I am glad I am not the only one that thinks this blog is a bunch of bull. I am a member just the same as you people, but the one thing that sets me apart is that I know my plan and I check to see if medications need prior authorizations, if they are a non-preferred, if there are retail refill limits. There are obstacles, no doubt, sometimes it can get frustrating, but this is my life and my medication and I am going to make sure that I don't go without my medications, and I have not. Because that doctor, works for me and I am going to make sure that I have my medications paid for. Screaming and yelling at the people at Medco will not change your plan, screaming and yelling at your benefits department will not change your plan, screaming and yelling at your doctor will not change your plan ... your plan is written basically in stone until that contract is up. But ... you can familarize yourself with your benefits, your plan design, your copays, pretty much Medco gives you all that information on their websit and also if you call, they are open 24 hours a day 7 days a week, ask, they will help you. I actually e-mail my questions and it is helpful. But because of the rising costs of healthcare, rules have to be set. Like it or not, every company has rules. Deal with it.
Let's face it. Medco is not going to listen to any of us because we are not the ones who they have contracted with.
They could care less about us.
The only times that Medco cares is when a contract is about to expire, see the comments by Lost and Jessi84,
The only other time that Medco will seem to care is when there corporate lawyers are in court having to defend Medco.
Just look at the number of numerous Federal Lawsuits that have been filed against Medco including the lawsuits involving Merck-Medco and the United States of America v. Medco.
The one thing Medco sees as a result of these lawsuits is the millions of dollars that have been paid by Medco in these out of court settlements.
One thing that I have noticed about Medco, especially through its' website is that Medco does not like to heed warnings about certain medications that the FDA has placed on the companies that make these medicines. The FDA will tell companies that they have to place stronger warnings in the medication that is being produced.
However Medco does not follow the FDA warnings as they do not fall under the control of the FDA.
However when contacted the FDA will tell you that if you have a complaint about a Pharmacy Retailer, that you should forward your complaint to the State Pharmacy Board where the Pharmacy is located.
State Pharmacy Boards can look into complaints filed with them about any pharmacy that falls under that states jurisdiction.
Hi, Im sorry to hear about this.
Medco is not only a BAD business for its customers but also a BAD EMPLOYER. They make people work 12-14 hours and do not pay for all those hours.
They even expect you not to eact lunch and dinner.
Your bosses are high strung and abuse you at any given chance here,
Boycott Medco!
Jessi84 your statement that "no changes can be made to your prescriptions unless your doctor authorizes it" is complete bullshit. Just this week, I had the displeasure to learn (after hours spent on the phone with medcrap's incompetent and rude customer no-service reps) that medcrap had unilaterally changed the rx my dr wrote for 90 tablets to 60 tablets, without informing my dr or me. Insult to injury: medcrap still charged me the same co-pay - $88!!! They went out of their way to state "it's not illegal for us to do that." When I said to just cancel the order altogether, they gave me the same song and dance others received - NO!
Jessi84 your statement that "no changes can be made to your prescriptions unless your doctor authorizes it" is complete bullshit. Just this week, I had the displeasure to learn (after hours spent on the phone with medcrap's incompetent and rude customer no-service reps) that medcrap had unilaterally changed the rx my dr wrote for 90 tablets to 60 tablets, without informing my dr or me. Insult to injury: medcrap still charged me the same co-pay - $88!!! They went out of their way to state "it's not illegal for us to do that." When I said to just cancel the order altogether, they gave me the same song and dance others received - an unequivocal and unexplained NO!
I suppose cholo you feel you are under no obligation to know your policy? I do not care what pharmacy you go to for medication, if your policy dictates you can only get a quantity of 60 in 90 days every pharmacy will fill it just that way no matter if your Dr wrote for 90 or 1000. By the way, since you seem to have a hard time understanding english or perhaps you just have a hard time understanding what you read, Jessi84 said they won't change your meds, she didn't say they wouldn't keep the med the same but cut the quanity back according to what YOUR plan will pay for. Will they call you first? NO. Will they call your Dr first? NO. And, you know what I have discovered through dealing with local pharmacies, they won't even tell you when you pick the medicine up that the quantity has been cut back. Now as far as your copay, if you go to walgreens and get a 7 day supply of an antibiotic unless the full total cost of that antibiotic is less than your copay you will pay the same price for 7 days as you would have for 30 days. You are not paying a price per pill ignorant ass, you are paying a copay based on the catagory your drug falls into. Grow up, take some responsibility for yourself. Read the plan as you are taking it out through your employer or where ever you are purchasing your drug/insurance plan. You cannot blame Medco for your completely inept ability to understand the most basic parts of your policy. As far as customer service or not service, people say they received bad customer service because they did not get what they wanted. If you ask me that is a very childish way of thinking and I suspect you are just that childish. If you were any where near adulthood in your way of thinking you would realize you cannot have everything you want just because you say you want it, that is how my children act. If in fact you did receive poor customer service you should have asked to speak with a supervisor. Bad customer service should not be tolerated, but think first are you saying its bad because the person on the other end of the phone did not coddle you and give you everything you whined for, or were they just truely unfriendly, rude, uninformative or didn't know how to perform thier job? Come on people it's really time to grow up and take some responsibility for yourselves.
Ok, just a tiny bit more. EMMA, your comments are just rediculous. We do not live in some country where there are not labor laws. Making outlandish comments are just a drama queen thing to do.
Boroguy, where in the comments by myself or Jessi84 does it say Medco only cares about you is when the contract is ready to expire? Ok people Merk and Medco....2 different companies, have been for about 5 years or pretty close to that. Merk manufactures drugs, Medco is a PBM (prescription benefits manager). Medco does not manufacture drugs, they are not responsible for labling, nameing, coloring or warnings those are the responsibility of the drug manufacturer. If the FDA said a drug needed stronger warnings on their labling, that is the responsibility of the manufacturer, not the filling pharmacy. Shoot if it's the pharmacies responsibility, then why are we not including walgreens, walmart, cvs, rite aid....the list could go on and on.
3/10/09 let me add my own rant about Medco ...my wife needed two prescriptions so i told her to have the doctor write it for 90 day supply. Turns out 1 was for Lunesta and her authorization ran out 2 days after the date on the script...so they left an automated message that 'your prescription could not be filled' without saying which script or why. So I call up and i am told they needed a new authorization which they fax to the DR's office and he actually sends back the same day (maybe thats why he is one of the top 100 in the DC area!). and we hear from his office (not MEDCO) that they approved it for two more years ... so then I call tonight but it still isn't filled because they sent the actual script back to me a week ago and I need to get a new one from the DR...even though the old one is still current....oh, and its been 8 days since they claim it was mailed and I still don't have it back...of course there is no information about this on their web site as some sort of message to me or her and they really don't know if it was mailed back...imagine a controlled substance script just out there in the mail with no tracking info! Spoke to the CRS rep and her supervisor and they could not explain why this little piece of information was not mentioned by the two CRS reps I spoke with the night before! (are you listening Karen, Carole and Vivian??)
Next time I will just go down to CVS and get the script filled and pick up some NECO Wafers at the same time!
Hey LOST, STFU.. Medco SUCKS and are screwing people hourly. Go suck on Obama's junk and get lots tree hugger.
Medco can be brought to it's knees if one only knows how.
I have had many troubles which have been noted here.
For a year or two Lost and Jessi 84 thought that I had just gone away and they had heard the last of me...well as you can see I am back and I have extra information that can be used in any fight with medco.
I discovered, thanks to the US Food and Drug Administration, that Medco can be investigated on a local level and not necessarily on a Federal Level.
Those nice people at the FDA gave me all the information that I needed.
I was able to get an actual street address that Medco had in Texas.
I turned that address along with my complaint to the Texas State Pharmacy Board. Now these state boards can pull the licenses of any one they find not doing a proper job. Say a pharmacist allowing a tech to act as a Pharmacist. Or a Pharmacist deciding it would be faster to not fill an order and then say that the doctor had cancelled an order.
Lost and Jessi84, how did you like the State of Texas' Investigation of your offices ? Haven't heard many words out of either of you since the investigation began quite a while ago
Lost and Jessi 84, I am tired of hearing both of you complaining about older people.
Speaking as an educated older person, who some call, a senior citizen.
There was a point in time when organizations like Medco were no existant.
People had choices as to which Drug Store that you wanted to get your prescription filled at.
These were locally owned drug stores and the people behind the counters knew there patients.
If the pharmacist saw something that might cause a trouble with a prescription, he would call the doctor and straighten everything out. There was even home delivery at no charge, for in most cases you didn't live but 6 blocks away from the pharmacy.
It was not uncommon for a patient to call the pharmacy when they had a couple day supply of a med left in order to get the refill and get the refill on time.
We never had to deal with stuff like medco, maybe it is time that medco remember what the past was like.
In fact to this day I know a family who ran a local pharmacy where I grew up. There was the Grandfather and then his son and then the Grandsons.
You don't get that with Medco.
You know I think Lost and Jessi84 would not be able to comprehend just what it was like during the days when us older folks that they complain about grew up.
The times were simpilier and come to think of it much better than that monster known as Medco and it's new sister Liberty Medical
Well Boroguy to be honest with you, there has been no investigation of MY office. I even believe Jessi explained she is no longer working within Medco. I too am no longer with Medco. My leave from the company however was in no way a reflection of my feelings towards Medco as a company nor the Medco policies on filling prescriptions.
I have searched, quickly, through the older post and I have not found in my comments any mention of believing "older people" to be at fault for the problems. For the most part, in my time with Medco, I found most of the older population to be the more knowledgeable group. Usually the older population had a better practical understanding of the way things worked. I blame anyone and everyone who has not taken the time to know their own insurance plans.
I can hear your frustration and I understand there used to be a simpler way of life. I know the loss of a personal pharmacist, I too used to have one many years ago. As with most anything, medical insurance and prescription insurance has become big business. Because of the nature of the beast there are many state and Federal regulations that must be adhered to, I can assure you, unless Medco has made a major change in policy since I have been gone, they strive hard to follow those policies. I can also state with utmost certainty Medco strives to keep it's customers happy. I do not know what has made you so unhappy, but call Medco, approach the representative with the same attitude you would want to be approached with, I am sure there can be something worked out...a compromise of sorts? Keep in mind your policy made the rules. Is your policy from a previous employer? Did you purchase a private plan? Medco most likely did not MAKE the rules, they were simply hired to enforce them. I could go on and on, but I have said enough for now. I hope it all works out for you.
Hi,
I am starting a Medco Stinks Website where persons can share their feelings with others. The temporary site is at the below link, a newer better site is being constructed.
http://www.setbb.com/medcostinks/index.php?mforum=medcostinks
Dave
Any person who "depends" on ANY company that ships medication will have nothing but problems. That is the way it is period. Why do you keep complaining about something you have no control over? Believe it or not alternatives are available.What planet do you live on? I have learned over the years that some people stay in situations like these because if they didn't they wouldn't have a [whiny voice]POOR ME story. It's not poor you it's whiny you that lives to whine and whines to live.
@ midknught ass, Instead of spouting some self enlightened bs, why not share what a reasonable alternative may be.
for most, the insurance company mandates the use of Medco and will not cover medications otherwise for long term use. some of us have to take meds for the rest of our lives and do not have the luxury of purchasing outside of our already incredibly expensive health plans. THESE HEALTH PLANS MAKE IT INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO GET MEDICATIONS OUTSIDE OF THEIR MANDATED SERVICE PROVIDERS.
who do you work for?
I happened to go back and read so of the comments that I have posted along with those posted by very pro Medco people who state that they are now former employees of Medco.
Somethings that I and others have stated seemed to have possibly been missed by these "former employees" of Medco.
Many people, including myself, have posted here because of the non-service that we have received from Medco.
My personal past experiences with Medco have left a very bitter taste in my mouth, so to speak.
Because of the very bad experiences that I have had with Medco, I had no choice but to go with a Health Insurance plan at work that would not allow me to use Medco or any mail order prescription plan.
If by some chance my Health Insurance plan did have Medco listed, I ended up using a plan that would not take mail order.
What I mean is that the Insurance Company had a Standard Plan and a Basic Plan, my choice was to use the Basic as it would not allow me to use Medco.
From my own past experiences with Medco, I have noticed that Medco does not always fill a prescription as written by a Physician. To this point I mean, there are annotations at the bottom of a prescription that the Doctor will check such as Prescribe as written or Generic Allowed. If the Doctor writes the script and marks Prescribe as written it is my understanding that the pharmacy or possibly Medco has to dispense the actual drug and not a generic. In most cases Medco seems to want to use the generic, if available, in order to save themselves and to some extent the patient's employer money.
One thing I think others should look at, as I have stated previously, is some ot the lawsuits that were filed against Medco.
If you have time look up cases like United States of America v. Medco.
That case also involved a number of states also suing Medco.
One reason that Medco settled in that lawsuit is that Social Security was one of the plantiffs in the lawsuit that involved the non payment of rebates among other things.
In closing, if one knows the location of the Medco Pharmacy that they are having problems with don't hestitate to contact that State's Pharmacy Board.
One can file a complaint with that State's Pharmacy Board and the complaint will be investigated.
If the State does find that their laws are being broken the state can pull the license of the Pharmacy including Medco's License.
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