I Rather Get Kicked in the Balls

kick in the balls
   Reading time 7

I Rather Get Kicked in the Balls

You know it has to be bad if a guy is stating that he would rather get kicked repeatedly in the balls than have to deal with “Specialty” Pharmacies. I got introduced to Specialty Pharmacies when I started taking Enbrel injections. This medication is considered special and needs to be handled by a specialty Pharmacy. My insurance had AllianceRx Walgreens Prime as the specialty pharmacy that handled this medication.

When I started taking Enbrel, it was shipped for the very first month by CVS Caremark Specialty Pharmacy (I’m not clear as to why), then the rest were filled by AllianceRx Walgreens Prime. When I started all this, of course, I was new to the game, so I got connected with an Enbrel Nurse (A nurse who works for Enbrel and is paid to train patients and support them) and taught how to take the shots and gave me support. The actual process of filling the prescription wasn’t that bad, with the exception of I didn’t know how the process worked and who was filling it.

I still don’t know why my insurance, BCBS chose to have Pharmacy A fill the initial order and then have Pharmacy B fill the rest of the orders. But once I figured out who I was calling and who I should be calling, it was fairly seamless. The staff was rude at times, but beyond them being rude and at times being clueless (that was a language barrier I’m sure), it wasn’t too bad. It was a pain in the ass, that I just couldn’t set it to automatically refill and ship or that AllianceRx Walgreens Prime didn’t have a working app or website, so I had to call and talk to a person each time and play the question game each and every time. It was annoying, sure, I would get to answer 50 questions, but they were yes and no questions so it wasn’t terrible.

I was happy to see that we were switching away from AllianceRx Walgreens Prime to CVS Specialty, because, they had an app and it was or at least seemed easier with them the first time.

In November, I got a notice that BCBS would be moving away from AllianceRx Walgreens Prime to CVS Specialty and I then got a call a few weeks later from CVS Specialty. They created a profile and an online account for me and asked me all the basic questions, including what medications I was taking and what illnesses I had, but that was all expected. After the phone call, I logged on to the website and finished setting up my account. January came and I logged on to the online CVS portal and I found it lacking all my information. So I filled out the online forms again and added all my preferences, All done, no problem.

As the days got closer to when I should receive my next shipment, I got nervous and I called CVS Specialty, and that is when all the fun started. I spent 45 minutes on the phone, talking to a nice enough representative and filling out all the exact same information that I had already done two times before. Then it came time for the payment and I gave them the Ebrel Co-Pay card, which took forever to get approved and the process was really weird (the representative had to enter secure mode on her phone). We set a date for the shipment and I assume we were all set.

It wasn’t two hours later, that I received a text message from CVS Specialty that they needed more information. I called and they had no clue why I called, They claimed they had everything and the shipment was good to go. An hour later I got an automated call from them, but after I verified who I was I was disconnected. So I called them and they were clueless as to why I was calling them once again.

At one point, I had to speak to a pharmacist so they could confirm everything. I understand that and didn’t take issue with it until the pharmacist wanted to play 50 questions once again. It seemed that CVS Specialty doesn’t like to confirm what records they have with you, they rather have you tell them everything over and over. So here I am on the phone with the pharmacist, giving my name, birthday, address, employment history, my list of current medications, the names of the doctors that prescribed them, all my illnesses, and past surgeries, and that is when I had enough of this game. I have already given this to them twice (maybe it was three) times before. This is silly, period.

I noticed that there were no band-aids on the order, but there were some when I placed the order. I left them a secure text message on their website and less than 20 minutes later I got a reply stating that they apologized that the band-aids were not delivered and as a courtesy, they would ship me some band-aids (which never arrived).

As scheduled it finally arrived, I’m a little upset that they didn’t send band-aids. Plus they are committing a little insurance fraud. They charged the insurance for 100 alcohol wipes, and they only sent 30. Yeah, I know, seriously, but think about it a box of 100 is $5, so you charge the insurance company $5 and you only send $2 worth of supplies to the customer, you make $3, and now you ship hundreds of injectables a week and you do this same thing, just at a 100 injectables a week that is $300 you made, do that same for a year and that is $15,600.

It took 10 phone calls 11 text messages and two secure messages via the email app on their website. Just to get this order correct.

CVS Wipes
CVS Health - Alcohol Prep Wipes
Average Jow Weekly Logo
Average Joe

Welcome to the Average Joe Weekly blog. This is basically my place on the web where I can help spread some of the knowledge that I have accumulated over the years. I served 10+ years in the Marine Corps on Active Duty, but that was some 25 years ago.

Avatar photo

By Average Joe

Welcome to the Average Joe Weekly blog. This is basically my place on the web where I can help spread some of the knowledge that I have accumulated over the years. I served 10+ years in the Marine Corps on Active Duty, but that was some 25 years ago.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.