Wanna guess what the one universal experience displayed by all five customers and then myself was? I'll give you a few hints.
It wasn't the drugs we were buying, which clearly were not the same.
It wasn't the health insurance we were using as, at least in a few cases, the discussion the customers were having referenced an insurance company I hadn't heard of.
Nope. The one universal experience, demonstrated in each and every case, was some dispute between the patient, the patient's doctor, the pharmacist and the patient's insurance over what was, or wasn't, covered by the patient's insurance.
So, for example, there was the guy who was surprised by the cost the pharmacist was quoting for his prescription, so he asked if they'd run it through his insurance. He asked that question three times. Eventually, the pharmacist gave up and agreed to run it again. Surprise! Surprise! The cost he needed to pay was about a third the original quote.
Then there was the woman who was filling a bunch of difference prescriptions, and got back this complicated schedule from the pharmacist as to when they were allowed to give her the drugs. Based on what I heard, they seemed to want her to come back two more times in the next five days to get her entire order.
And, of course, there's my case where my doctors, my pharmacy and my insurance can't seem to get on the same page as to what a thirty day supply of insulin looks like. There's got to be six or seven different prescriptions in the pharmacy's computer at this point as the doctors keep taking stabs at making sense of the insurance requirements.
You sometimes have to wonder: if someone intentionally set out to create the most complicated and inefficient health care system they possibly could, would it actually be any worse than the one we've got? Personally, I have my doubts.
There was a great article when Obamacare launched, about how complicated it was. A journalist tried to sign up and use his regular insurance as a new user and then did the same with Obamacare. He determined that Obamacare was complicated and difficult, but only in isolation. When compared to his insurance, Obamacare was simpler and easier.
ReplyDeleteWhen the gummint can design and implement a system that's simpler and easier than the one built by an industry, I'd say that industry is failing.
Going through the process twice? That's some serious dedication. Just thinking about dealing with open enrollment is giving me ulcers.
DeleteWe just experienced the joy of being "allowed" to stay with our current pharmacy or switching to a "new' group. The "allowed part" meant we only paid 3x as much for prescriptions as the old pharmacy - making the decision a little easier. Of course the new pharmacy versus the old pharmacy is like moving from Nordstroms to Walmart. I seriously need a shower every time I enter the new one. Though they do, sometimes, allow a drive through option. As long as you don't mind getting someone ELSES medication. (yes - it happened!). Normally my youngest goes along on errands - because she is not yet a teenager and can't claim homework, rehearsal or just general crabbiness to the point that you don't want her along. After the last debacle she came home and asked her father if he didn't feel bad about working for a place that makes drugs for people because it seemed like the people that sell the drugs don't like to do that. She wanted to know if he could just sell them from his work because his work seemed to want people to have the drugs to get better, not make money.....Out of the mouth of babes. (And a potential alternative drug dealer?? I'm not sure...)
ReplyDeleteIf my experience is any indication, drug dealing may be the job of the future. I'd suggest you encourage her tendencies in that direction... :-)
DeleteThanks. It might be her best bet at this point. Her other options she has listed is dancer - either on Broadway or Vegas. She wasn't sure which one but she had heard Vegas dancers made more money. I didn't have the courage to ask her what KIND of dancer in Vegas.
DeleteOr a professional baseball play by play announcer. Her one big drawback...no - not that she's female, not that she doesn't really play baseball but rather that she is still not quite comfortable "calling balls and strikes". Her solution - we need to move our seats to directly behind home plate NOW so she can get more practice at a better angle. Oh - and she should be allowed to use her data more on her phone so she can access the MLB ap on her phone when not at home and be able to use pitch tracker as a training tool...
Her sisters desire to be an engineer and attend at 65K per year college seems so much more reasonable at times....
And I thought I had challenges dealing with cancer. Good luck!
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