We are Watching You…….

So, a few weeks ago, I received a letter from my prescription insurance carrier. I opened the envelope and began to read. Well, I couldn’t even see straight by the end of this letter. As a matter of fact, I had to re-read the letter several times to let those words sink in. Here are the highlights…..

The very first brief paragraph basically says this….

My pain meds and muscles relaxers will only be covered at one pharmacy, and they went on to name the pharmacy. So think about this first line, sure you can get them filled at this particular pharmacy, but if you went anywhere else, we are not going to cover it!! So thats outrage number one.

Here is number two. According to the letter…Here is why this is happening….

They say I had filled a pain med or muscle relaxer at a different pharmacy by a different doctor. So they feel I am doctor shopping. (My interpretation). They have this so wrong. So incredibly wrong.

What i believe they are referring to is a muscle relaxer I had filled by my MS doctor at the pharmacy in the building he is located. I did this out of convenience. My local pharmacy is a mom and pop establishment (I don’t trust chains), so their hours are shortened. The day I got my script filled it was late cause I just had my Tysabri infusion and I was tired. This is the so called violation.

So look what this letter is saying, we are watching you and stigmatizing you, an oh yes, lets penalize and shame while we are at it! I haven’t called them yet but I intend to and i plan to post this everywhere to embarrass Express Scripts and all the rules and regulations out there that one again make us feel like addicts. They no nothing more about me other than my medicine and where I get them filled and by whom. Not even one question as to why I filled this script or any other I may have filled in the past. I flipped out and continue to do so.

This is the letter I received telling me I can only use one pharmacy.

This is just another example of the shaming we as chronic pain patients have to endure, and now they add financial shaming. If you notice , they hide this by being concerned with drug interactions. Get to know your subscribers, talk to them in order to understand their situation. However they wont because this is yet another example of CYA due to the opioid hysteria. These knee jerk reactions hurt people, not help them.

Being chronically ill is expensive, any patient will tell you that. We often skip care and appointments because we don’t have the money. Now, lets add the threat of another financial responsibility if we step out of line. This is appalling. I never thought in a million years having chronic conditions would be this difficult to manage. its a fight everyday and companies like this make the fight that much harder.

Advertisement