My favorite is some Restasis promotion. They give out a Visa debit card with coupon information ON THE CARD. At the pharmacy we put in that information, bill the patient's insurance, split bill to the coupon, then it spits out a message like "Debit card credited with $10." Then the customer uses the $10 toward their co-pay at the register, which has already been reduced by the split bill. WHAT IS THE FRIGGIN SENSE OF THIS WITCHCRAFT? Talk about gumming up a system already a mess!
Last year there was the $4 Lipitor card. We received a ton of them. Only TWO people in our pharmacy actually were able to get their Lipitor for $4. But EVERY ONE of them thought they were going to get their Lipitor for $4. Any every SINGLE time they would argue with us because it says so on the card. And every SINGLE time I had to point to the asterisk and tell them it doesn't apply to their situation. Thanks Lipitor. Not only did you destroy the credibility of your medication with this phony promotion, you beat up a lot of pharmacists doing it.
You've left out the best part when these patients invariably present the cards when they come to pay for the meds and are mad that you have to reprocess everything. Pointing out that right next to the asterisk all cards say "present with prescription" seems to make the situation even worse.
ReplyDeleteThere has got to be a better system, but the Advair & Nasonex coupons save my family $60 a month, so long as I remember to reprint coupons every 3 months and take them in. We have insurance, but both of those drugs are on the highest pay tier. We gave Flonase a shot to try and save some money, but it did fuck-all for my husband and son. They were snotty snorty snoring sleep-deprived messes within a week.
ReplyDeleteWhat would work better than those coupons?
My uncle is uninsured, and so his doctor gives him those cards all the time, thinking that he will only pay the amount stated on the card (if you're uninsured, they only take out the amount stated on the card from the overall price, which in my uncle's case, isn't much at all). The doctors believe the same thing the patient does, because the drug reps don't truly educate the prescriber about how these cards really work. I think the prescriber needs to be better educated about these cards, instead of just passing them out like candy. Also, patients should be responsible enough to read the fine print (when available. The last Lipitor card that my uncle received had the asterisk, but didn't explain what the asterisk meant).
ReplyDeleteyeah, the drug reps aren't going to educate any better than they are. then the docs would know it's a bit of a scam and not prescribe the drug. it's all about increasing rxs for their drug.
ReplyDeleteMy insurance does not allow the cards. Something about how they encourage the use of name brand meds. I work for a hospital and my employer is self insured. Most of my docs also work for the same employer.
ReplyDeleteYou would think at some point the doctors would stop trying to get me to take discount cards from them.
I know some drugs (Crestor for example) have an "eVoucher" and will tell you that money was taken off the co-pay automatically during adjudication. Perhaps more companies should do that instead of this coupon nonsense.
ReplyDeleteI just can't imagine the reimbursement nightmare for small fry mom and pop pharmacies trying to keep up with all this.