Frelling Aetna!

[miss_yt]

The other day I had some trouble with my insurance company over a perscription. I picked up the scrip from my doctor's office today and brought it to my pharmacist for a refill. In spite of his assurance that Aetna would only charge me a copay in the $10-$20 dollar range for refills (after I paid that $100 deductible), when he rang up the charges it was $50. He said this was probably a mistake and that I should contact Aetna about it (which I have).

I know they were unhappy about me not using the nearest generic equivalent, but I thought I had this business cleared up. Also, when we switched to Aetna from Keystone, my boss said that Aetna had lower copays for medicine. On the Keystone plan, I paid $40 for refills.

Even if I am supposed to be paying $50 for my Concerta refills, my total for perscription copays will still be lower now than it was on my previous plan ($65 as opposed to $80). But I still feel like I'm getting cheated here, and what's really frustrating is that if I'm not happy with whatever charges Aetna imposes on me, I really don't have any other choice.

Comments

[nightengalesknd.livejournal.com]

To the best of my knowledge, there is no generic equivlent of Concerta. Methylphenidate-ER just. . .isn't. Grrr. I feel your anti-Aetna rage.

[miss-yt.livejournal.com]

They actually wanted me to try Aderall, which I've been on before. It makes me stoned and nauseous, so I was quite unhappy, but fortunately we managed to resolve the problem...or so I thought.

[nightengalesknd.livejournal.com]

Adderall is even less the same thing. Please tell me these policy-setters have letters after their names?

[miss-yt.livejournal.com]

I don't know. They don't give their names in those notices, probably because they know that if they do people will find them and kill them.

[nightengalesknd.livejournal.com]

Very likely. The difficulty dealing with Aetna never ceases to amaze me. They are worse than my med school. And worst of all is dealing with the two together when they interface. . .

Today I go get my medication, which they don't cover because it's cheap. It is cheap, but it still costs more than the $5 copay I had with my insurance way back when.

[miss-yt.livejournal.com]

I just figured out that if I sign up for the Aetna mail-order perscription service, I can actually get 90 days of my medication at once for $100, or at least that's how I understand it. Getting it filled elswhere is $50 a pop because it is a "non-preferred brand." "Preferred brand" meds have a $30 copay and generics have a $15 copay.

I'm going to get the forms for this mail-order perscription thing, cross my fingers and hope it works.

[alashiya.livejournal.com]

Won't we all be ecstatic when the cumbersome U.S. medical system finally collapses and we get the same type of system the rest of the industrialized world has? This is ridiculous. Not only is it frustrating, a country drowning in debt can't afford this nonsense.