Free at last, free at last! Thank God almighty...

Here's the good news I mentioned in my last post...

As you know if you've been following my blog, I started taking a new cancer medicine in August that retails for around $10,400.00 a month. Under my medical insurance's prescription coverage, I had a $100 co-pay for my first bottle from Walgreen's. I called them on September 2nd and requested a refill. When I didn't receive it by Friday the 5th (and my bank account hadn't been charged), I called back to check on it. The pharmacy technician checked on the order and told me that my insurance company contacted them and had the prescription transferred to Accredo, their preferred provider for that medication, and gave me their phone number. I called Accredo and, sure enough, they had my prescription in their system. I requested a refill and was told it would ship on September 10th. When they didn't ask for my credit card information, I asked about the co-pay. "There is no co-pay," I was told. No co-pay? Shaken a bit, I asked "Am I responsible for the entire $10,400?" No, the insurance company is paying the entire amount.

I had checked the insurance website previously, and it clearly stated there was a $100 copay on the medication from retail pharmacies. It also said, in a confusing way, that there was no copay for prescriptions through Accredo. The way it was stated, I misunderstood the information to say the medication was not available through Accredo.

So the good news is that, apart from the insurance premiums I've been paying all along, my cancer medication is free, as long as I get it through Accredo.

I can live with that.

Now if I could just get them to do the same thing with all the MRI's, CT scans, blood draws, office visits, etc. it would be fantastic!  I wonder if they'd cover my gasoline too...