4 ms·

BriovaRx I assume? These guys are the worst. OptumRx (might be who you have through United as well) screwed me over because no one ever explained to me what the

BriovaRx I assume? These guys are the worst. OptumRx (might be who you have through United as well) screwed me over because no one ever explained to me what the hell a "specialized" medication was. I was put on a $drug and so when asked where I wanted to fill it I told my doctor to send it to my local Kroger Pharmacy. I went and tried to use my insurance but it wouldn't run for this $drug. I called OptumRx (the number on my healthcare card) and they said it should work. I gave them all my info, they assured me Kroger Pharmacy was In-Network, and they had me stand in line again so that they could talk to the pharmacist. No one could figure out what was wrong so the pharmacist gave me 3 pills to get started and OptumRx told me it would be cleared up by tomorrow and they would call me. Day 1, no call. Day 2, no call. Day 3 I call the pharmacy and they say they haven't heard anything from OptumRx, I called OptumRx and they finally realized that this $drug is a special drug that can ONLY be filled by their online pharmacy BriovaRx. I get transferred to BriovaRx and they say they can mail me the drug in 2-3 days and I tell them that's not going to work because I took my last pill today and there aren't supposed to be any breaks in the medication. Finally they cave and call in an "override" so I can get it from Kroger this one time. They also fucked up a delivery once and told me they couldn't send more pills until they figured out what happened to the last package (which could take days) and I was 1 pill away from being out. I had to fight my way through people telling me there is nothing that could be done about it until finally, again, someone called in an override. Mail order may be nice and all but when I can't re-order until I'm less than a week out and shipping doesn't always work as expected it's a huge PITA and a big stressor. I order EVERYTHING off Amazon so trust me when I say I prefer the idea of mail order but when I need a medication I want to be able to walk down to the Kroger Pharmacy and fill it instead of waiting for something that might not come on time.

compuguy 9y ago
Express Scripts is pretty bad as well. I've lost count of how many hours I've spent on having to jump through the oddies of mail order pharmacies...
- baldfat 9y ago
  Well you saved me. I was going to do a 90 day med with them to save a trip to the pharmacy.
  - compuguy 9y ago
    I would still check prices on your pharmacy benefits site between mail order for 90 days and a local pharmacy. The mail order pharmacies are frustrating, but typically you pay less for a 90 day supply.
ajmurmann 9y ago
There was a recent, interesting discussion on econtalk that I think I'd related to this. In order to get a generic approved you need to proof bio-equivalence. To do that you need three original drug. The original creator of the drug has interest to delay this as long as possible. So they use the special drug thing to make it really hard for their competitor to get the drug. Sounds totally insane but apparently is common now. The original intend of the special drug thing was to protect people from more dangerous drugs that you need to be well informed about.
- frandroid 9y ago
  > To do that you need three original drug. Can you rephrase this? I can't grok what you mean.
  - inerte 9y ago
    I think if you replace three by the, makes sense
  - ajmurmann 9y ago
    Sorry, phone auto correct. As someone else pointed out it should be "the original drug". You get both drugs and show that they are the same for the body.
alistairSH 9y ago
Mail-order pharmacies are the worst. I understand what they're trying to accomplish WRT costs, but I've never encountered one that could actually deliver consistently and on-time. Frequent delays for no good reason, no express shipping, lost paperwork, etc. It's a mess.

compuguy 9y ago

Express Scripts is pretty bad as well. I've lost count of how many hours I've spent on having to jump through the oddies of mail order pharmacies...

baldfat 9y ago
Well you saved me. I was going to do a 90 day med with them to save a trip to the pharmacy.
- compuguy 9y ago
  I would still check prices on your pharmacy benefits site between mail order for 90 days and a local pharmacy. The mail order pharmacies are frustrating, but typically you pay less for a 90 day supply.

ajmurmann 9y ago

There was a recent, interesting discussion on econtalk that I think I'd related to this. In order to get a generic approved you need to proof bio-equivalence. To do that you need three original drug. The original creator of the drug has interest to delay this as long as possible. So they use the special drug thing to make it really hard for their competitor to get the drug. Sounds totally insane but apparently is common now. The original intend of the special drug thing was to protect people from more dangerous drugs that you need to be well informed about.

frandroid 9y ago
> To do that you need three original drug. Can you rephrase this? I can't grok what you mean.
- inerte 9y ago
  I think if you replace three by the, makes sense
- ajmurmann 9y ago
  Sorry, phone auto correct. As someone else pointed out it should be "the original drug". You get both drugs and show that they are the same for the body.

alistairSH 9y ago

Mail-order pharmacies are the worst. I understand what they're trying to accomplish WRT costs, but I've never encountered one that could actually deliver consistently and on-time. Frequent delays for no good reason, no express shipping, lost paperwork, etc. It's a mess.