I was denied birth control

[Spider Burps]

Yeah, I recently switched to mail order for my drugs, and gosh, if the drug in the cold pack was somewhat, uh, not super cold when it got to me. (It can get up to 86 degrees without affecting it, but Jeebus H. Christmas, this is Arizona. It can be hot one day and cold the next, even in the fall.) The next time I order, I'm going to put an explicit note on it--"Medicine must be shipped cold and completely closed. I will return it if it arrives like it did last time." The name of the mail order pharmacy begins with California and ends with Kansas.

I guess I'm in the minority, then. My insurance company offers mail order and I've had zero problems with it! I do pick up my refrigerated drug from a pharmacy, but it's out of fear of theft. :shifty:

[Fundie Lite]

looked around Google. Right now, there's issues with pharmacists in Florida refusing to fill scripts for certain pain medications, but that's mainly because of issues with a new state law. I found one thread on an ADD forum from a woman complaining that pharmacists refuse to fill her unusually high Ritalin prescription. The rest are all birth control/abortion related. There was an incident in Idaho last year of a Planned Parenthood nurse who called in a prescription for Methergine, a medication used to control bleeding after childbirth or abortion. The pharmacist refused to fill it unless she revealed whether the patient had an abortion or not. The nurse refused to break confidentiality, and when she asked for a referral to another pharmacy the pharmacist hung up.

The pharmacists used to give me a really hard time back when I used to take ADHD medications. They basically treated me like I was a drug addict trying to get con them out of medications. Once they tried to refuse to fill my two prescriptions for different formulations of Ritalin (I took a long-acting, slow release dose in the morning and then a short-acting dose in the evening after the morning dose wore off, so I could sleep). Other pharmacists wouldn't accept my out-of-state ID card when I was in graduate school studying in a different state (Ritalin's a controlled substance, which requires ID). They also gave me problems because my doctor was out-of-state. Honestly, I felt like it was a power trip thing for them. It was incredibly infuriating.

[Artemis]

I loathe power-tripping pharmacists, sorry. Because I am allergic to horses, but keep them, I often get dry, sore eyes, as well as sneezes, from the allergy. Every so often I know from the way my eyes feel that I'm on the verge of an eye infection. I also know that a quick course of chloramphenicol eye drops will nip it in the bud, and that they cost £4 from the pharmacy as opposed to £7 with a prescription.

I get sick of having pharmacists asking me stupid impertinent questions that imply I don't know what my body is doing, when I do. The short time it takes between knowing the infection is trying to develop and getting to a doctor is still long enough for it to develop fully. If I get a decent pharmacist who will give me the eye drops when I drive in and ask for them, I can stop it in its tracks and avoid three or four days of itching sticky eyes.

Pharmacists do power trip. It sucks.

[dawbs]

I guess I'm in the minority, then. My insurance company offers mail order and I've had zero problems with it! I do pick up my refrigerated drug from a pharmacy, but it's out of fear of theft. :shifty:

They screwed up EVERY depo script I got for something like 2 years.

I had to get depo through the mail order because it was an injectable...but they were used to sending 90 day supplies of insulin as injectables, not 1 shot.

It was always "have your doctor fax in a new script"--uh, there are 5 refills on the script you have. "that script is 3 months old" --right, once every 3 months. "oh. So we'll have it delivered to your house?" well, how are you going to temperature control that? "oh, well, we can't deliver it to your workplace"

And then they tried to say it wasn't covered because they only covered the pill.

:roll:

[BelieveinScience]

I haven't heard anything back yet. I'm not sure how long to give them. I know when a pizza place messed up somthing and I complained to corporate 7 days later I had a gift card. I hope this place will give me a response faster than a large pizza chain!

[Alana Rickman]

I looked around Google. Right now, there's issues with pharmacists in Florida refusing to fill scripts for certain pain medications, but that's mainly because of issues with a new state law. I found one thread on an ADD forum from a woman complaining that pharmacists refuse to fill her unusually high Ritalin prescription. The rest are all birth control/abortion related. There was an incident in Idaho last year of a Planned Parenthood nurse who called in a prescription for Methergine, a medication used to control bleeding after childbirth or abortion. The pharmacist refused to fill it unless she revealed whether the patient had an abortion or not. The nurse refused to break confidentiality, and when she asked for a referral to another pharmacy the pharmacist hung up.

What the hell? So given the choice, that pharmacist would just let a woman bleed to death? That's not "conscience," that's just plain evil. And the opposite of "pro-life."

[0KidsAndHappy]

Playing devil's advocate for a second ... Are you sure this women isn't refilling it for religious reasons? Since she isn't filling the Fioricet and you can't find your prescriptions, is it possible that they might actually be expired? You can create an account on the pharmacy's website and fill in your prescriptions. It will let you know how many refills you have of each. (This is also a great way to refill ... You can order the refill online and get a text when it is ready.)

If you are taking birth control for a hormonal issue specifically, then there is a chance that the doctor wrote the prescription for a certain type of birth control. For me, the pharmacy can give any type that is similar. Your insurance might also cover only a certain brand, so they won't refill it if they don't have that exact brand. As for Fioricet, because it is a narcotic, there are various reasons why you might be denied a refill. It may be too early for the refill. I have a pain medication that has refills, but even when taking it according to the label (1 to 2 pills every 4 to 6 hours), I can be out before the anticipated refill date. It is the insurance companies that come up with these dates and the pharmacist is unable to refill them any earlier unless you have your doctor call.

My best friend from childhood has been a pharmacist for a few years now. We've talked about her having to deny people refills ... Everything from drug addicts having their newly filled bottle of Oxycontin stolen and rather than file a police report, they call her at the pharmacy. Then the people treating her like the scum of the earth because their insurance wouldn't approve a refill for another three days and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. So, could this woman be a religious nutter on a power trip? Sure. Could there be an actual legitimate reason? It's possible, too. I just wanted to post this from the point of view of someone whose seen the way pharmacists get treated for problems that are almost always the fault of the insurance companies.

I came across this blog a while back and sent it to my friend who wanted to print it out for everyone waiting in line at her pharmacy to read. It's a bit long, so I'll put it behind a spoiler...

I Realize Today I've Done You A Disservice

WARNING: This post may be painful for those in the profession to read.

For over a year and a half now, the first thing anyone visiting my little blog garden has seen under the headline at the top of the page is the promise that the question of "why does my prescription take so damn long to fill" will be answered. Tonight I looked over this blogs archives and realized it was a promise not kept. While many topics have been covered here, and you have been provided with ample evidence of how drugstore workday life does indeed warp the mind, the question of why it took 2 hours for you to get 20 Vicodin has remained unanswered. I can't help but to think there may be someone out there who has been logging on every day for the last 18 months hoping in vain for this mystery to be solved. Should such a person exist, I offer my humble apologies. To everyone else, I offer the following prescription scenario:

You come to the counter. I am on the phone with a drunk dude who wants the phone number to the grocery store next door. After I instruct him on the virtues of 411, you tell me your doctor was to phone in your prescription to me. Your doctor hasn't, and you're unwilling to wait until he does. Being in a generous mood, I call your doctors office and am put on hold for 5 minutes, then informed that your prescription was phoned in to my competitor on the other side of town. Phoning the competitor, I am immediately put on hold for 5 minutes before speaking to a clerk, who puts me back on hold to wait for the pharmacist. Your prescription is then transferred to me, and now I have to get the 2 phone calls that have been put on hold while this was being done. Now I return to the counter to ask if we've ever filled prescriptions for you before. For some reason, you think that "for you" means "for your cousin" and you answer my question with a "yes", whereupon I go the computer and see you are not on file.

The phone rings.

You have left to do something very important, such as browse through the monster truck magazines, and do not hear the three PA announcements requesting that you return to the pharmacy. You return eventually, expecting to pick up the finished prescription.....

The phone rings.

......only to find out that I need to ask your address, phone number, date of birth, if you have any allergies and insurance coverage. You tell me you're allergic to codeine. Since the prescription is for Vicodin I ask you what exactly codeine did to you when you took it. You say it made your stomach hurt and I roll my eyes and write down "no known allergies" You tell me......

The phone rings.

.....you have insurance and spend the next 5 minutes looking for your card. You give up and expect me to be able to file your claim anyway. I call my competitor and am immediately put on hold. Upon reaching a human, I ask them what insurance they have on file for you. I get the information and file your claim, which is rejected because you changed jobs 6 months ago. An asshole barges his way to the counter to ask where the bread is.

The phone rings.

I inform you that the insurance the other pharmacy has on file for you isn't working. You produce a card in under 10 seconds that you seemed to be unable to find before. What you were really doing was hoping your old insurance would still work because it had a lower copay. Your new card prominently displays the logo of Nebraska Blue Cross, and although Nebraska Blue cross does in fact handle millions of prescription claims every day, for the group you belong to, the claim should go to a company called Caremark, whose logo is nowhere on the card.

The phone rings.

A lady comes to the counter wanting to know why the cherry flavored antacid works better than the lemon cream flavored antacid. What probably happened is that she had a milder case of heartburn when she took the cherry flavored brand, as they both use the exact same ingredient in the same strength. She will not be satisfied though until I confirm her belief that the cherry flavored brand is the superior product. I file your claim with Caremark, who rejects it because you had a 30 day supply of Vicodin filled 15 days ago at another pharmacy. You swear to me on your mother's'....

The phone rings.

.......life that you did not have a Vicodin prescription filled recently. I call Caremark and am immediately placed on hold. The most beautiful woman on the planet walks buy and notices not a thing. She has never talked to a pharmacist and never will. Upon reaching a human at Caremark, I am informed that the Vicodin prescription was indeed filled at another of my competitors. When I tell you this, you say you got hydrocodone there, not Vicodin. Another little part of me dies.

The phone rings.

It turns out that a few days after your doctor wrote your last prescription, he told you to take it more frequently, meaning that what Caremark thought was a 30-day supply is indeed a 15 day supply with the new instructions. I call your doctor's office to confirm this and am immediately placed on hold. I call Caremark to get an override and am immediately placed on hold. My laser printer has a paper jam. It's time for my pharmacy tech to go to lunch. Caremark issues the override and your claim goes though. Your insurance saves you 85 cents off the regular price of the prescription.

The phone rings.

At the cash register you sign....

The phone rings.

......the acknowledgement that you received a copy of my HIPAA policy and that I offered the required OBRA counseling for new prescriptions. You remark that you're glad that your last pharmacist told you you shouldn't take over the counter Tylenol along with the Vicodin, and that the acetaminophen you're taking instead seems to be working pretty well. I break the news to you that Tylenol is simply a brand name for acetaminophen and you don't believe me. You fumble around for 2 minutes looking for your checkbook and spend another 2 minutes making out a check for four dollars and sixty seven cents. You ask why the tablets look different than those you got at the other pharmacy. I explain that they are from a different manufacturer. Tomorrow you'll be back to tell me they don't work as well.

Now imagine this wasn't you at all, but the person who dropped off their prescription three people ahead of you, and you'll start to have an idea why.....your prescription takes so damn long to fill.

A year and a half late, but a promise kept. I feel better about myself already.

[BelieveinScience]

Playing devil's advocate for a second ... Are you sure this women isn't refilling it for religious reasons? Since she isn't filling the Fioricet and you can't find your prescriptions, is it possible that they might actually be expired? You can create an account on the pharmacy's website and fill in your prescriptions. It will let you know how many refills you have of each. (This is also a great way to refill ... You can order the refill online and get a text when it is ready.)

If you are taking birth control for a hormonal issue specifically, then there is a chance that the doctor wrote the prescription for a certain type of birth control. For me, the pharmacy can give any type that is similar. Your insurance might also cover only a certain brand, so they won't refill it if they don't have that exact brand. As for Fioricet, because it is a narcotic, there are various reasons why you might be denied a refill. It may be too early for the refill. I have a pain medication that has refills, but even when taking it according to the label (1 to 2 pills every 4 to 6 hours), I can be out before the anticipated refill date. It is the insurance companies that come up with these dates and the pharmacist is unable to refill them any earlier unless you have your doctor call.

My best friend from childhood has been a pharmacist for a few years now. We've talked about her having to deny people refills ... Everything from drug addicts having their newly filled bottle of Oxycontin stolen and rather than file a police report, they call her at the pharmacy. Then the people treating her like the scum of the earth because their insurance wouldn't approve a refill for another three days and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. So, could this woman be a religious nutter on a power trip? Sure. Could there be an actual legitimate reason? It's possible, too. I just wanted to post this from the point of view of someone whose seen the way pharmacists get treated for problems that are almost always the fault of the insurance companies.

I came across this blog a while back and sent it to my friend who wanted to print it out for everyone waiting in line at her pharmacy to read. It's a bit long, so I'll put it behind a spoiler...

I just can't find the birth control script. I have the Fioricet and it is not expired. It doesn't expire until Dec 2012 (on the bottle). And she said both the fioricet and birth control expired on the same day which would be impossible since I fill scripts the day I get them and I don't see two doctors in the same week let alone the same day. And I know the fioricet is still good? My mom tried to get it filled at my old pharmacy on her way up but they woudlkn't let her because of my age but they told her I could fill it up her and I'd have until Dec to do it. So if another pharmacy is saying its good- whats the deal with this one.

[Mama Mia]

The expiration date printed on your bottle of medication is the date the actual medication expires...just like with something in your fridge. That isn't the same thing as the date your prescription for the medication expires. This lady might just be kind of a lousy / lazy pharmacist or clerk who isn't willing to make the effort to call your dr. on her own to see if you have refills still available and to ask the dr. office to fax a new request.

I know with medications that I get for my family there will often be some that the brand is out, or it gets called in a few days too early or too late for authorization, and it can be a real pain. For controlled substances like some pain or adhd meds it is really annoying because the physical prescription has to be picked up from the doctor each time, handed in personally, and then picked up again within a few days or it will be sent back and the process has to be started all over.

She might be trying to sabotage your medications, or she might hampered by all the regulations and just not going out of her way to explain them to you or to get the right paperwork.

[0KidsAndHappy]

I just can't find the birth control script. I have the Fioricet and it is not expired. It doesn't expire until Dec 2012 (on the bottle). And she said both the fioricet and birth control expired on the same day which would be impossible since I fill scripts the day I get them and I don't see two doctors in the same week let alone the same day. And I know the fioricet is still good? My mom tried to get it filled at my old pharmacy on her way up but they woudlkn't let her because of my age but they told her I could fill it up her and I'd have until Dec to do it. So if another pharmacy is saying its good- whats the deal with this one.

When it comes to refills, things like that have a lot more to do with the insurance company than the pharmacy. Though this could be a pharmacist thing ... There is an expiration for the medication and an expiration for refills. If the refill expires very soon, the insurance company could be saying they won't allow for a full refill without doctor approval. If it is two different chains, then they both could have different protocols when it comes to this sort of thing. If it is the same chain, one pharmacist might simply not care and go around what the insurance company is telling them.

Have you already refilled it? If not, make an account on their website. All you would need is one of your prescriptions and all the others should pop-up. It isn't going to give you all the details about why things aren't being filled. However, it will tell you exactly how many refills you have left and the anticipated refill date of those refills.

I'm going to get my friend to read this. I think she has an account here ... She can explain this much better than I can (unless there are pharmacists here that already have since I skimmed through a good bit of this thread).

[BelieveinScience]

When it comes to refills, things like that have a lot more to do with the insurance company than the pharmacy. Though this could be a pharmacist thing ... There is an expiration for the medication and an expiration for refills. If the refill expires very soon, the insurance company could be saying they won't allow for a full refill without doctor approval. If it is two different chains, then they both could have different protocols when it comes to this sort of thing. If it is the same chain, one pharmacist might simply not care and go around what the insurance company is telling them.

Have you already refilled it? If not, make an account on their website. All you would need is one of your prescriptions and all the others should pop-up. It isn't going to give you all the details about why things aren't being filled. However, it will tell you exactly how many refills you have left and the anticipated refill date of those refills.

I'm going to get my friend to read this. I think she has an account here ... She can explain this much better than I can (unless there are pharmacists here that already have since I skimmed through a good bit of this thread).

It let me refill it online....

[valsa]

The expiration date printed on your bottle of medication is the date the actual medication expires...just like with something in your fridge. That isn't the same thing as the date your prescription for the medication expires.

My prescriptions have things like "X refills before MM/DD/YY" and "May refill X times until MM/DD/YY"

[BelieveinScience]

The expiration date printed on your bottle of medication is the date the actual medication expires...just like with something in your fridge. That isn't the same thing as the date your prescription for the medication expires. This lady might just be kind of a lousy / lazy pharmacist or clerk who isn't willing to make the effort to call your dr. on her own to see if you have refills still available and to ask the dr. office to fax a new request.

I know with medications that I get for my family there will often be some that the brand is out, or it gets called in a few days too early or too late for authorization, and it can be a real pain. For controlled substances like some pain or adhd meds it is really annoying because the physical prescription has to be picked up from the doctor each time, handed in personally, and then picked up again within a few days or it will be sent back and the process has to be started all over.

She might be trying to sabotage your medications, or she might hampered by all the regulations and just not going out of her way to explain them to you or to get the right paperwork.

I grabbed the closest pill bottle from the same pharmacy and this is what the bottle says as far as dates- Date filled 6/25/12. Orig Rx date- 6/25/12. Refill 3x until 6/24/13. Discard after 6/25/13. Does that not mean that I can get a refil up until june 24 2013. And to throw out this particular bottle of meds after 6/25/13?

[0KidsAndHappy]

It let me refill it online....

Does it show you the anticipated refill date? My pharmacy allows you to refill the prescription using the website, but they can't actually refill it until the anticipated refill date because of the insurance company. So, they will accept the refill request, but won't fill it until that date. Even if you don't have refills available, you can do a refill request and they will attempt to contact your doctor.

It's very annoying because there is really no way of knowing what your insurance company is doing throughout the entire process.

[SoybeanQueen]

If its a locally-owned pharmacy, it might be the only one in town and its bullshit to make anyone go several miles out of their way just for treatment. I have no clue where BelieveInScience lives other than Maryland, but if she's in a small town she doesn't have nearly as many options as city people do. I really wish people would stop assuming small town residents have the same access to things as city residents do.

Not as many options, sure, but there are usually some options. I live in the middle of nowhere, so I have some experience on the topic. Even in the tiny town closest to us, there are two pharmacies, and the one I use can get almost anything within 24 hours. We don't lack for much thanks to the 'net and fast shipping.

As for the OP, I hope she's been able to get her migraine meds filled by now.

[BelieveinScience]

I got my birth control.

[thekate]

I got my birth control.

From that same pharmacy/pharmacist? How did it go down?

[BelieveinScience]

From that same pharmacy/pharmacist? How did it go down?

The pharmacist was there but she didnt even look me in the eye. I also figurd out her name(they have thir plaques with the names hidden really well) but hell if I can spell it (It's a chinese name) and she was not the one who filled my script the male pharmacist did. I got into an argument about my migraine medication that involved a lot of backpeddling on why I couldn't it and a lot of lies from the tech there and that ended badly.

[thekate]

The pharmacist was there but she didnt even look me in the eye. I also figurd out her name(they have thir plaques with the names hidden really well) but hell if I can spell it (It's a chinese name) and she was not the one who filled my script the male pharmacist did. I got into an argument about my migraine medication that involved a lot of backpeddling on why I couldn't it and a lot of lies from the tech there and that ended badly.

Ugh. I'm sorry you had to deal with even more bs on top of all the previous bs.

[countressrascal]

The pharmacist was there but she didnt even look me in the eye. I also figurd out her name(they have thir plaques with the names hidden really well) but hell if I can spell it (It's a chinese name) and she was not the one who filled my script the male pharmacist did. I got into an argument about my migraine medication that involved a lot of backpeddling on why I couldn't it and a lot of lies from the tech there and that ended badly.

I don't know what state you live in however in Arizona, they must have in clear sight the name of the pharmacist along with the tech. If they do not they can be report to the state board. I have reported a a couple to the state board because they have not, CVS hates me. If they refused to fill Birth Control for my patients, due to regilous beliefs, which is legal here however they must offer them an opition to have them filed, if they don't I report them to the board, which is a pain in the butt for them to clear plus it goes on their professional record. I fight law with the law. A couple of pharmacists see my name on the script and they fill it because they have been reported and they don't want it to happen again. I think that the law is BS, so I make a big deal out of it. If you have time research the law in your state then report them if they violated any part of it no matter how small. That is the only way we can get them to over turn it.