pharmaceutical grumbling
my insurance is a touch weird. there's a huge deductible, but then the plan itself has a flexible spending account that covers 2/3 of the deductible.
this shows up the most wackily at the pharmacy. the pharmacy submits whatever to the insurance, and, as long as there's money in that account, they pay the full thing.
last year a doctor prescribed something to me and gave me a coupon because there wasn't a generic and it was like $260 a bottle
i gave the coupon to the pharmacy and they were like "oh you don't have to pay anything for this, it's covered." i tried explaining but to no avail. $260 out of my FSA, that didn't cover other expenses. decding that if i'm doing that again, i'll find out pricing ahead of time, the damn drugs didn't even work.
this year i dropped off an Rx that had genericand the receipt came back for $140. i was a bit irked that i didnt follow through with my plan.
but i think the real interesting thing was that only $20 was taken out of my FSA. i wondered if there was a goofup, but was happy because i needed a refill for half and sure enough $70 on the receipt, $10 out of the account.
wtf type messed up discount is that? 6/7ths of the price reduction?
as much as i liked the effect on my spending account, i was still pissed because it just says something is might fucked up in the Prescription Drug and Insurance worlds
The one cool thing with this system is the lack of co-pays. Since i only got half the prescription filled, it would've been the same co-pay price, but instead i actually am "paying" for what i use.
this shows up the most wackily at the pharmacy. the pharmacy submits whatever to the insurance, and, as long as there's money in that account, they pay the full thing.
last year a doctor prescribed something to me and gave me a coupon because there wasn't a generic and it was like $260 a bottle
i gave the coupon to the pharmacy and they were like "oh you don't have to pay anything for this, it's covered." i tried explaining but to no avail. $260 out of my FSA, that didn't cover other expenses. decding that if i'm doing that again, i'll find out pricing ahead of time, the damn drugs didn't even work.
this year i dropped off an Rx that had genericand the receipt came back for $140. i was a bit irked that i didnt follow through with my plan.
but i think the real interesting thing was that only $20 was taken out of my FSA. i wondered if there was a goofup, but was happy because i needed a refill for half and sure enough $70 on the receipt, $10 out of the account.
wtf type messed up discount is that? 6/7ths of the price reduction?
as much as i liked the effect on my spending account, i was still pissed because it just says something is might fucked up in the Prescription Drug and Insurance worlds
The one cool thing with this system is the lack of co-pays. Since i only got half the prescription filled, it would've been the same co-pay price, but instead i actually am "paying" for what i use.