Especially since...drumroll please...my first round of medications/injectables just arrived in the mail today. As I mentioned (aka ranted) in my last post I had to skip a month of treatments because of communication issues. We've finally gotten everything squared away and are now just waiting for my next cycle to start so we can begin this process.
Over the past month I have learned a lot about insurance and bureaucracy. (hahaha I just totally typo-ed that for a moment as bureaucrazy...how appropriate) After my appointment last month, to get back on track I had to start by attending the nursing class to learn how to inject the medication. Er, well, Joel and I had to attend the nursing class so JOEL could learn how to inject the medication. I'm not afraid of needles or anything, I can donate and draw blood with little fuss. However there is no way you are going to get me to inject myself. That just gives me the creeps.
So anyways, we attended the nursing class, got all of the information and they submitted my prescription for me to the specialty pharmacy they work with. (Because of the type of medication you can just go to Rite Aid. You have to order it through a specialty pharmacy you mails it to you.) That specialty pharmacy calls me to get all of my insurance information. However there are a few numbers I don't have on my Aetna insurance card. (Here is another tip/warning for people) Apparently when you are dealing with prescriptions they not only need your Group # and ID #, they need something called a BIN, the Pharmacy Group #, and a PCN. So if you ever have to deal with specialty pharmacies, make sure you have that information.
So I call Aetna to get that information. (Of course I'm leaving out the copious amount of time I spent on hold throughout all of these phone calls) Apparently Aetna contracts their pharmacy stuff through CVS Caremark. So I call them. Finally I get the information I need and call the specialty pharmacy back, we set up a date for delivery and I'm good to go. About a week later, the DAY BEFORE, I'm scheduled to get the medication shipment (which we have to be home for because it requires a signature), the pharmacy calls and says, oh by the way, we don't work with your insurance you need to go with someone else. le sigh
So then I had to go through the WHOLE process all over again with the pharmacy who is handling the prescription. I guess it's part of the CVS Caremark company. My favorite part is when the lady with CVS Caremark tells me I need to get my CVS Caremark insurance number because she's in one department and doesn't have access to my insurance information.....I was just thinking in my head "IT'S ALL THE SAME COMPANY!!!" Why on earth I had to do the legwork and track down this number (by calling someone IN THE SAME COMPANY) I have no idea. It just royally pissed me off.
But everything worked out in the end and we have the medication:
- 1 Sharps Container
- 3 pre-filled syringes with the Ganirelix (I don't have this stuff in front of me, so I don't remember all the spellings)
- 1 bottle of progesterone vaginal suppositories
- 1 bottle of Letrozole tablets
- Alcohol swabs
- 1 pre-filled Ovidrel syringe
- 2 bottles of Gonal-F with empty syringes
Total: $231 after insurance. Altogether it was like $1200 or something before insurance. And who knows how many times we'll have to do this.
