Magically my “doctor’s preauthorization” for one of my medications expired long before the actual prescription. Being as it is, my insurance company makes me jump through an inordinate amount of hoops to get this medication (Dexilant, my proton pump inhibitor for acid reflux). Not only are there a lot of hoops, but after I clear a hoop, the only way I find out there’s another hoop to jump through is when the medication never shows up in the mail.
So now I need “preauthorization” to fill this prescription, which is akin to my doctor saying I need this medication—which is EXACTLY what a prescription says. Why does my insurance require this information twice? And moreover, why is it not obtained WITH the prescription renewal for the SAME DURATION of time? And why does my insurance have neither this doctor’s name nor phone number on file? Shouldn’t this be on the script for the prescription? Surely I can’t be expected to pull this doctor’s phone number out of my brain on a whim? Also, why is it the patient’s responsibility to acquire preauthorization? And if so, when was I going to be notified? Should I just use my magical powers of deduction after enough time passes without my medication arriving in the mail?
I’m seriously considering stopping this medication. It works really well and at the time I started taking it 2 years ago, nothing else did. But maybe the generic, earlier generation of this drug might work for me. Although buying over the counter would end up being more expensive than this pain in the butt, non-preferred, doctor’s preauthorization required, jump through a million flaming hoops medication.
I just want to yell at someone or kick out a window after talking to my prescription insurance people.
