r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Capt-geraldstclair • 21h ago
My mom said I could post United Healthcare randomly decided to cut my diabetes prescription in half.
I ran out of my injection diabetes medication this morning (Toujeo).
I've been taking this for a few years now. I have been receiving two pens per month for a couple of years now. When I first started, I was on 3 pens a month. But i've lost some weight and reduced the dosage to where I usually have enough for the entire month. I've run out on "long" months with 31 days... not a huge deal.
I called the pharmacy this morning to see if my refill was ready (I had asked to get it refilled on Friday). They told me it would be ready tonight after 5.
I get in there and they have one pen. I know they sometimes have issues getting it sourced so i asked where the 2nd pen was.
The pharmacy tech says "It's only one pen this month."
Confused, I asked why. She pokes on the computer and says "oh, see, two pens is 32 days worth. Insurance only authorizes enough for 31 doses per month."
I'm like, "When did 2 pens turn into 32 days worth? And what do they think I'm going to do with one pen? Use it for half the month and then wait for the next insurance cycle?"
She kinda looks at me like I'm stupid. (Maybe I am)
How did this suddenly become 32 days worth? and why is this just now coming up?
Half an hour later, the pharmacist calls me over to discuss. Yadda, yadda, yadda, they had to get creative to account for a days worth of medication so I could get 2 pens.
United Healthcare has repeatedly forced me to go through re-authorization with the doctor's office at the beginning of the year. Telling me they want me to try some alternative medication (that is cheaper). The doctor has to send a letter explaining that we tried these medications in the past and that Toujeo has proven to be more effective.
I'm kind of more than mildly infuriated but the pharmacy made things work (at least for this month).
1.8k
u/Honest-Heron1185 21h ago
You should call your insurance company and see why they won’t allow a 32 day supply considering it is a pen that you cannot partial.
814
u/NerdGuy13 21h ago
Do you expect that insurance company to understand common sense when it does not make the money?
184
u/NuklearFerret 20h ago
This is an unintended consequence of some new, general rule for "diabetes medication" as a whole, so this particular medication likely just slipped through the cracks. They didn't just make a weird-ass rule up to mess with OP.
295
u/captainAwesomePants 17h ago
UHC? The folks who last year were ordered to pay a nine figure settlement for intentionally misleading Massachusetts customers?
The same folks who are being sued in Minnesota for using AI to intentionally override doctor decisions and arbitrarily reject claims?
The same folks who are consistently #1 for claim denials, at around 1 out of every 3 claims denied?
The company who was run by the subject of the book "Delay, Deny, Defend" until an angry customer whose back pain insurance claims were denied shot and killed him?
Yeah, man, it is entirely possible that UHC came up with some weird-ass rule specifically to deny claims, not just for OP but for as many people as possible at every opportunity.
118
u/unripe_mangosteen 14h ago
Luigi did nothing wrong
68
u/RyanCheddar 9h ago
it's absolute insanity that him shooting the CEO actually saved lives since claims had higher approval rates afterwards
19
u/Tier_One_Meatball 6h ago
For like a week. Then they doubled down when he got arrested and nothing happened. No riots, no more shootings, nothing.
Now they know they can trample us and get away with it, because the best chance for change went down without a fight.
122
u/dangerousfeather 19h ago
It’s UHC. They probably did.
69
38
u/Terrible_Ice_1616 17h ago
Lol "unintended"
They changed the rules to cut their costs, it's not complicated. Whether people are messed with or harmed by these changes is unimportant to them, we agree on that
→ More replies (21)33
u/SpecialistCut7101 17h ago
No need to defend the precious insurance company. They don’t care that it messes with op.
→ More replies (69)→ More replies (3)6
u/EasterZombie 8h ago
Social murder.
The purpose of a system is its outcome, it doesn’t matter whether it was targeted or just an oversight. That’s especially true if they “can’t” or don’t correct the problem when contacted about it, which they refuse to most of the time.
184
u/theinfernumflame 20h ago
It's United, clearly they have learned nothing.
116
→ More replies (1)107
84
u/Tahrovin08 19h ago
As a pharmacy tech, this looks like a pharmacy problem to me. The math on the prescription adds up for one pen to be a 16 day supply, and the label having the crossed out 6 makes it even weirder. Their system says it is 6 mls, two pens, or otherwise the label would have printed out saying 3.
→ More replies (1)17
u/VTbuckeye 19h ago
But a single pen can be filled for a 16 day supply. Patient has one copay per fill and each fill.can be up to 30 days. If one pen lasts longer than 30 days then the patient gets one pen as a 30 day supply, but do not fill the next one early. A more typical example of this would be a nasal spray with 120 metered doses typically 2 sprays twice daily, but sometimes given 1 spray twice daily. If insurance only covers a 30 day supply the 60 day supply would be billed as 30, but you would not fill it earlier than every 60 days.
Pharmacy was likely audited recently and insurance took back a bunch of money for products already dispensed for billing for wrong day supply. With insulin/expensive injectables this can become very expensive for the pharmacy.
→ More replies (2)13
643
u/GalliumYttrium1 20h ago
Wait did they bill the insurance for 2 pens and only give you one?? Why else would the label say 6 and then someone crossed it out and wrote 3 in pen? If they are only giving you 1 pen then the label should have printed as 3.
At the pharmacy I work at we’d most likely just bill it as 31 and annotate that the insurance covers max 31 day supply. It’s a one day difference.
But if they don’t want to do that in fear of getting a charge back from the insurance then they needed to bill the insurance for 1 pen for 16 days (half of 32) so that you could get the refill after 16 days (or slightly before since most insurances cover non controlled medications before you run out). Ofc that would be a PITA to have to have to pick it up twice a month instead of once.
249
u/catjuggler 20h ago
Yeah that’s suspicious af
48
u/nssxns 20h ago
It sounds like they ended up getting 2
35
u/Capt-geraldstclair 8h ago
I paid for 2, they only had one on hand. I am supposed to be able to collect the 2nd pen today.
30
u/MintFlavoredAnxiety 7h ago
Call your insurance, see what they billed the insurance. If they billed what they are giving you, call your doctor for a prior authorization for more. Otherwise, it is medical fraud
9
u/GalliumYttrium1 6h ago
I’m glad you are getting your medicine. That’s the most important thing.
But this pharmacy is not billing insurance correctly. If you need 2 pens and they only have 1 they are supposed to partial the claim, so insurance is initially billed for 1 pen, and then when the other one comes in they bill for the second. Not bill for 2, and just give you one until the other one comes in.
If they had partialed it the way they are supposed to their label would print 3/6, not 6.
→ More replies (4)142
u/No_Title9375 20h ago
My doc wrote a script where one bottle was 15 days but two bottles was 32 days. I was mad as hell. He would not change it. I complained repeatedly.
Most of the pharmacists automatically overrode the cost but some kept trying to charge two copays. I told them they can measure out 30 days and put it in their own bottle.
Pharmacy math is more convoluted than tax math.
→ More replies (1)43
u/Neglected_Martian 19h ago
There is not much pharmacy can do. The doctor can lie and say you are injecting more than you are for your cost benefit, but that’s insurance fraud, albeit very mild form of it. The math is the math in pharmacy. If your pen has 1500 units and your injecting 44 units (+2 for waste in the pen needle that’s discarded), than your days supply is 1500/46=32.6 days supply. If your insurance has bracketed copays as in x<=30 is a 25.00 copay, and anything 31-60 is 50.00, and anything 61-90 is 75.00 that’s just how it is. The one you should be mad at is your insurance company for writing stupid rules that punish people on variable days supply medications.
→ More replies (8)
436
u/ninaszenik 20h ago
pharmacist here - they need to be including the priming dose in with their calculations. toujeo max has a 4 unit priming dose, meaning that they need to be accounting for 59 units daily making 2 pens about a 30.5 day supply (and should be rounded down to 30). i haven’t had any issues with chargebacks when including the priming dose because it is manufacturer recommended before each dose given (now whether or not you do those priming doses is another thing lol)
162
u/Capt-geraldstclair 18h ago
This is what they ended up doing, i believe.
The pharmacist did talk about hte priming dose that was not originally calculated, apparently.
I don't know why this changed *this* month after all this time?
72
u/HappyBubbleBox 18h ago
Perhaps a new technician typed the order and didn’t know to include the priming in their calculation?
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)43
u/IndependentType6711 17h ago
Insurance companies engage in fuckery every year, multiple times a year. Once you and the pharmacy figure this out to help you they’ll engage in different fuckery next year.
At my work they’ll make people change albuterol manufacturers every month because the old ones “aren’t on formulary”. Patients go without just to save those assholes a dollar.
In the 70’s one of the companies made it protocol to reject every claim because only like 80% of the claims would be resubmitted so they saved money on 20% of them. Crooks.
9
u/AtheismoAlmighty 9h ago
Insurance is the only business where you pay someone for the privilege of being your enemy one day.
55
→ More replies (2)8
u/monkeycrazyfeet569 18h ago
Ask whoever filled it if they were counting for priming doses because what they're saying doesn't make sense. Even if they aren't accounting for priming doses it's like 16 days worth.
10
u/ninaszenik 18h ago
they only got 1 pen because 2 would make it *over* 30 days according to their pharmacy; they’re doing the math for just the daily dose correctly but priming dose should always be included.
914
71
u/beans329 14h ago
Idk what’s up with this shit lately.
I take synthroid as I have absolutely no thyroid and sometimes I have to mix two doses together. They cancelled my brand new annual script (the pharmacy) and told me I couldn’t have my synthroid because I didn’t actually need synthroid.
I wrote to them saying “I have absolutely no thyroid, so if I don’t need synthroid, i guess I need to be in a coma”.
wtf is wrong with these pharmacies?
26
8
u/SnooDonkeys5186 14h ago
Happened to me, too. We will literally die without this cheap common medication. This one should be over the counter along with inhalers.
→ More replies (1)16
u/beans329 14h ago
Synthroid should absolutely not be over the counter lmao. Do you know how many people would abuse thyroid hormone replacement? My uncle was a body builder in the 80s and they used to take TRH and give themselves exogenous hyperthyroidism to increase energy. So I’m glad it’s not OTC lol
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)7
u/JacarandasAreNotEvil 9h ago
Quarterly earning statements happened. Some investors were going to be upset they didn't meet their quarterly earnings estimate. This is why national healthcare is so important.
94
u/SecretScavenger36 20h ago
You need to go back and verify everything because that says 6 but marked down to 3. It needs to be marked in the system not just in pen or they are giving you one but billing for 2.
26
u/Mean-Bumblebee661 20h ago
anytime there's a pen change on my printed rx there's a signature or initials next to it, but i feel so bad for OP :(
→ More replies (1)5
u/ew73 17h ago edited 17h ago
FYI: The "6" and "3" are not "pens" but stock units (in this case, mL, or 100 "units"). A single pen here has 3 mL (300 units) of medication in it, or, 3. 2 pens is 6.
edit: I lied; I just checked the actual product info page, and 1 pen is 1.5 mL; the "3" and "6" are referring to (per 100) "units" of insulin. This medication is a more concentrated of the more common insulin glargine (Lantus Basaglar), for people with higher insulin needs and don't want to go through a bunch of vials/pens.
→ More replies (2)
157
u/andyofne 21h ago
Hey, Luigi, you got a minute?
30
→ More replies (2)17
u/TheJarisaDoor3 18h ago
Unfortunately, he's a little tied up right now. I can't believe he pled out. I don't get it. If anybody had a chance to find one person on a jury to vote not guilty, you'd think it would be him. I don't know a single person who hasn't been screwed by a health insurance company in some way.
→ More replies (1)4
u/fastingslowlee 8h ago
Real life isn’t the internet. The jury would’ve found him guilty.
→ More replies (5)
26
u/Embarrassed_Aide9855 20h ago
this is crazy bc as a pharmacy tech we are not even allowed to open the boxes to fill only 1 pen. we would have tried to get a pa or override instead but never this !
8
u/ndjs22 19h ago edited 19h ago
You shouldn't open the boxes. It very clearly states "dispense in this sealed carton" on the box.
11
u/Embarrassed_Aide9855 18h ago
which is why i said “ we are not allowed to open the boxes to fill only 1 pen” .
→ More replies (1)
52
u/punkwalrus 18h ago
UHC did this to me, too.
- Doctor wanted me on Lantus.
- UHC said no. Put him on Basaglar
- Not exactly one for one, so the doctor adjusted the dose to compensate
- UHC lowered the dose.
- After months on critical high diabetes, doctor tried another medicine. UHC declined.
- Doctor said I have to appeal. Three weeks of non returned calls, emails, and "there's nothing we can do, have you tried bariatric surgery?" I managed to get insurance to pay for two weeks at a time with a $60 deductible.
- Two weeks is 14 days. So only 28 days a month.
- I had to ration it. Some weeks I couldn't get it at a because I had to have a new prescription every two weeks, and there was a "triangle of horror" between UHC, the pharmacy, and my doctors office.
- My A1C never got below 12. I started to lose my eyesight, neuropathy, etc. I was dying.
Then I married into the military. Tricare gave me Lantus, metformin, and Trulicity. In a year, my A1C was down to 6 and managed. I never get a fight, just solutions. Weight is down, blood pressure normal again. I feel like I gained a second life.
Fuck UHC. They. Want. Diabetics. Dead.
→ More replies (2)19
20
23
u/dragonstkdgirl 20h ago
Kaiser tried pulling this shit with my migraine medication the last two months, too. They tried to give me 9 of 18 pills for July and 8 out of 18 for August. They tried telling me my insurance only covered half, which is bullshit. Then tried saying my neurologist submitted it that way. Also bullshit. Then the supervisor tried telling me "Kaiser doesn't like prescribing it that way". I told him I don't give a shit, my neuro prescribed it based on my history and what "Kaiser doesn't like" isn't my problem. My plan covers it and I'm not paying my full copay for half of my meds. I left with the full amount both times and called my neuro and he supposedly fixed it, we'll see if they give me trouble when I pick it up next week.
Dumbass insurance providers.
24
u/ndjs22 19h ago
Ask your pharmacist why they can't read. Or ask if they would like you to call your insurance and request an audit.
Signed, A pharmacist
→ More replies (1)
19
u/Altruistic-Star-3862 8h ago
I swear there should be tribunals for health insurance executive teams.
My Rx is something I take daily, have been taking for more than two years, but suddenly my insurance "doesn't cover refills". Insurance companies are treating everything like you're getting a dose of antibiotics and once you get that, you're good.
16
42
u/Computers_and_cats 21h ago
Shame you can't tell them you are going to pay half as much for the month since you are only get half your treatment.
15
u/bugabooandtwo 19h ago
It's crazy that an insurance agency can do that. In civilized countries, the doctor prescribes the meds and the dose.
→ More replies (2)
15
u/Standard-Bat-7841 18h ago
Why don't you add at a minimum 25% to your total daily usage? I don't have insurance but I am a type 1 diabetic and get a 100% surplus to ensure I won't be unexpectedly running out.
Have your Dr adjust the dosage so you can get an extra pen. Think of it as a therapeutic fib.
There are also savings coupons available for most insulin ran outside of insurance that limits your out of pocket to 35$. Use multiple of them at different pharmacies and get a surplus going.
→ More replies (2)4
u/phatdoughnut83 18h ago
This is what my endo did. She’s like we’re going to pad it some so you have some extra.
4
u/Hopeful_Butterfly302 17h ago
Same here. That's why I have like $5,000 worth of novolog in my fridge right now. It's only like 15 vials, but it sure makes me feel better.
→ More replies (1)
13
u/Arbor___Vitae 6h ago
Pharmacist here (don’t hurt me I’m so sorry)
I have rhetorical questions..
Why has your provider prescribed 55 units/day from a pen that can only deliver in 2-unit increments? I know we use calculations based on historical blood glucose levels, carb intake, an insulin:carbohydrate ratio, etc. etc., I just think they should know that detail about what they’re prescribing..
Also, unless your pharmacy reused an old label that printed before they got the “exceeds max quantity per days supply” rejection, they did in fact bill for 2 pens (6mL) and then dispensed 3mL/1pen. They really shouldn’t mark through the quantity like that unless they’re partial-filling while waiting for more pens to come in, and their system doesn’t have a proper way to partial-fill..
Also, I’d honestly just ask the provider to change your prescription to 60 units units daily, as this would bring your days supply per pen to 15, and you wouldn’t have run into this. 5 units of basal insulin is negligible over a 24 hour period, but I guess you could always continue doing 54 or 56 units (that’s what you’re getting anyway, because unless something has changed you can’t stop the dial mechanism on half-clicks) and discard the remainder.
But, the fact we have to do all of this for insurance is a joke and is a big part of why I stopped practicing pharmacy.
47
u/pnut0027 20h ago
Insurance-employed doctors who have never met you know more than your PCP.
What’s the issue?
→ More replies (2)36
u/Same_Mood_8543 20h ago
Who are rarely specialists in the area they are overruling and, almost without exception, have never even treated the condition they have decided should be treated differently.
27
u/Radiant-Ad-9753 20h ago
United healthcare did the same thing to me with my Autoimmune medication in July. They cut the dose in half (even though I was already pre-authorized for a higher amount for 6 months) with zero notice.
To get back on my old dose required a pre-authorization.
Check the formulary that three pens are still authorized with a prior authorization. Have the doctor resubmit a prior authorization with the old dose, based on the FDA label prescribing indication and dosing amounts for your condition.
United healthcare needs a class action for this bullshit. Dollar's to donuts there's a lot of people with half the medicine they need right now saving United healthcare money, because they don't want to bother their doctor, or their doctor is rightfully too bogged down to do multiple pre-authorizations for all of their patients being cut off right now
4
u/Suspicious_Bit_9003 17h ago
They messed with my autoimmune injectable around the same time. I got prior authorization in Feb, but suddenly they sent a letter saying medication will no longer be covered (offering alternatives which are not the same and won’t work). My doctor had to send in a new PA, and now my medication is covered, but for 6 months only. (Previous PA covered me for an entire year) So now I have to go through this whole process again in December. I really hate this so much, what a bs thing to do to chronic patients and the doctors having to jump through hoops, too!
→ More replies (2)
10
9
11
u/Ok_Industry4950 7h ago
My company just moved to United Healthcare. They said the dose of meds ive been on to control my crohns disease for years isnt necessary and denied my prior authorization. Ive had this disease for 20 years. My dr knows what I need better than they do!! Im so angry
9
7
u/CADE09 PURPLE 19h ago
As a retail pharmacist of 8 years, seeing that 6 marked out and a 3 put in its place, tells me the pharmacy has an "iou" on the script. They gave you 1 pen because that's all they had. They still owe you 1 more. 1 pen is 3 ml, so the 6 means you should have received 6 ml, or 2 pens. I'd take that back to the pharmacy and talk the pharmacist. I can't stress this enough, TAKE THE BAG THAT HAS THE 6 MARKED OUT WITH YOU!
7
u/Shepard2603 16h ago
So you are saying you have one dose per day? Not a dose per meal calculated for the amount of carbohydrates you are about to consume?
That is wild, and sounds awfully wrong.
→ More replies (9)
8
u/K1llerbee-sting 12h ago
The writing and crossing out on the quantity is indicative that the pharmacist ran out of medication and gave you a partial refill. You have to go back in a few days and pick up the rest of the prescription.
→ More replies (1)
24
u/paynblaylock 20h ago
Get your Dr informed and involved. My T1 diabetic wife has dealt with the insurance with similar BS, once they completely stopped her insulin because they said she may "be using addictive quantities or duration " wtf
→ More replies (1)12
u/couchpotatoguy 20h ago
Addictive and insulin used in the same sentence?? 😮 That's absurd!
8
u/Omegaprime02 19h ago
It's almost as bad as oxygen, can't be too careful! /j
5
u/whyliepornaccount 19h ago
That's just what Big Carbon Dioxide wants you to think!
→ More replies (1)
23
u/sunkissedgeckos 20h ago
Go back into the pharmacy. Based on this label, they successfully billed your insurance for the quantity of ‘6’. As a pharmacy tech this is weird as hell (and we NEVER broke Toujeo boxes??? This is like cardinal sin where I work, so weird to see that single pen in a BAG.)
→ More replies (6)12
8
u/grap112ler 14h ago
Go back to the pharmacy and tell them they are doing their math wrong. They need to reprocess your claim and make the insurance give you another pen. Let me explain.
No one really does, but you're supposed to prime the needle each time you use the pens by discharging 2 units before each dose (and of course everyone gets a new needle every time, lol). Your actual daily use is 57 units, 2 units to prime + 55 units dose. 900 units/pen ÷ 57 units/day = 15.8 days/pen (vs 900 ÷ 55 = 16.4 days).
Insulin pen manufacturers only guarantee there are as many units in the pen as labeled, there is no guarantee of overfill to allow for the priming before each dose.
8
7
u/demon_twink_gockie 9h ago
Stand your ground should cover instances like this. It is, in fact, a threat to your life
7
u/aaronswar43 8h ago
ah I been head butting with Bluecross blueshield for something similar for over 5 months now. My doc prescribed me CGM to track my bloodglucose and BCBS keep denying it ! like they always end up making me pay significant portion of the cost anyway still keep denying.
Like why do I need to justify what my Doctor thinks I need? I just ended up buying it from a 3rd party for the same price I would have payed .
I am just sick of this Vampire of Insurance companies at this point. Wish I have freedom to pick different companies via work.
6
u/LordOFtheNoldor 7h ago
It's so fucked up that insurance has any say whatsoever in your methods of treatment, it's just disheartening everything about medical insurance
15
5
u/FunnyScreenName 20h ago
america is a deeply broken place, some days I think its irreparable.
3
u/CustomMerkins4u 15h ago
It's 100% irreparable. We're $40 trillion in debt and nothing is slowing down.
$1.25 trillion in interest per year and we overspent by $2 trillion last year. Meaning we have to bridge the gap of $2.1 trillion per year to even begin to pay any of it down.
Virtually impossible. We're cooked.
→ More replies (2)
6
u/CoffeeExtraCream 19h ago
I'm more than mildly infuriated that our system has medical decisions being determined by 3rd party people driven by financial incentives and not your medical decisions being driven by your doctor.
5
6
u/Chpgmr 16h ago
I have been diabetic for...18 years now? When I first started I was under my fathers insurance from work and they would just give me like a stack of boxes of the pens, each box had 5 pens.
Then when I had to go on my own insurance, BCBS it was 1 box that the price would jump up and down each month, then they started dropping the amount of pens. Then the fast acting got very expensive and the long term became free. Then they both became expensive. They have not changed anything about the insulin in 15 years.
I use the Walmart brand, Novolin, now and its so much simpler.
→ More replies (1)
7
20
27
5
u/kitliasteele 20h ago
They pulled similar BS with me when I had them. They wouldn't accept timely refills and I had to wait two weeks after my last pill ran out before I could get my next refill. What then would happen is my equilibrium would go out of whack and I'd start having seizures more frequently.
UHC can go rot for all I care
5
5
u/HeadFaithlessness548 17h ago
Normally I’m prone to believe that United Healthcare did something horrendous as per usual, but the crossed out 6 makes me question if it’s the pharmacy.
Call your insurance tomorrow. If they say that it’s still two pens, then the pharmacy is the one who is doing something wrong. If it’s your insurance that’s saying “no it’s one pen” then try to appeal it. If you really have to, maybe ask for NPI’s of providers who overrode your providers orders.
5
5
u/Issah_Wywin 16h ago
Looked at you like you're stupid. I'm sorry but what is a diabetic supposed to do? Just not have diabetes for half the month?
5
u/EdgyBarnacle 14h ago
Pharmacist here. Seems like the pharmacy did not explain it properly. Because the insurance plan had a 31-day supply restriction per fill, the pharmacy could not dispense the full 32-day supply (if they are only calculating 1800 units [total number of units in 2 pens or 6ml] divided by 55 units, meaning not adjusted for priming units). What the pharmacy did instead was to bill one pen or 3ml (=900 units) per 16 days. So you can still get another pen much sooner than 32 days.
However, as the other commenter said, if they account for the priming units, the pharmacy can correctly bill 2 pens or 6ml for 30 or 31 days, as that would be 1800 units divided by 59 units/day.
5
u/paulofsandwich 13h ago
I guess they figured you'll die without it by the end if the month, so you don't need it.
5
4
5
3
u/HoneyParking6176 19h ago
united heatlhcare is the worst of basically all the insurance companies, i would recommend changing to a different company, even if to change it requires changing jobs.
4
4
4
u/Last-Hertz7575 17h ago
United Healthcare makes more money than BP. Let that sink in. United Healthcare provides zero value added benefit to its customers.
3
u/PixelsGoBoom 17h ago
Hey man, you decided to endanger their profits, what are they supposed to do?
→ More replies (1)
4
u/WhiteUniKnight 16h ago
I don't have diabetes, nor anything noteworthy to say really, but reading this made my blood boil, my heartrate spike, my face flush, and my breathing intensify.
I'm so fucking tired. They can't keep getting away with making us suffer. Sending hugs.
4
5
u/wadap12345 13h ago
Just weird seeing this when I have the exact same ones in my fridge sitting useless cause I switched to another brand and they cost me 4.5€ to pick up, no matter how many of them at a time.
Shame I can't just send them out to the other side of the world to you.
4
4
u/bobnweaving 10h ago
That's the pharmacy doing that, most insulin can't be broken, they're designed for single patient use. They should bill the whole box at 30 day
4
3
4
u/SophiaofPrussia 6h ago
I’m more than mildly infuriated by this and I’m in no way affected by this. It’s perfectly reasonable for you to be totally infuriated. You deserve full and appropriate medical treatment and you shouldn’t have to compromise or make do and go without in months with 31 days or fight with United just to get it.
Every time this happens call your local representative’s office and complain and ask for help dealing with United. Make your pain into their pain.
4
u/Error404_Error420 4h ago
How else would they have made 6B in the last quarter? Come on peasant, think about the rich!
4
u/KTKittentoes 4h ago
I am desperately trying to get a replacement transmitter for my CGM. I am T1D, super brittle. I have been fighting for 6 weeks, and I am getting dicked around between Medtronic, United, and the evil Advanced Diabetes Supply.
It is a different story every single time I call.
7
u/ballin_buddha 20h ago
Your insurance can’t make these changes, your primary does this. So reach out to them
6
8
u/RevelsInDarkness 5h ago
Mildly infuriating? MILDLY?
I guess I'm too European to understand why this is mildly infuriating, and not a reason to torch the fucking country and fight for your rights to survive with an easily cheaply mass produced medication. Why does anyone except your doctor even have the right to decide something about your health?
"Mildly" infuriating..
→ More replies (2)9
u/PuzzledKumquat 4h ago
I'm American and completely agree. Diabetes is a SERIOUS condition and requires proper care and medication. It infuriates me that an insurance company could deny someone the thing they need to stay alive.
3
u/Animal907 Hillary 2016 20h ago edited 18h ago
Call United Healthcare let them how they are putting your life at risk. If you have an issue then an emergency room should be able to help you.
3
3
3
u/Cryptic1911 19h ago
They did that shit to my father, but with Oxycontin pills that he legit needed. He was on pain management because of debilitating arthritis pain and had been for about ten years. They just called one day and said that they weren't renewing his prescription and that he should look at other options, which I think they suggested stuff like Ibuprofen and other over the counter shit that wouldn't help.
Not only did they just cut him off with no notice, they didn't even offer anything to help wean him off of it to help with withdrawls, which were 100% going to be an issue. He called around and got the VA to get him on buprenorphin patches before his prescription ran out, but that was a fucking dick move by the insurance company
3
u/buckybarmes 19h ago
what i don’t understand is the label printed with 6ml but they crossed out and wrote 3ml. the insurance is being charged for that 6ml because that’s what was input into the computer so that must mean they pay for 6ml.
the math is 300 units x 3ml = 900 units per pen. 900 units / 55 units is 16.36, or 16 days. this one pen should only be billed as a 16 day supply, not 31. usually, if i see a claim this close in days supply allowed, especially as little as one day, i would just switch it from a 32 day supply for 6ml to 31 days.
regardless, my biggest concern is your pharmacy seemingly billing the insurance for 6mls (since that’s the dispensed quantity that appears printed on the label) but stating that you can only get 3ml
→ More replies (2)
3
3
u/Strange-Badger5626 18h ago
Welcome to trump country snow flake....jk jk (satire) but that is the cause of it cheers, they had just tried to make this free last admin......
3
u/boogi3woogie 18h ago
Your pharmacy is doing funky stuff. That crossed off 6 is very suspicious.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/GlitteringLychee803 17h ago
You know, there is something you could do right now. Throw on a red hat and grab a plunger.
4.4k
u/Emotional_Lab_2529 21h ago
Guess you’re not allowed to be diabetic for a half a month