I was wondering if you could help me decide if my rights of a customer have been violated or not at a Walgreens. I went to have a prescription for percocet refilled on 9/10. The pharmacist said my insurance would not accept the prescription because the prior Dr. authorization letter I had on file expired after one year and a new one was necessary. I agreed to wait however since my prescribing doctor was away for the week for vacation, I knew it could be a few days until the matter is resolved. I then said I don’t mind bypassing my insurance for now and offered to pay for the prescription out-of-pocket in full just for this month. The pharmacist said that they could not as it is against policy to fill pain meds without having insurance. Can they legally turn me down even offering to pay out of pocket with a prescription in hand?
Do I have some sort of case here? Is this legal? If not, what may I do about it?
Thank you for your time
Of course, a pt wanting to pay CASH for a controlled med when they have insurance is a RED FLAG … however when the pt has insurance that won’t pay – because of a PA and the prescriber is on vacation… and the not filling the Rx is going to throw the pt in withdrawal.. refusing to fill for cash because of extenuating circumstances because of company policy… does this mean that the Pharmacists has relinquished their professional discretion to some corporate bureaucrat ? We can program computers to make such black/white decisions… do we need six year collage PharmD’s to follow a “decision chart”
Filed under: General Problems
Think of the millions of people who don’t have insurance — and what percentage of them live with chronic pain and no access to treatment. And then think of the millions who have insurance but are refused access to treatment. Even millions more who can’t find a doctor to treat them, even with insurance.
Now do you understand why the drug war creates a booming street market and more alcoholics and drug addicts?
Seems to me that if everyone boycotted Wags for a few months that they might get the hint. I understand that changing pharmacy’s might cause shortages of pain medications at other Rx’s but Walgreens need to go and it might be fun to watch.
File a complaint in writing the State Board of Pharmacy. The charge is professional misconduct for failure to fill a legit Rx.
Sounds like Walgreens lawyers are playing doctor with you.
Take your business elsewhere and let the company know why they lost your business.
If you’d like to tell the press, tweet your story to me and the National Pain Report @NatPainReport and @kwgmatthies.
#PainAwarenessMonth
#ChronicLife