Now there’s a whole 'nother topic, as they say. Not to take the thread even farther off original topic but… How come?
I think you’re over-thinking it. They just adjust the refill available date accordingly when the packaged quantity exceeds 90 days with your prescribed dosage. It’s really not an obstacle in my experience with Caremark…
Although I am new at it— I can see on the Caremark app that each of my “90 day” prescriptions has a refill available date that coincides with when my prescribed quantity should be getting low, not with actually 90 calendar days
I was enticed (by other TuD’ers) into trying Tresiba, a new (to the US) basal insulin that lasts 42 hours but can be given every 24 hours. For me it’s all about good BG performance. I’ve been on the pump non-stop for 29 years and I figured it was at least time to try a viable back-up plan to the pump. Once I tried it, I kind of liked the change of doing something new.
You can view the warp and woof of Tresiba here, in a thread that you’ve probably been avoiding. It’s been interesting and I’m getting good results. For the last week I’m sporting a 91% time in range, only 2% time hypo, low variability with a 23 mg/dl standard deviation, and an average of 105 mg/dl. So it’s working and I now have a viable alternative to my pump. I like it well enough that I will stay on it for the foreseeable future. Now that I’ve done battle with CVS/Caremark for my MDI pens (and won), I’m committed!
1 Like
Apparently it is though, at least in my case. I spent half an hour on the phone with 'em this morning and they said they couldn’t do anything about it.
What was the complaint with them? For example, my novolog prescription is for 20u/ day… So a 90 day supply would be 1800u (I’m not sure how they account for priming units etc so I’ll ignore that bit for now.). As a box of 5 novolog pens is 1500 units, I end up with 3000 units instead of 1800 for a 90 day supply… However they don’t allow me to refill it for (approximately, again I don’t know how they account for wastage, grace period, etc) 3000/1800x90= 150 days… To get my next “90 day supply”. Is that different than how yours is working ?
Makes sense to me, but they were stuck on what the insurance company would allow. May be worth another call to push this solution. Can they just delay the refill period by the ten days over 90 the packaging runs.
It just seems to happen automatically with my insulin pens… Hopefully you can get it sorted out
“It gets rejected by the system. We don’t honor a hundred days supply. We only honor a 90.”
So far my experience with these clowns has not been a happy one. And their website sucks. 
Maybe they’re less reasonable with test strips than with meds… I wouldn’t know about strips I don’t use insurance for them. Shouldn’t be too hard to get a 300=30 day /900=90 day script written I would hope
Funny thing is, the only reason I was forced to switch to using this service is because my previous supplier for Dexcom sensors had to drop that service–they only do durable, and the sensors are considered pharmaceutical by my carrier. The rest of it I can just get form my local RiteAid. I’m strongly considering going back to them.
Yeah jury is still out on Caremark mail service for me… in the long run I think it would save me a lot of money… In the short run, I may have a lot more money than I have patience…
1 Like
I only use 120-240 strips per month depending on circumstances. I used to test a lot more before I got my CGM. If you don’t have a CGM and are interested and able to get one, maybe it might help lower your testing needs a bit and cure the pharmacy headache? They have a wonderful alarm setting that warns you when you are below or above your “safe” numbers.
Good luck to you, I also had a bit of trouble with the pharmacy about test strips and the amount they were willing to fill and how often.
Oddly I think I test more since getting my Dexcom last spring. Calibrations, trying to do the pre-bolusing thing, etc. I also have a problem with exercise-induced lows, so testing before and after is useful. I do run the Share app while biking so I can keep an eye on it, but I find it tends to undershoot lows (and overshoot highs), so I need to back it up with fingersticks.
1 Like
It is silly to question amount of supplies… as if we enjoy pricking our fingers! I used to be sensitive to accidental judgment such as “that’s excessive” but I attribute it now to common diabetes ignorance. Diabetes is such a dynamic condition that cannot follow a static regimen. You might use six strips one day, and fourteen the next.
Exactly. I believe that if we were all given all the test strips that we each felt we needed without cost being an issue, there would be a spectrum of usage observed across the population of people with diabetes. Some prefer to test more, some less. It’s the simple variability of human nature. I don’t enjoy pricking my finger and interrupting my day any more than anyone else but I do it because I think it’s good for me.
I am neither obsessive nor compulsive in my BG testing. I just want to survive and do well. I’ve long ago given up defending my testing rate against the charges of over testing whether from the medical community, the strip payers, or my fellow diabetics. I don’t care what any of them think. I do what I do out of my own self interest!
2 Likes
Honestly, I USED to be a CVS customer, but just gave up and moved to a different pharmacy due to constant problems like this. It was getting to be too much. I had cases where they gave me the wrong test strips entirely (I have a Nano, they gave me the test strips for the Aviva. My husband didn’t know and we had to take them back). I had to change which meter I used (to the Nano) because they couldn’t order my test strips in a timely fashion. I had to change insulin brands after going a week without them being able to get my insulin in.
I switched to a smaller, locally owned pharmacy. I can no longer use the Accu-Check $15 discount card for my test strips and have to pay a $35 co-pay, but honestly the peace of mind of not having to deal with CVS is worth $20 a month.
I admit, I’m amazed that your insurance will pay for 400 test strips a month without having to jump through any hoops. CVS is wrong though on the 200. I know a lot of insurances have a cut of at 250 or 300 a month. Even Medicare covers 300 test strips and lancets a month if you are an insulin user, I believe?
2 Likes
I had three calls to three different Caremark agents who assured me they couldn’t possibly fill the prescription without my physician changing it. Finally had the physician’s nurse call them; nurse called me back and said they told her there was no problem at all; the prescription had a “hold” on it saying don’t send without my authorization (which is true; I had had all my scrips transferred and if they’d just filled 'em all instantly it would have cost me $800). So I just had to say I wanted the prescription filled. So I called Caremark and said this is what I was told and they said “Yup, no problem.” What about all that other crap about changing the prescription, not fitting the 90 day limit yada yada that I’ve spent hours on the phone with you about? “Oh our pharmacy just takes care of all that, that’s not a problem. Just ask us to send it.”
Well WTF did they think I was TRYING to do with all this but get them to ship me the damn prescription? AAAARRRRGGGH!
This is the kind of thing where, when people say “Would you want a gubmint byoorocrat between you and your healthcare,” I gotta assume I’m talking to someone who never in their life had to talk to a private health industry byoorocrat.
2 Likes
Similar run-around today myself with Caremark regarding an rx for my wife… Problem seems to be that it’s impossible to get anyone other than a human shield to respond to your question/ issue. I think customer service has a list of about 6-7 pre-written responses and they just have to choose the best one---- while the actual pharmacy exists in a far away place and has no interaction with “customer service” whatsoever. At least that’s my impression. I keep telling myself once all the kinks are worked out it’ll be seemless, inexpensive, efficient, and obviously the way to go… So far I just keep telling myself that.
I am a pharmacist and used to work for CVS. I did work as an intern with a pharmacist that might balk at filling it if your refill history showed that you weren’t really using that many to avoid copays because of the potential for an insurance audit. I myself have never seen an audit that looked at that so as long as the directions for testing the doctor wrote matched the qty/day supply I would fill it. I work for a different pharmacy now…got fed up with CVS antics
2 Likes
If you decide to buy additional strips that your insurance won’t cover, the Relion brand from Wal-Mart seems to be the cheapest in this area. However, unlike some other brands, you don’t get a free meter with them.