© gps333@charter.net
19 May 2011
My wife and I are customers of this CVS store and get our prescriptions there through Medicare and Tricare, the latter the military retiree plan.
I went to pick-up the medicine, to find it had to be prepared by another pharmacy and then sent to CVS. I was told to come back later in the day. Because I had already made one trip, I called ahead the second time to make sure all was ready.
It was not. Under former Governor Romney’s Mini-Obamacare, house pets and farm animals are also sucked into this system. There is no differentiation made between people and dogs.
I called the CVS and asked if the medicine was ready.
ME: “Hi. I’m calling to see if a prescription is ready.”
Technician: “What is the name?”
ME: “(gps333).”
Tech: Is that the first or last name?”
ME: It’s my whole name.”
Tech: “What is the last name, please?”
ME: “(333).”
Tech: “What is the first name?”
ME: “Elkie. It’s a veterinary prescription.”
Tech: “Is Elkie you or your wife?”
ME: “It’s my dog.”
Tech: “What is the prescription name?”
ME: “I don’t know. My vet called it in.”
Tech: “And what is the patient’s name? It’s not in the system. It has to be in the system.”
ME: “It’s not in the system because she’s a dog. She has no health insurance.”
Tech: “What is the name?”
ME: “Elkie. She’s an Elkhound.”
Tech: “What is the address?”
ME: “Mine. She’s a dog. She doesn’t have her own place.”
Tech: "What is the date of birth?”
ME: “My birth or the dog’s?”
Tech: “The dog’s.”
ME: “1997.”
Tech: I need a day and month.”
ME: “She’s a dog. I don’t know.”
Tech: "I have to have a day and month to give you the medicine.”
ME: “I don’t know the day and month. When we adopted her the vet said her teeth suggested that she was three. That was in 2000.”
Tech: “Is this a dental prescription?”
ME: “No! Her teeth are fine. It’s for her digestive system.”
Tech: “This is an antibiotic for her digestive system? I still need her day and month of birth.”
ME: (getting very aggravated) “I don’t know!”
Tech: “Can I enter 1-1?”
ME: “Fine!”
Tech: “Good. Jan 1, 1997. The new state insurance system won’t let us issue a prescription without the patient’s birthday. Does she have any insurance?”
ME: “NO! SHE’S A DOG!”
Tech: “I have to ask. The system demands it before we can issue a prescription.”
ME: “When will it be ready?”
Tech: “As soon as you get here.”
ME: “Fine. Thanks.”
Fifteen minutes later I arrived at the CVS and approached the pharmacy.
ME: “My name is (gps333). I have a prescription ready."
Tech: “Let me check.”
Several minutes later she approached the desk with a yellow slip.
Tech: “I’m sorry. We have to have more information before we can give you the prescription.”
ME: (NOT in the best of moods and wanting to leap over the counter at this point) “What now? You had me on the phone for 20 minutes before I came here.”
Tech: “The system won’t let us issue a prescription without the patient’s day of birth. It’s a requirement of the new system.”
ME: (realizing that you actually CAN see red) “You have all that. I gave it over the phone.”
Tech: “Let me check.”
This was followed by five minutes worth of the technician talking to two other techs and the pharmacist.
Tech: “It has to come from another pharmacy.”
ME: “It DID come. You told me so.”
Tech: “Let me check the system for that.”
I then clutched the edge of the counter so hard my hands turned white.
“Tech: “I have it here. It’s about a million dollars.”
ME: (Anger turning to light-headedness) “Fine.”
I paid and left.
I had to put my doggie down some days later, but want to thank Mitt Romney for sticking us with ObamaCare Lite, a system so clumsy and infuriating that it lets us know RIGHT NOW what a total disaster it is. Massachusetts is approaching $400M in debt for RomneyCare, with no end in sight. Governor Patrick refuses to discuss it.
Elkie would have been disgusted.