• 💊 OTHER DRUGS 💊 Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Notable Threads 1 Notable Threads 2
    Dangerous Combos Addiction Support
    Emergency Services Benzo Guide v.1
    Addiction Stories Scary Case Studies
    Biology, Pharmacology & Drugs 101
  • Select Your Topic Then Scroll Down
    Alcohol Bupe Benzos
    Cocaine Heroin Opioids
    RCs Stimulants Misc
    Harm Reduction All Topics Gabapentinoids
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Opioids If you have insurance does a pharmacy have to take insurance??

C

chuckster11

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
59
Here's my problem. I go every month to fill my presciption for oxycodone and Ive been hearing about a shortage here in FL and that alot of pharmacy aren't taking insurance now. I got to the same pharmacy all the time and have been for yrs, can they legally tell me they won't accept my insurance this month if they don't want to cause the price cost more now for the medication?? I normally pay $15 for my stuff and there's no way in hell i can afford to pay $3-$4 per pill, that's ridiculus and I pay for health insurance so I don't have to worry about this but now these pharmacy don't want to take insurance cause the pills supposedly cost them more $$ so they want cash. Is this allowed and if they try it what can I do??


PS: anyone in S.FL know if the shortage is really as bad as I've heard recently??
 
They are not obligated to accept insurance, no business is. Your options are to change pharmacies or change insurance companies, essentially.
 
Well they always take my insurance and have been for the past 3 yrs but last time there was a shortage they told me no and I was like WTF?? I can't afford to pay $4 a piece for 180 pills that's just crazy. I was hoping that if they say they accept your insurance and for yrs have taken it then they couldn't just stop and tell you "This month were not going to." it really sucks, I'm stressed about tomm cus I'm almost out and if I can't get me refill I'm fucked. Does anyone why there is a shortage and what company got shut down??
 
chuckster11 said:
Well they always take my insurance and have been for the past 3 yrs but last time there was a shortage they told me no and I was like WTF?? I can't afford to pay $4 a piece for 180 pills that's just crazy. I was hoping that if they say they accept your insurance and for yrs have taken it then they couldn't just stop and tell you "This month were not going to." it really sucks, I'm stressed about tomm cus I'm almost out and if I can't get me refill I'm fucked. Does anyone why there is a shortage and what company got shut down??
Click to expand...

I know man, but it's a business like any other. If something suddenly costs them a lot more, they're certainly not going to take a loss on it. I'd try a different pharmacy or maybe ask your doctor to switch your meds to something cheaper/more available to prevent this in the future.
 
Poster be more specific, what pills cost you 4 bucks a pop? come on man i can't answer you if you don't type in the info i need to reply properly.
 
It's for the roxi 30mgs i get 180 a month. The pharmacy I've been going to for yrs always takes my insurance but now with this shortage or whatever it is word on the street is pharmacies are either out of stock
or they are charging like $4 a pill. I pay $15 for my entire script and can't afford anymore, i don't sell my shit so I can't afford to drop $600+ for my script. Last time the shortage happened i luckily had some $$ saved and I ended up having to waste it to pay full price which killed me but the pharmacy wouldn't take my insurance, none would take any insurance. I supposedly
heard that if your already on file and getting your scripts filled
with insurance that they are not allowed to deny you
but i could be completly wrong.
 
COntact one of those no win on fee lawyears see if you can win a few bundles. :P
 
PS: anyone in S.FL know if the shortage is really as bad as I've heard recently??
Click to expand...

The shortage is quite as bad as people say it is. Mallinkrodt pharmaceuticals is no longer able to manufacturer any more of their Oxycodone for the rest of the year. As Mallinkrodt was one of the larger distributors of oxycodone this made a huge dent in the over all supply. Pharmacies see this and jack their prices up, from 1.00 to 3-6$ a tablet. New manufacturers are coming into the market so this should last only a few months. If you remember it happened around the same time last year.

with insurance that they are not allowed to deny you but i could be completely wrong.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is wrong. It is up to the individual pharmacy to decide if they want to take you as an insurance patient or not. Yes, you do have more of a chance of filling them on insurance if you are a patient of said pharmacy but it really depends on what the pharmacy policy dictates.
 
I'd contact the pharmacy in question and ask them . It sounds to me like you are assuming that they won't accept your insurance, but you don't know that for sure yet.
 
Yeah my script is completely insufficient so I am forced to acquire them from outside sources. My script costs 5$ with insurance. When I switched insurance, before they had it in the system, my script w/o insurance would have been 90$. This was about 6 months ago. So the price of roxy 30's were 1.00. Now the person I get them from has no insurance and he is paying five dollars a pill from the pharmacy. That's almost old street prices. Dayumm.
 
I just had a script filled for 10/325mg Percs (20 count) and paid $22.xx -- no insurance.

I'm not in FL and we're not talking about Oxycontin/Roxicodone but still
 
Another option would be to get your doctor to prescribe oxydose or oxynorm liquid in the meantime. I believe it's 20mg/mL, and comes in 30 mL containers. These meds are less commonly prescribed and may be more likely to be in stock.
 
The problem is, when your is a position like me where rent, food, gas, car payments, insurance, etc are required monthly expenses, having to pay 90x 4-7 dollars for medicine on a daily basis which is constantly increasing in dosage, you end up having to compromise on a lot of necessities and/or be in pain which I strongly believe no one should ever have to suffer. On top of that is the danger one puts themselves in having no choice but to acquire supplementary medication on the streets, paying considerably higher prices than the already elevated prices from the pharmacy, the inclination to pay less for a substance which may provide more pain relief but considerably less reliability in dosing, potency, etc. This really scares me, my pharmacy is taking my insurance still but since there is a hold on mallies for who knows how long this might not last.

Paying 4 dollars per roxy 30 if your using 1-6 a day to get high isnt that bad, but when you need your meds to function pain free and also have a desire for the euphoric effects produced at higher than therapudic doses, the price begins to get pretty steep.
 
dokomo said:
Another option would be to get your doctor to prescribe oxydose or oxynorm liquid in the meantime. I believe it's 20mg/mL, and comes in 30 mL containers. These meds are less commonly prescribed and may be more likely to be in stock.
Click to expand...

Bingo. Good idea. ;)
 
The pharmacy actually loses money a lot of times filling medication for patients people outside of the pharmaceutical industry usually don't realize this I gotta get some sleep but I can explain it in detail tomorrow also for your specific problem your pharmacy might no longer be licensed to bill your insurance even if they wanted to. There is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes than meets then eye
 
Its bullshit, they get the same pills from the same supplier, it doesn't cost them more to get it, and I'm not saying this is you but there are a lot of junkies in sfla and that makes these pharmacies price gouge, because they think the junkies will keep paying for it. Not taking insurance is legal, but price gouging isn't, threaten or actually report them to the board of pharmacy and the FDA if possible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top