Stupid to me... #002

🤕 This post is brought to you by America's broken healthcare system and is based on real facts

Full disclosure, English is not my first language, and you may occasionally experience my thick Brazilian accent and a fair share of grammar errors. I hope that it does not discourage you from exploring the main idea of this post.

This is a perennial post (as much as I wish it was not). Every day each of us experiences things that are just waiting to be fixed.

Hopefully, by being a bit more aware we also can avoid passing stupidity along. We can make our processes, products, and services better!

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I hope you have access to a good healthcare/prescription insurance plan. I am told mine is “good”.

Good is a promise, a bit vague, but still a promise. Good implies not having a horrible experience.

Loooong story, short. My dermatologist prescribed me a cream, sending the prescription directly to the prescription company.

Week 1: I got a letter from the prescription company: the medicine prescribed requires approval. Why? The doctor prescribed it, isn't that authorization enough?

Week 2: I followed up. They informed that they have contacted the doctor and are waiting for a response.

Week 3: I followed up again. They have not heard from the doctor. I reach out to the doctor's office: they were not contacted. I called the insurance: they told me that they would try again.

Week 4: I got another letter: the prescription order is now inactive. I called them: the letter was sent before they got the doctor's approval, now received. However, the order is on hold as they were waiting for me to confirm I wanted it. What?

Week 5: No cream yet.

BTW, all this to save me less than $30... I will still pay $49 out of pocket. The whole thing costed everybody (me, my doctor, the insurance company) waaaaayyyyyy more than $30. Administrative mistakes like this are not the only reason why healthcare costs are so high, but they do contribute to the problem big time.

What a headache! 🤕🤕🤕 I am glad that Alleve is an over-the-counter medicine.

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