Rutland Pharmacy
Ripoff, questionable insurance practices, carelessness, inflated prices, overcharge, unforthcoming, evasive, delinquent

I went to Rutland Pharmacy for a tube of Bacitracin Zinc and Polymyxin B Sulfate eye ointment prescribed for my husband.

It took the pharmacist nearly 20 minutes to process a claim that should have involved a few lines of typing and a 3 minute phone call. At that he typed my husband's first name incorrectly on the label (not a misspelling but an altogether wrong name.)

The checkout girl emerged with the prescription and informed me that the price for this product was $22.47. When I asked what my co-pay was, I learned that $22.47 WAS my co-pay.

Next I inquired after the full charge before my insurance payment, and the checkout girl's reply was "I don't know." I asked "How do I find out the original price of this medication?" She replied that I would have to ask the pharmacist, but showed no indication of going to get him until prodded.

The pharmacist's reply was to wave his hand in a gesture of vagueness and say evasively "Oh. Around thirty dollars."

That's interesting because our prescription plan's co-pay is 20% for approved brand name drugs and 40% for unapproved brand name drugs. Even presuming this medication was on the "unapproved" list and "around $30" was on the high end, there is NO WAY that $22.47 = 40% of $30 (or even 40% of $39.99). No matter how you cut it, $22.47 is more than 50% of full price.

Because I had to leave to keep an appointment, I did not have time to pursue the matter, nor did I have time to fill the prescription elsewhere. Because my husband was recuperating from retinal surgery I also did not have the luxury of waiting to obtain a medication essential to his recovery.

I am outraged by the inflated price I was charged, the slow and careless manner in which my prescription was filled, and the evasive manner of the pharmacist. I will *never* do business with this establishment again, and I will be carefully scrutinizing my insurance statement for this transaction.

Company: Rutland Pharmacy
Country: USA
State: Vermont
City: Rutland
Address: 75 Allen Street Rutland, VT 05701
Phone: 8027752545

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