Kaiser Pharmacy is Overcharging You The way my Kaiser Pharmacy Benefit plan is set up is that I'm charged $10 for every one-month supply of prescriptions. For example, a one-month supply of 90 pills of Motrin is $10, a two-month supply would be 180 pills for $20. If for some reason I were to be prescribed between 90 and 180 pills in this example, I'd still be charged the 2-month-supply rate of $20. I can live with that — I guess — that's another battle, another day.
So, I picked up my prescription of Motrin at Kaiser's pharmacy a few weeks ago. It was prescribed by the Doc as a 1-month supply (90 pills / $10), but when it came time to pay, the pharmacist said, "That will be $20" I asked, "Why is it $20? It's a 1-month supply; it should be $10." She said, "It's a 100-pill bottle from the manufacturer, so we have to charge you $20 because it's more than the 1-month supply." "I said, "HOLD THE BOAT, I'm not paying $10 for 10 extra pills that I wasn't even prescribed. You can take those 10 pills back or you can give me 180 pills if I'm paying for a 2-month supply." She said, "We can't do that." I said, "Oh, yes you can. I've been prescribed 90 pills, a one-month supply, and that's what I'm walking out of here with — here's my $10 — now GO fix the prescription." With all my extra fussing, she did it.
I walked out of there wondering to myself, "How many people has this happened to who didn't even know it..."
Imagine my surprise when they did it to me the very next time I went to the pharmacy — different prescription, different doc, same pharmacy. The doc prescribed one month of 30 pills. They tried to give me 50 pills. When I called them on it, they said the doc prescribed 50 pills — a one month supply is 30 pills, so we have to charge you for the 2-month supply price. So I said, "If you're charging me for it, then you're giving me the 60 pills." They said, "We can't do that since it wasn't prescribed" (didn't they automatically try force extra pills on me last time because that's what came in the bottle?) I said, "Fine, then I only want 30 pills and I'll take it up with my doctor about the extra 20." So they changed the prescription to 30 pills, I paid $10 and I left.
I called my doc to sort out this 50 vs. 30 pill dilemma, and sure enough, he said he only prescribed 30 pills — a one-month supply. SO who's at fault here, who's lying, who's screwing the consumer? The Pharmacy, the Doc, their computer, the whole Kaiser system? The bottom line is that when it comes to prescriptions, Kaiser is ripping off their customers.
Again, I wonder (not so much to myself anymore) — "How many people are actually catching this happening to them?"
Hopefully, a lot more now. One other little tip: If you can get your Doc to prescribe you 3 months of a medication, the pharmacy will give you the third month free. So it's worth asking the doctor about. And if he does it, then it 's worth REMINDING the Pharmacy about — I'm guessing they won't volunteer that info to you and they'll just charge you for 3 months. Check your benefit plan first to be sure this is an option for you.
Good luck.
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