I am an AT&T retiree and I carry my mother as a class II dependent on my insurance and Caremark is the pharmarcy AT&T has chosen for drug coverage. Recently (1/1/09) Medicare signed my mother up for AARP Medicare RX plan, without our knowledge. When we tried to get medication for her, Caremark denied her medications, because they said Caremark had to be the primary insurance company. My mother is an 80 year old, insulin dependent diabetic, who takes narcotics for permenant nerve damage due to shingles. Caremark did not bother to inform us that they were rejecting the prescriptions and I would not have known that my mother's prescriptions were being rejected by Caremark if I had not tried to get the cost of her next 90 days of medications online. I could not get the cost and could not order medications online and I was getting a message that she was no longer covered. My mother had also mailed in 2 new prescriptions on 2/8/09. On 2/11/09 I received a voice mail from Caremark that they were mailing my mother's prescriptions that they received in the mail, back to her because one prescription was eligible (I would have thought they would have called the doctor instead) and they were returning the other because she was enrolled in the AARP Medicare RX plan and Caremark had to be primary. I contacted United Healthcare, Medicare, AARP Medicare and AT&T and found out what happened to cause Caremark to become a secondary insurance and everything was expedited by AT&T, Medicare and AARP and my mother was disenrolled from The AARP Medicare RX plan and the information was sent to Caremark by 2/14/09. I called and emailed Caremark daily and sometimes several times a day to find out when I could order medications for my mother. Caremark did not respond. I asked daily when could I order medications for my mother and when could she expect to receive the prescriptions that Caremark returned by mail. I finally called and got an AT&T United Healthcare representative and Caremark on the phone and it was then that Caremark agreed to contact my mother's doctor so she could get her pain medications processed. Caremark said they would make 2 attempts to reach the doctor and call me back in 5 days with a status. I am livid! My mother has been without pain medication since 2/7/09 and I received an email from Caremark last night (first time they have responded to any of my inquiries) that said my mother should receive her prescriptions that they sent back to her via mail in 30 days.
Something needs to be done about the processes and when prescriptions are denied, an immediate notification should be sent. ALso the online system should be updated at least within 24 hours to refelct the current status. Also, when a customer requests to be contacted by phone, a PHONE call should be made and not an email form letter sent.
Also I question the motives and integrity of Caremark. Caremark denied that they rejected my mother's prescriptions due to the AARP Medicare RX plan being in place. They accused me of having cancelled the prescriptions. They proceeded to try to process all my mother's prescriptions to cover their tracks.
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