Comments on: Shout-Out Against Insurers’ Cost-Cutting: Skimping on Insulin Packs

By: critic

critic — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:30:18 +0000

I have been ordering insulin for many years….. I do not think it is silly to order insulin. Insulin at the pharmacy cost $100 per vial, while mail order is 100 dollars for a 90 day supply. So figure it out what if you use 7 vials in 3 months, I personally do not have 700 dollars……. I agree that CareMart should ship with frozen packs in the container…… Everyone should complain and report it to the pharmacists… also…
Medco ships with ice packs……

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:00:58 +0000

So I posted a comment on here earlier but now I’ve got a situation that absolutely astounds me and I thought people would want to hear. I got a shipment from Caremark right after they changed their shipping policies, it arrived without an icepack but it was still cool enough that I thought it would be ok. So I put it in the fridge and continued to use the supply of insulin I had there before starting in on the new stuff. Insulin, however, loses it’s potency slowly over time when exposed to heat. By the second or third bottle of this shipment that I got to it was clear something had gone wrong during shipment. This was, however, over a month and a half after shipment. I called Caremark on Tuesday to report the dead insulin and ask them to ship out new insulin and after speaking with 4 people I finally spoke directly with a pharmacist who told me it would be no problem and she’d overnight it. Thursday, I still did not have it and called again to see the status of the shipment. Turns out the pharmacist did not have the clearance necessary to approve the shipment so it had gotten denied in the system and never shipped. Now, I understand that the pharmacist may not have known she didn’t have the proper clearances but what I don’t understand is why no one called me when they decided they were not going ship out my emergency order of my life sustaining drug. Were they hoping I didn’t notice if it didn’t arrive. The poor girl who told me all of this on the phone was absolutely wonderful and reached higher and higher into management to get me proper service but she had to deal with my wrath as I realized that Caremark had promised me insulin and then not bothered to call me to let me know they’d decided not to ship it. This sort of irresponsibility on their part really shocked me and seems akin to medical malpractice from a pharmacy. I don’t know if there’s anyone I can officially complain to but I wanted to share it with anyone reading this posting.

By: Medical Tourism

Medical Tourism — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:36:49 +0000

Sure this is a great post…insulin is important to be preserved the right way.

By: Jan

Jan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:18:25 +0000

No, I do not open all the bottles to see if insulin is lukewarm (even though there is only one icepack and the boxes are placed in four rows, leaving top and bottom ones 3/4 uncovered by the icepack). The insulin on the bottom still feels a bit cold. A bit. In the case of the lukewarm insulin, the whole package was lukewarm to the touch.

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:11:57 +0000

Caremark/CVS has sent my daughter’s insulin twice w/o ice packs. I even requested the ice packs AND OFFERED TO PAY FOR THEM! They told me it is their policy NOT to use ice packs EVEN IF THE CUSTOMER OFFERS TO PAY for them! Now, if they’re so concerned about saving money and someone offers to cover the cost, how does this cost them money?

I worry about the shipping causing my daughter’s insulin to lose efficiency if it warms up. I plan to contact my elected officials, and anyone else who will listen. The study Caremark CVS cites to prove they can do this does not cover my daughter’s Novolog. I questions their professional integrity and ability if they’re using this study to explain why they do this. Frankly, I believe they are jeopardizing my daughter’s health. I believe this is wrong, possibly illegal, and maybe even criminal.

By: Health

Health — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:27:36 +0000

Though a good idea, shipping insulin is very risky. anything artificial is not safe for a longer period of time. insulin has to be stored in particular temperature in case of shipping. but a very nice article. a very nice thought in fact to write about this topic. Keep going.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:52:21 +0000

I use Walgreens mail order under my Blue Cross plan. For the past two years I’ve called them when my winter time insulin order shows up when it’s freezing outside WITH an ice pack. They’ve never been able to explain why they do this. I haven’t had a problem *yet*. Does insulin crystallize when it freezes? I was going to send it back if it was frozen, but it didn’t appear to be…

By: Gianna B

Gianna B — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:51:17 +0000

To PKing: Why is “Obamacare” a bad term to use? I think he probably would like the term. After all, socialized medicine is his #1 goal. It’s not far fetched to see the writing on the wall that some government employee will tell us that we have no choice but to have our insulin shipped from government controlled pharmacies. How exactly is that “spewing?” It’s so easy to spot statists on this blog.

By: T1 in Boston

T1 in Boston — Sun, 31 May 2009 04:53:57 +0000

Jan – I’m just curious – do you open all the insulin boxes to feel the temp of the glass insulin bottles? That never occurred to me….

By: Jan

Jan — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:41:16 +0000

Thank you for bringing light to this situation on your blog! We recently received a lukewarm three-month supply from Medco recently (which they did take back and reship). However, the Rep mentioned to me on the phone “Well, this is the first time we have had problems with your account.” The mix-up occurred on their end, but what if this was the second time I returned lukewarm insulin? They cited the Vet Administration Study that was done on NPH and Regular, not the fast-acting insulins. Now, we do get ONE cold pack, inserted in the middle of 10 vials of insulin, packaged in three rows. The insulin in one of the rows is never covered by the ONE icepack and there are always some vials that seem merely slightly cool. This makes me very nervous! They could easily pack the 9 vials back to back around the one icepack. Medco is now shipping two day delivery except in emergencies.