A 71-year-old woman in southern Minnesota has discovered that a cost-saving strategy by her doctor – to prescribe double-dose pills that she can cut in half – has been trumped by her insurance company, which is calculating her portion of the cost by the day, rather than by the pill. She gets her pharmacy benefit from a private company through Medicare Part D.
The insurer "decided to charge me per day instead of per pill. Because 30 pills will last me 60 days they charged for 60 days instead of 30 pills. This doesn't sound right to me. I called and complained with [the insurer] and they say they are charging for me for 60 days. I was shocked. I wonder if other seniors know this could be happening to them also. The practice of cutting pills in half has been common practice and I have done this before without a problem. I also talked to Medicare and they were shocked also that this was happening. Nowhere is the prescription written for 60 days."
Insurers don't always discourage pill cutting, it seems. What do you think? Is the insurance company being unfair, or is it merely doing its job to control costs?
