Hi, all, I hope the New Year is going well for you!
I ran into a little snag with my pharmacy benefits this morning, and thought it might be a good idea to warn others. I have Blue Cross Blue Shield in Massachusetts. I don't know how this will affect BCBS plans in other states, but thought it best to let you all know.
Anyway, I tried to get some prescriptions filled today at a local pharmacy, but the system kept saying I wasn't insured for pharmacy benefits. Blue Cross MA contracts their pharmacy benefits with Express Scripts. For the BCBS plan I have, there's only one card for both medical and pharmacy benefits. I do not have a separate prescription benefit card from Express Scripts. Anyway, BCBS had a deal with ES that allowed BCBS members to use their BCBS member number for their pharmacy benefits, not an ES number/card.
Well, apparently, ES decided to change that for 2014, but somehow neglected to inform BCBS. So I actually needed a separate "temporary account number" in order to get my pharmacy benefits paid via ES. I still don't know as of yet if I will receive a pharmacy benefits card from ES or if BCBS and ES will reach some sort of new deal on the single card covering both.
Then, to make it even more fun, ES somehow dropped our pharmacy coverage completely. BCBS still doesn't know how it happened, but they were able to get it turned back on with ES in a couple of hours. Luckily, we had a few days of pills left, and it was mainly for drugs that we could easily skip a few days if needed. I'm very glad I wasn't trying to fill my Gleevec prescription! I get it at the hospital pharmacy, not my local one. I figure they will have the insurance all figured out by the time I need that refilled, but just in case, I will call it in as early as possible this month. And follow up on it, too!
If you are using Blue Cross in MA, definitely check into your pharmacy coverage. If you use BC in another state, you might not be affected, but don't be surprised if you run into a problem.
Cheers,
Traci