Hi there Wisconsin State Politician,
I'm writing in SUPPORT of the bill to regulate pharmacy benefit management companies and require them to pay independent pharmacies at the same rate as others, and to give patients the right to choose their pharmacy without penalty or significant cost difference.
I’m so glad I caught news of this bill on WPR!
I’m living this problem in real time. I have Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer; my medical condition is complicated and complex. I take about 20 pills each day. My local pharmacist, found after a long and frustrating year of switching pharmacies because of mistakes, bad service, lack of communication (Walgreens, MetroMart, CVS, etc) was the answer. My local independent pharmacy and their staff pharmacist have been an integral PART OF MY TREATMENT PLAN.
In January, I was informed by my insurance (Blue Cross Blue Shield) that ExpressScripts, who manages my prescriptions (apparently? News to me!) requires me to have 3-month supply prescriptions for three of my prescriptions. And to continue paying my reasonable co-pays, those prescriptions can ONLY be filled by ExpressScripts partners, which gave me only two choices, neither of which are my current pharmacy. One of the choices near me (Walgreens) has MADE ERRORS with my medication and I refuse to use them. The other was mail order which means I’d have no relationship with a pharmacist and my current pharmacist handling all other medications may be in the dark.
There’s a long story of phone calls, back and forth, mistakes, delayed medication, paying exorbitant amounts for carry-over pills while waiting for mail order pills to finally get approved and shipped, paying more overall for copays by comparison, etc. There were tears. There are still tears.
Being able to select my pharmacy and pharmacist is critical to having control over the quality of my medical care. The first thing Cancer does is take control; my health insurance shouldn’t also take control of access to my medication and my choice of best providers.
Thank you for taking note of my message, and for the work you and your team do!
Sincerely,
Kate Mikkelsen
Shorewood, Wisconsin