Take, for instance, the $4 copay card for Lipitor. Now, Lipitor is fucking expensive. As in, thirty tablets costs you over $100 kind of expensive, so a card that drops the copay to only $4 is practically a godsend for patients whose doctors insist they need Lipitor and not something infinitely less expensive like Simvastatin or any blood pressure medications that fall under the same therapeutic class.
That is, until someone like me attempts to run the damn thing. We then sit there and scratch our heads in confusion at a price of $60 something. That is definitely not $4, so we go to the pamphlet that comes with the card. We read, and read, and read until we finally come across this lovely bit. Let me see if I can't copy/paste this piece from the website.
"To qualify for this offer, your out-of-pocket expense must be greater than $4 per prescription. If your out-of-pocket expenses for a 1-month supply (30 tablets) are $54 or less, you will pay $4 for a 1-month supply. If your out-of-pocket expenses for a 1-month supply (30 tablets) exceed $54, you qualify for up to $50 in savings for a 1-month supply. In either case, you can only qualify for up to $600 of savings per calendar year. After maximum of $600, you will pay usual monthly out-of-pocket costs."
Note that this isn't written on the card. It says in very large letters "$4 Co-pay Card," but not that your insurance has to pay for a certain amount before they'll drop the copay to $4. It would be nice if customers who are stuck with this were told in advance, but I've noticed a fun trend in doctors just handing out the cards and not going over them with their patients. Despite, you know, how helpful that would be to themselves as well as us because they then have to listen to their customers bitch to them about how expensive the drug they put them on is.
I just feel myself lucky that the man we were working with yesterday was very nice and understanding, if not very (understandably) frustrated.
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