A few weeks ago, I updated the petition about presents being prioritized over medications during shipping. Since then, patients’ stories of their life being threatened by medications not arriving on time have made news headlines. A quick search of just a common drug like insulin and delay brought up the following articles and this was only a couple of the many:
“When Gedge called FedEx to ask about the delay, they told him holiday package volume had them swamped.
“I don’t think that’s acceptable. This is life and death for some people. Insulin — you go without, you can die,” he said.”
(Keep in mind, unlike pharmacists, mail carriers are not trained to provide patient care.)
"West Haven resident MaryBeth Balzer said she has now been without her insulin pump for nearly a week because of FedEx’s delivery issues."
“He said, they’re locked on a truck, I don’t have access to them, I’m sorry.’ I said ‘I’m a Type 1 diabetic, I really need this (and) he said ‘we’ve unfortunately lost drivers, I don’t have access to this truck’ and he wouldn’t do anything else for me,”
"Williams said he's been waiting on a very important package for three months. He is a type 1 diabetic and insulin-dependent. He needs his new insulin pump. His old one broke."
"Without his insulin pump, he said he could end up in the hospital.
"If it could happen to me, it will happen to everyone else. No kid or young adult, like me, should have to put their life in jeopardy because of a mail issue.
Another patient shared their frustrations in a blog post:
"I’ve never had such an ordeal in getting a prescription, and no-one should ever have to do that much chasing and fighting to get something that they’ve been prescribed.
Express Scripts should feel shame for making this such an arduous task, as well as being rather environmentally unfriendly. Medicines that need refrigeration, as well as equipment that contains lithium-chemistry based batteries should not be REQUIRED to be mailed to the home. I should be allowed to walk into a pharmacy of my own choice and get a three month fill of these."
Upon sharing stories like this, I was verbally attacked by a lobbyist for an insurance company accusing me of having my frustrations "misplaced."
Commonly, the insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that force us to their owned pharmacy like to say that it’s the delivery services fault. As the delivery service, PBM, and the PBM affiliated mail-order pharmacy point fingers at each other, the patient’s life is left at risk. These issues should have been resolved before the thought of forcing of mail-order. Understanding that all parties involved are benefiting from their careless handling of lives, it is crucial that all parties are held responsible such as our government, PBMs, delivery services, and our employers.
It is the PBMs (CVS Caremark, Optum RX, Express Scripts) who often force us to their affiliated or owned mail-order who could immediately stop this injustice and risking of human lives. Their mail-order pharmacies sometimes select the poorest class of shipping as they ship most of our medications in only bags, knowing that the trucks and mailboxes are not temperature controlled.
The lobbyist claimed that I was overlooking the fact that pharmacies also have medications shipped. In my lifetime, I’ve never had a medication delayed due to a shipping error from a wholesaler to a local pharmacy. Although, thousands of patients have gone without their medications due to delays in receiving their medications coming from a mail-order pharmacy. The problem occurs on a much greater scale during shipment from the mail-order pharmacy.
When medications are shipped to a pharmacy, wholesalers most often transport medications stocked close by in a matter of hours or overnight, not 3-7 days. The medications are generally stored in large totes, not in plastic bags, left sitting in soaring hot mailboxes, on the ground in the hot sun, or in rain or freezing temperatures. This difference is the difference between life and death.
As I fight to stop the forcing of mail-order pharmacy, I will also support and advocate to improve our delivery methods of medications. For example, many local pharmacies deliver for free in temperature-controlled vehicles.
I dream of the day when our lives are no longer risked by forced mail-order pharmacy and our mediations are handled with the utmost priority like human lives depend on them.
Thank you for your support!
Other ways to help:
Make a donation to support our advocacy.
Share your issues and concerns with mail-order pharmacy: loretta@uniteforsafemeds.com