Another revealing story about the U.S. healthcare system…

My wife has been seriously ill for several years now. Among other things, she has Parkinson’s. Due to this she rarely goes out in public. (For example, we now have all our groceries delivered to our home.) One exception is that we do attend weekly Mass.

Last Saturday evening we went to Church. After the service, as we walked out, she saw a friend she hadn’t seen in quite a while, and she engaged with her. They hugged and had a close-quarters conversation for several minutes.

The next evening, that same woman phoned us to say that she had been diagnosed with COVID-19 that day (Sunday). Kudos for her to let us know!

Since my wife’s immune system is compromised, we had a five-day treatment of Ivermectin (IVM) on hand as a precautionary measure. Split between the two of us, we had 2.5 days of an anti-COVID treatment. We started immediately on Sunday night.

Whenever there is a choice of medical treatments, it comes down to two primary concerns: 1) Effectiveness, and 2) Safety (i.e., side effects). [FYI, if both of these are approximately equal, then Cost might come into the picture.]

Here are the scientific details about ALL of the major possible COVID-19 treatments. The comparison between the recommendation most people are given for COVID-19 treatment (Paxlovid) and Ivermectin, is stark:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE INFOGRAPHIC ON PAXLOVID AND IVM

We decided to ask our dependable physician to give us two more IVM prescriptions so we would continue to have something on reserve. As expected, he promptly wrote up one for her and another for me. The next question was: where to get these filled? [For perspective, see my IVM saga last year.]

For several years, my wife and I have been customers of Walgreens at our primary NC home address, with no issues. We are now at our secondary (Summer) cottage in NY.

At our request, this week our physician sent the two new Prescriptions to the nearest (25 miles) upstate NY Walgreens store. Each one was for twenty 3mg tablets of IVM. (We have no drug insurance, and the undiscounted price for each of these was $96.)

I called the pharmacist to verify that: 1) they had received the Prescription, 2) they had an adequate amount of tablets (40) to fulfill the Prescription, and 3) they still honored GoodRX ($32.28) as a discount. The pharmacist answered YES to all my questions.

We agreed to a pickup time, and then we subsequently drove 25 miles to the Boonville store. (This was on Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024.)

When we got there I presented the GoodRX coupon to the pharmacist.

He then said that they would NOT honor the GoodRx discount!!! I then gave him three other discount cards.

He looked them up and then said that they would not honor ANY OF THEM!

Stunned, I asked why. His answer was “Because your use of IVM is off-label.”

I answered that his Walgreens pharmacy filled hundreds of off-label prescriptions every year, and honored discount cards for them. HE AGREED!

So, I asked, why is this case any different?

He said that he did not know, but someone had blocked ALL discount cards being accepted at Walgreens with any Ivermectin off-label use…

I politely (but strongly) objected to this discrimination, but the pharmacist said that there was nothing he could do.

[Due to the excessive cost, and the fact we already had committed to a 50± mile round trip, we couldn’t start over, so we paid for just one of the 20 tablet Prescriptions ($96).]

When I got home I phoned GoodRX’s patient advocate (855-426-4465). We had a good conversation. The agent said that this made no sense to him, so he would call the Walgreens store… He did and called me back, saying that their answer still did not make any sense, so he was passing this on to his boss. (Nothing further so far…)

I went to Walgreens’ website and tried to send in a web form about the issue. It didn’t work so I phoned them (1-800-925-4733). I outlined the situation to the pleasant customer service person, and she said she had no explanation for what happened.

She then gave me an email to contact customer service. I outlined the problem (per above) and sent the email. I asked for them to please explain why:

1. We are discriminated against for an off-label use when millions of other Walgreens customers are not.
2. If we have a legal Prescription written by a qualified MD, why it is any of Walgreens’ concern exactly what we use it for? In other words, if our use is OK with our physician, why is corporate Walgreens getting involved with that?

I then asked them to make this right.

Shortly thereafter I received two different form email responses assuring me that Walgreens would look into the situation. Good!

The next morning (Thursday), I received a call from the Walgreens store manager. He politely asked that I go over what happened again, so I did (per above)…

He was then very apologetic and said that the pharmacist made a mistake: we were entitled to a discount on IVM. He then went on to say that he checked into other discounts and found one lower than the GoodRx one — for $30.15!

I said, in that case, I would like to fill the second Prescription for $30.15. He said OK that he would: a) fill the second Prescription against the credit we were owed, b) FedEx the second Prescription to us today, at no cost to us, and c) send us a Walgreens card with the difference we were owed ($36±). I thanked him for that fair response.

Come to any conclusions you like from this, but my primary one is that it often pays to politely but firmly defend your rights. (Of course, you have to know your rights to begin with.)

A second observation is that this case illuminates the nonsensical pricing structure of US medical items. How can one day the cost be $96 and the very next day the same pharmacy willingly agrees to accept $30 for exactly the same medication?

A third key takeaway for me is to give credit to Walgreens. All of the Walgreens people I dealt with were friendly and helpful, and in the end, they fixed their mistake promptly and fairly. We will do more business with Walgreens.

PS — As of today, almost a week later, neither my wife nor I have any COVID-19 symptoms. I believe that this is a further endorsement of the effectiveness of IVM.

©2024. John Droz, Jr. All rights reserved.

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