PCOS Message Board - View Single Post

mloverstreet · 04-24-2008, 08:07 PM

I was on Cigna as a child, teenager, and then college. (I had coverage through my dad.) We had a pretty good plan, but I remember my parents complaining about premiums quite a bit. The last few years, Cigna became a real problem for my parents. Cigna's prescription coverage changed (I think they offered scrips through Caremark) and whenever my parents would submit their scrips through mail-order (for maintenance meds) they would refuse to fill certain scrips or change the dosage amounts because their "on staff doctors and pharmacists" felt a different drug/dosage would be more efficient. They substituted generic cardiac drugs for my mother. The drugs made her so sick that she spent weeks practically living in the bathroom. They wanted my dad to cut his Metformin in half rather than providing the proper dosage. I had a holy sh*t fit over that one. Cutting drugs is the worst idea imaginable! It's impossible to ensure that each half of the pill contains the same amount of active drug. Hello! Basic chemistry!

Whenever my parents would call to complain, they'd get the run around. Their doctors tried to call the company and got the same treatment. My parents finally started paying out of pocket for name brand cardiac drugs that wouldn't irritate my mother's stomach as much as the generics that Caremark shoved at them.

Yeah. It was serious BS. This year, my dad's company switched to BCBS--and it's even worse coverage. Sigh.

That said, Cigna coverage can be good, but you might want to really study the plan you're offered--especially the prescription part.