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Does anyone deal with Mail order pharmacies and are they difficult to get medicine and on-time delivery as my mom is diabetic and her medicine is essential.
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If your Mom is on Medicare, you have to make sure you deal with a "Medicare approved provider." Call Medicare to get some names. My experience has been that once you find an approved provider, they' re pretty good at keeping track of your supplies, and will even call you when they think you're running low. Bottom line is,however, contact whatever insurance company your Mom is covered by (like Pistiegman said) to find out what providers they will pay for. Good luck.
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Ah, the bigger question is which company is covered by their health insurance. Start by calling the health insurance carrier and see who they will pay for.
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My Mom has type 2 diabetes so I know this is different. I was reluctant to pursue mail order but I have been using Medco for well over a year. It is a job to order and can be frustrating to speak to a person but I would say it has been worth the effort. This company lets you order several weeks in advance and I have never had a problem with delivery. I also have a nearby pharmacy as a stand by so Moms doctor can phone something in for coverage, although this was needed only once for warfarin coverage. Mom has saved money and I don't have to leave the house as often. As the others have mentioned always best to check insurance. Hope this helps.
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No diabetes but other meds for Mom, Optum Rx has been great about calling way in advance when we are due for a renewal. I recently started using CVS Caremark for my own meds but so far they have not called in advance for renewal. Optum Rx was approved through AARP Medicare.
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We have Prime Mail and usually get everything within a week. Can order by phone 24/7 or online. Comes right to the door. Until recently we had 257 pills a week plus 5 different kinds of eye drops. (3 senior citizens here) Doc recently took MIL off of several of her pills. Just have to remember to order on time.
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skyisblue - I use RightSource for my husband's meds. They are the mail-order pharmacy for Humana. It has worked really, really well for us and has saved us considerably. As a matter of fact, since we use the generics, we haven't had to pay anything so far - not even a co-pay. But the Rx has to be covered by Humana and all of my husband's meds are. Once the account is set up with the prescriptions sent to RightSource right from my husband's doctor's office - and our credit card is set up in their files, the rest is simple. They send a 90-day supply to our home and reorders are done on-line with just a click of a button (or can be done by phone). The meds usually come in only a couple of days. I don't get a kickback from Humana :) - I'm just letting you know that RightSource has worked extremely well for us.
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I've used MedCo and CVS Caremark mail order and they do OK on getting refills as long as you order far enough in advance. They say to allow 7-10 days to process and receive an order, so you can't wait until you're almost out. If you do, you can get an "emergency" supply (less than two weeks' worth) from a local pharmacy, although the price is much higher for that. You might be able to set up automatic refills for meds you'll need for a long time, which worked for me, but you do risk having them bill you for a refill on a discontinued med if you forget to cancel it.

I had a glitch with our new Optum mail order under AARP Medicare Rx, which just started this month. I called to ask how to get a new prescription ordered and they said to just have the doctor call it in. They neglected to mention that I also had to call and approve them filling the new med before they would process it, which wasted 5 days. They also require preapproval of more meds than MedCo or CVS did, which is a pain. Your doctor calls in a prescription but they won't fill it until your doctor calls in to explain why you need that drug instead of a cheaper one. It annoys me. The difference in price between one of my husband's drugs preapproved vs not preapproved is about $750! You might want to check on any new prescriptions, especially if it's a new med. I've had the same preapproved process with retail pharmacies, but they usually call you up to tell you about the preapproval requirement.

Good luck. The mail order ones are convenient if your family takes many drugs and you don't want to be running to the pharmacy to pick them up all the time. That can be a real drag.

I do worry a bit about the drugs sitting in my mailbox on freezing or hot Texas summer days, since they're not supposed to be stored at extreme temperatures. We don't have any that have to be refrigerated and so far they all seem to be working. Luckily for us, my husband's dementia includes a desire to walk half a block to our mail box cluster to check the mail at least once an hour from mid morning until it arrives. Sometimes he goes again after he's collected it, to make sure nothing else arrived. Needless to say, nothing sits in our mailbox for very long! Some days that's more exercise than I get, so I can't complain...

Good luck.
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I use the military Express-Scripts, but know it takes them about 2 weeks to get the order to you. Since diabetes meds are vital to a person, I think I would prefer a store pharmacy where you can wait to get a refill, or call and it will be ready when you get there. You can also do auto-refill and they will call you.
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We have used both Medco and Express Scripts with great luck. I was thrilled with the service provided and the speed with which orders were filled, plus we always had the option of Target or CVS for an emergency. Love those service, as I was running to the pharmacy at least weekly before.
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