Tuesday, April 6, 2010

"Above And Beyond The Call Of Duty....................................."

Good Afternoon;

Well for once, good has triumphed over evil....(or at least arrogance, incompetence, obstructionism and rudeness)!!........

Common sense, human decency, kindness, courtesy, helpfulness and a little righteous indignation came together and coalesced into a powerful force today and focused it's power into the form of my case worker from Prologue, Liz!

As I left you loyal reader I was on my way to meet with her to try to straighten out my prescription coverage mess.

I walked towards the door and she met me, holding open the door and grinning ear to ear, having seen me dodging traffic crossing the street. She tells me she has already been on the phone and has good news...I don't have P.A.C. (Personal Adult Care..the bottom rung minimalist state health coverage)!...HUH!?..Good News?!....Nope, she says, I have Medical Assistance...appproved as of JULY 2009!!!...WTF!? great job D.S.S., almost as good as S.S.A. in the notification department! (oh, and by the way, my refills expired last June, and I could not get a renewal...??!!??). We called the Beneficiary Services # and confirmed that I could fill these new 'scrips', using my old M.A. card..(oh, and by the way the M.C.O. I was assigned was JAI, [involuntarily] which is why I had no hassles there yesterday). So Liz dropped me off at Jenn's on her way to another appointment and I grabbed my old card and headed off to meet Paul..(and the MTA was MIA, so I had to take the Metro and he picked me up at the station and we went to Burger King...good thing too, he said the Starbucks was way too hot and sunny, still the same problem as last year...we talked and then he dropped me at the Rite Aid I went to last evening, where the pharmacist was so helpful. But who was NOT there today...story of my life...I handed the prescriptions, my M.A. card, and the phone number of the Beneficiary Services Dept. that we had called for confirmation and who told me to have the pharmacist call if any problems arose, to the technician at the counter with said information and instructions. Well the lazy ass pill pusher of a pharmacist did not bother with any of it and 40 minutes later..(after listening to customer after customer either tell me of their horror stories of this woman or complain at the counter about a problem of some sort and during which time I browsed the store and found some Tee shirts [in larger sizes too!!] on sale @$10.00 for 5...and bought 3, all blue LOL! for $6.00 )..she calls my name..(which is another thing, she will not raise her voice to be heard above the MUZAK playing over the waiting area, and will not repeat a name once called...WTF??)..to tell me I was denied. I asked her to call the number and she said I had to call, I said NO..You have to to get the proper authorization! I heard her call and get one of those automated directories..which I found out later was NOT the number I had given her, but some other number off her computer. Again she said I was denied..now I had heard with my own flappy ears that I had been approved, so I asked her to try again, and she began to rudely state that this was not her job...yadda..yadda..yadda. I asked for the 'scrip' back and stormed outside before I blew up. Outside I called Liz to let her know and expected to meet her in the morning to deal with it. She said Don't Go Anywhere!, I'll call you back. 15 minutes later she calls and says she had the M.A. rep., the JAI rep., and the pharmacist on a conference call..when the pharmacist hung up! She called me right back and said she was on her way to the RiteAid...WAIT!
So when she shows up a few minutes later, we go back to the pharmacy, where the pharmacist ignores us as long as possible, when Liz introduces herself and explains that she has the JAI rep on her cell phone and she wants to talk to her, the pharmacist refuses to, saying she can't talk on the cell phone, and refuses to call down to JAI...at this point I had to walk off....when I came back we sat for 20 minutes, Liz having told me it should have been straightened out. When asked for some information as to when it would be filled, the pharmacist asked for the paperwork again...and BEGAN to fill it. 10 minutes later we left with my BP meds, muscle relaxer and anti-fungal creme..all in stock and non-narcotic items.
This woman was a real piece of work, and seems to be a prime example of a certain segment of black African..(I do not know what nationality)..male and female. I have seen them as nurses, cabbies, technicians, doctors, and civil servants...they are never wrong and better than everyone else...I am just glad that I was not an African-American in this situation...they get treated worse by these people.
I plan to find out her name, and contact RiteAid's upper management, and express my disapproval...with adequate confirmation and documentation.
BUT Liz!!!
WOW,
I was amazed at the time and effort she has put out in my behalf already, and when she told me about the conference call, it really surprised me. But when she jumped in her own car, and I found out later by overhearing a conversation, on her own time, and came to the pharmacy and confronted and would not back down from this fool...I was blown away!
I was starting to be overwhelmed by frustration, and overcome by anxiety, and resorting to anger....Thanks Liz!!
Okay, I'm out of time again..
see you Tomorrow!
........Dave

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