Jess and I switched health insurance providers as of the first of the year. With that, came a change in our prescription drug benefits as well. The most important of those changes, is that our mail-order prescriptions are now handled by a different company. I decided, just to learn how to use their website, to look up the price of Alesse, the birth control Jess uses, as it is the only drug we require that is taken on a regular enough basis to use mail-order.
So I filled out the form and was surprised when I hit submit. Instead of telling me the price, it informed me that someone would manually research the cost of this item and email me with the results. I didn't really care, because I was only playing around with the system anyway. That is, until I got their response (emphasis mine).
Thank you for your recent inquiry. Per your
request, after researching your [...]
insurance plan, Alesse is an excluded medication
due to sex and not covered under your insurance
plan. If you would like a cash price quote, or to
purchase this medication at full cash price,
please visit ….
"Due to sex"? Is that a valid reason? I don't quite understand. I'm sure they mean "Alesse is an excluded medication because your insurance plan does not cover birth control pills"… but… come on. Who wrote this? "Due to sex?". You mean, I can't get prescription drugs if I have sex? Excuse me?
Aside from their poor choice of words, this is ridiculous. Her doctor has prescribed this medication. It's always been covered before. I haven't really taken a poll, but I've never heard of anyone complaining that such drugs were not covered by insurance. Ladies, is this normal?
