I went a couple of rounds on the phone with Fair Pharmacare, the government department that pays some prescription costs for seniors. After my husband's heart procedure in June he was put on some very expensive, very necessary medication. We've spent much more than our deductible for this year already but the government coverage hasn't kicked in.

Apparently my husband picked up two prescription for the same heart medication without waiting long enough between the two. This is the first time we were made aware of this rule, which is not in the literature which we were sent at the time we registered. The rule came into being after we were accepted into this program. Also some of the medications my husband and I use are not eligible unless our doctors submit a special authorization form.

The sadist I spoke with in the first round told me that I must collect all our prescription bottles and boxes, write down the product code number of each and call back so she could tell me which ones are not covered and why. When I called back the woman I spoke with didn't need the numbers at all, (what a waste of our time!). She was very kind and helpful, telling us exactly which ones we needed to get the doctors to authorize. She also informed us that we can't recover any money we already lost.

I wonder how many other seniors are spending buckets of money needlessly because they are not aware and neither their doctors nor their pharmacists, who all must know about these things, bother to take the necessary steps or to inform them? I'm doing my best to wean off my blood pressure medication now so I can at least save us that money.

rags