Complain about a product or service

Medco Health Solutions

255 Phillipi Road, Columbus, OH

Dustie of Kissimmee FL (07/25/08)
MEDCO filled a prescription written and sent by my doctor without notification to me regarding the brand or cost. My doctor inadvertently signed the 'fill as prescribed' instead of allowing a generic for substitution. I have called and spoke with 3 seperate individuals and sent 2 appeal letters to be told [the] mail-order pharmacy filled prescription as written by the doctor. [I am] required to pay the full co-payment for each prescription despensed.

In similar situations with my local pharmacy I am able to contact my doctor to have the situation resolved, in this situation the medication was sent and I was billed at a 90% higher cost. I keep reading articales about MEDCOs excellent numbers, but find it laughable since I feel taken advantage of by the 'system'.

I have since thrown the medication in the trash, go a month with out my medication, and been forced to pay the bill of 52 for one month (which should have been 20 for three months). They made it very clear they refuse to fill prescriptions with past due balances, and send the bill to collections if refusal to pay is continued. MEDCO is the school yard bully of prescription drug benefits, and if I had ANY other option I would take it.

Dana of Carson City, NV July 16, 2008

Dana of Carson City NV (07/16/08)
By error, Medco received a perscription and filled it. On a fluke I was still listed on my ex-husband's insurance and Medco is his provider for pharmaceutical materials. They called him to inform him of the perscription being filled and that is when I called to have it cancelled. They claim they received another fax from my dr. for a new perscription but my dr. states per my record they did not fax anything a 2nd time (Medco hasn't provided me with the copies of the faxes per my request)

So they filled the supposed 2nd perscription and again, I called to cancel again. I was informed that it was cancelled and I should have no further problems as they noted my record as not being on Medco's plan and not wanting any perscriptions filled. I got another call stating my perscription was sent out. Despite all the assurances and guarantees, they did not follow through with anything they told me and now want to hold me liable for the cost of the medication.

The bill is over 100, in addition, I have had to waste at least 3 hours of my personal time on the phone adding to the cost of this issue, since they do not handle things in a timely manner. Their customer service is appalling.

Francesca of Brookville, NY July 16, 2008

Francesca of Brookville NY (07/16/08)
I have been using Medco for years to order prescription drugs. Normally I do it over the phone, but I decided to try ordering refills online, thinking it may be quicker. I placed an order on July 5 and I am still waiting for my three refills. I have contacted them numerous times about this via email and phone. They have provided no explanation as to why my prescriptions didn't arrive yet, and they told me I should expect them on or around July 23rd! That is three weeks since I ordered refills. It is supposed to take 5-7 days.

I asked for the shipping to be expedited and their explanation was that the order is too far into the automated system to do anything. It should be noted that Medco discourages the use of retail pharmacy's for purchasing prescriptions. For long term medications they only will cover the use of a pharmacy for 3 fills. After that you have to pay full price for medication.

I've had to abruptly stop taking two very potent medications b/c of the delay and am experiencing very uncomfortable physical and mental side effects. It is well known that patients should not abruptly stop taking the medications I am taking.I am extremely stressed out about this. I feel completely helpless and that I am at the mercy of an uncaring, flawed establishment.

Lee of Lewiston, NY June 21, 2008

Lee of Lewiston NY (06/21/08)
I guess there is the real world, and then there's the Medco world. Who in the world runs this company? Received a call this morning. The woman introduced herself from Medco and stated she represented our health care provider and wanted to verify information, including what prescriptions my wife was on (my wife wasn't home, but told her I could speak for my wife). I laughed and said, Ma'am you're a voice on the phone and you want me to tell you what prescriptions my wife is taking? I told her that maybe she should verify who she is before she asked me to verify who I am. I asked her name and the address where she worked. (She knew her name.)

Meantime, I told her that she could put something in the mail if she represented a real company and she said they had sent us several pieces of mail, which I did not recall. I said giving personal health information over the phone to strangers is against HIPPA regs, and she said it was all perfectly legal. At the end of our conversation, I told her to go to consumeraffairs.com and look up Medco and find out what customers think of her company. She finally hung up, thank goodness.

Ap of Bristow, VA June 2, 2008

Ap of Bristow VA (06/02/08)
Medco continues to reject coverage for drugs I have verified several times are covered under my plan, and the general incompetence of their service reps is preventing resolution of the issue.

They initially rejected the claim sent by my doctor on a technicality, which was promptly corrected and resubmitted as an amendment. Subsequently, no service rep can be found who has the foggiest idea what an amendment is or how to find one in the system. Three could find no evidence of a denial of coverage as much as a week after it occurred, two found the denials but couldn't say when or why they happened, three said that amendments weren't even possible and that only an appeal (which we were explicitly told it *wasn't* since we weren't challenging whether the drug was actually covered it its category, but rather were correcting the claim paperwork) could be filed.

I am on a time constraint and will likely have to come out of pocket for upwards of 3 grand to pay for drugs this company is too disorganized to recognize that it should be paying for. I am starting the complaint/appeals process today, but given the intelligence with which they've handled things so far, I'm expecting a very frustrating process.

Edna of Raleigh, NC May 28, 2008