Joseph R.

ENDANGERING CLIENTS HEALTH CARE - HUMANA (Medicare) Rx Drug Plan - Profits from pain 4/26/2017 1:25 PM

I have had HUMANA as my Drug Rx plan in NY for several years and now in Florida since moving here a year ago. In NY it was determined by 3 specialists, that I am ALLERGIC to preservatives in eyedrops (it caused me severe blepharitis) and then the anti-inflammatory drugs to resolve this caused permanent vision damage to both my eyes. I have to use unpreserved eye drops to avoid vision loss. All the eye doctors I saw notified Human of my sensitivity to preservatives and the need for unpreserved medications (I too am an eye doctor). Humana then authorized the (not on the formulary) drops at a $45.00 copay each purchased months supply (after a yearly first purchase of $125.00).

I called today to get a price on the drops in Florida, as recommended by my physician who thought she might be able to save me money by NOT using my drug plan. I was told by your rep *******918 that all the past reports my doctors filed were of no value. I was told that I had to start the process over and get new doctors to request this exception because it was a new year (each year). You did not promise to make an exception in any case. I was also told the drug is not on your formulary and I would have to pay full price. The Walmart discount prices is $175.84 for a months supply. It sells for over $200 / mo supply. It is illogical (and unethical) to ask me to go through the doctor request process each year. When your representative said I would have to do this I asked to speak to a supervisor since allergies dont go a way. He then played the same trick all "annoyed" providers do and said he would transfer my call to customer services who would help. He promptly disconnected us. (he had my phone number and if he wished to call back he could have).

I am a retired doctor, I understand how you play games by forcing doctors to do unnecessary time consuming paperwork and phone work so that you can stop patients who need exceptions from getting the meds they need and for which they have paid your insurance fees for years. Sure you tell the patients it is their doctors responsibility to contact your service department as if it would take just a moment or two. When I was a practicing doctor, I would have been doing this all day! Doctors are paid poorly enough already and now you add to the injury by making them do unnecessary paperwork or spend time on the phone with your company (which hangs up on them too) which is not possible for them to do today. It is a neat little way of deceiving your patients. You tell them ask your doctors to get an exception and put the blame on the doctor.

Having a formulary that allows you to negotiate for a lower price with a drug company is not a bad idea. However when a patient needs a drug not available on your formulary and when there is no alternative on our formulary, making them jump through hoops to deny services is UNETHICAL. We as patients, all know the stories of suffering senior citizens who live in pain because they cannot afford the medicines they pay their plans for. The medicines they can get from Canada pharmacy cheaper than WITH their drug plans.

As patients, you take our money in premiums with false promises of care and then deny service for greater profits. Nothing could be more unethical other than directly causing injury to your clients by stabbing them with a knife or shooting them. You get away with it indirectly, without putting a knife in them, by denying services. I wonder how this would read on the Internet? I gave you 24 hours to set this straight in writing and then I waited w weeks. On 4/26/2017 I then sent my email to your customer services and received no response. Today is 5/9/2017 If you intended to respond, 2 weeks was clearly enough time. This clearly paints a picture of the ethics behind your services and your concern for your clients. Dr Joseph A Ross

5/30/2017 --- The Human Drug Plan Rip-Off only gets worse.

My eye doctor prescribed a second med for me today. Unpreserved again because I am allergic as documented. This drug was also denied. Now she is going to write to them to see if they can get it approved. Meanwhile the records for several years show (at their company) that I am allergic and that does not change.

Today my wife needs and eyedrop for post surgical care. The drop is called Prednisone. When she went to pick it up today they charged her an $80.00 co-pay. I went online to Canadian pharmacy to see what it would cost without insurance. The price in us dollars is $27.00 and it is the same product from the same company, Allergan. GET THIS STRAIGHT NOW: WITH INSURANCE $80.00 WITHOUT INSURANCE $27.00. How ethical is this? I looked at HUMANAs ratings online.

Rating: 1.2 stars out of - 367 votes <== Any wonder why?

They hide the fact that they will start billing you $59.95 a / year in 30 days of your first purchase. Yes it is there if you search! Then they just bill your credit card with not notice and no asking you if you want membership. I called today and they tried to offer me coupons to make it worth my staying. I told them NO WAY! I had NEVER agreed to become a member after 30 days nor had I been given any offer to do so... a real ugly way of stealing from those who purchase from them and are not carefully monitoring their credit cards. They send me a notice immediately saying my card would be credited (they just billed me a few days ago) and my account closed as requested. From what I have read here about them NOT following up, I WILL follow up and make sure they keep their promise. So sad, they had some good products and reasonable prices. BAD WAY TO DO BUSINESS!

We bought tickets to See Prodigy Briana Pinchuck, a violinist and singer. The tickets on GoldStar were 1/2 Price from $20.00 each to $10.00 Sounds Good? Well if you don't Click THE DECEPTIVE "READ MORE BUTTON" You don't see this:; "Additional fees apply. For events with a discounted price, no coupon or promo code is necessary."

STILL DOES NOT SOUND TOO BAD. When you buy tickets on the next click... way at the bottom (hard to see) it says "For each ticket purchased, the venue requires a $15 minimum purchase. The minimum purchase requirement may be applied to cocktails, snacks or merchandise. This only applies to customers age 18 or older."

SO NOW YOUR DISCOUNTED TICKETS COST MORE THAN BEFORE THE DISCOUNT... FOR TWO PEOPLE $30.00 MORE! Oh... pardon me, they will sell you cheap drinks at the bar for this great value!

BULL $#*! IS BULL $#*!! Either tell the people up front the real price and don't play games with hidden extras or go out of business quietly.

I WOULD NEVER USE GOLDSTAR OR RECOMMEND " BOCA BLACK BOX" the theater in Boca Raton, Florida.

WHY THEY ARE LAIRS TO DOCTORS: If you are a doctor, they will call incessantly, promise you great results (show you how they send lots of patients to Dr X) and then send a contract that says "no promises" just give us $3,000.00 cash. Then the truth comes out! Unless you are taking the worst Medical Or Vision plans on the market (real crap like medicaid, Fidelis or Davis (vision), you get no results! The only patients who use zoc doc are those on Terrible Plans like: Medicaid, Fidelis or Davis because they cannot find a doc with a descent review to see them (how can you do good work for less / hour than a clerk in a department store? They LIE is that they TELL YOU IN WORDS ON THE PHONE THAT can send you lots of good referrals, the truth is that they send you the bottom of the bottom (if you are stupid enough to try to make that work). Once they have your money you are screwed.

WHY ZOC DOC IS TERRIBLE FOR PATIENTS: If you need Zoc Doc to help you find a doctor, chances are your plan is so bad that no descent doctors wants to sign up for it! If not, your insurance company would have a huge list of 5 star providers rated by honest services like Google! You would also be able to call any well rated doctor and find they take your insurance by just asking!

BOTTOM LINE: ZocDoc has no interest in serving good doctors in good practices. NEVER sign up for ZocDoc as their contract says hey don't have to do anything other than keep your money. If you are a patient, Avoid Their review like the plaque. They send you to the high volume low care doctors!