A Different Bubbly Girl with no Middle Name

Maybe you'll remember about a month ago I told you that when I went back to the neurologist she took me off of the Copaxone, and wanted me to start the Tecfidera? If you're interested, you can read about it here. Anyway, I finally heard back from Biogen (the manufacturer of Tecfidera) the other day.

Well, let me backtrack. About a week ago or so, I got a call from Biogen telling me that my insurance didn't approve Tecfidera, so I should call my neurologist to discuss different treatments. I called my neurologist who told me that Biogen doesn't do that over the phone, and I would probably be receiving a letter.

Ooooookay, but they called me. Never mind, what happens now?

The neurologist told me that they would appeal the decision, and not to worry. I'd be getting medicine one way or another. I said that it's the other way I'm concerned about. She laughed, but I wasn't entirely joking.

Now I'm waiting to hear back from either Biogen or my neurologist's office. My phone rings while I'm driving, so I don't answer (I don't have a Bluetooth- I need to get one). I listened to the voicemail, and she left her name and number. She was so-and-so from Biogen Support.

When I called back, there was no one by that name in that office. The person who answered the phone mentioned lots of other names that began with the same letter of the name I gave her. I was starting to doubt that I had the right name. The person who answered the phone said that she'd be happy to try and help me, though. I gave her all of my information. Several times. She couldn't find me in her system. At all, so was I sure I was calling the right place?

Grrr, well considering I dialed from my caller ID, I would think so.

The only thing I kept thinking was, "These are the people who are in charge of my drugs"?

We hung up, and I listened to the voicemail again. I did have the correct name. I called back and confidently asked to speak the person who called me. There was no one by that name anywhere. The person who answered the phone decided she could help me. I explained I'd just spent 10 minutes on the phone with someone who couldn't find me. She asked me if perhaps I could be found under my middle name? I told her that I don't have a middle name. She told me that she didn't have one, either. We bonded over that little factoid, and she looked in earnest to find me.

I don't know what she did, but she was finally able to locate me in their system. Perhaps there's a special file for people who don't have middle names, I don't know. Once she did have my information, she was quite bubbly when she told me that my initial copay would be two thousand eight hundred dollars, but after that, my copay would only be $30. Two thousand eight hundred something dollars.

“Okay, let's pretend I don't have two thousand eight hundred something dollars waiting to be spent on Tecfidera. What are my options?”

The bubbly girl proceeded to tell me that there is a patient assistance program, and she would be happy to connect me to that department. Yes, let's talk to that department, please. I thanked the bubbly girl with no middle name, and she transferred me to the patient assistance department. And, I didn't get disconnected! Bonus!

An extremely cordial yet robotic person named Kim* went through the qualifications with me. She asked me some questions, and within minutes, I was approved for a ZERO dollar copay program. In the span of about 10 minutes, my payment went from almost $3000 to zero dollars!

Sidebar- if a pharmaceutical company can offer a zero dollar copay to me, why do other people have to pay thousands? Why do insurance companies have to pay thousands? Why can't pharmaceutical companies just price the drugs reasonably to start with? Don't tell me it's to fund R&D. Even with all of the R&D that drug companies do, they still manage to squeak out billions in profits. Copaxone is still $5000 a month, and that's been around for over twenty years.

Okay, I'm off of my soapbox now; sorry about that.

I have to return a call to Biogen to get my pharmacy ID number so that I can call the pharmacy and make sure that they are processing my Tecfidera. That's on my agenda for today.

One thing that you can always count on with me, is that so many things turn into an adventure with me. And that makes for some interesting stories. I mean, if everything had gone smoothly, I wouldn't really have a blog entry, now would I?

*Not her real name