Why pay $60 instead of $6? Hiding something?

A woman came into the pharmacy yesterday (one of my first back since my extended-long weekend vacation) and my pharmacist waited on her because I was stuck in insurance-hold hell. She told us she had an insurance plan we did not accept and told us she didn't think anyone who accepted it would fill her script. She was fairly nice, but even from IHH, I could tell she was bad news. Just the tone of her voice screamed it out. She kept herself together while Marie added her into our system and processed her script. It was for Lorcet 10/650. 30 day supply from a fairly new doctor in town. It came out to nearly $60, and her copay would have been, if I am not mistaken, between $6 and $12 on the insurance. Her male friend paid for it. While we were filling it, the act started. She started moaning and groaning and whining and complaining that she was in pain. She even started to hobble after it was done. She walked straight up with a smile on her face and no complaints when she approached Marie. It's a safe bet that if I could have gotten on the phone with her insurance company and asked when she'd last had it filled, it would have been within the past 30 days.

Needless to say, we have a flag on her file that says she has prescription coverage, and to be careful when filling for her. She said, as she was leaving, that she just didn't think anyone would fill her rx. Wouldn't fill it, or would see it had been previously filled, is what Marie and I asked ourselves. It's sad to say, but we are seeing more and more cases like this woman sauntering into our pharmacy. There are a lot of people who are not telling us their primary insurance, and when we stumble upon it somehow (usually by a competitor calling us to inquire about them), finding out their game. We had a doctors' office call us about a suspicious patient last night, one who I remembered playing games with us before. Saying that he'd left his 100+ rx of Percocet on the front seat of his car and it had been stolen, et cetera, et cetera. Asked me to fill it again, and I refused, because he told me he didn't want to pay cash, and there was no way his insurance would pay a day later. He has only been back sporadically since.

I wish there was a way for these people to realize they need to get some help. It's just a shame they will never find out until it is almost too late, if they ever do find out, whether it be jail or worse.