Last night, I tested positive for COVID (my first time catching the disease). This morning, I did telehealth via PlushCare to get a Paxlovid prescription. At first, the doctor asked me what risk factor I had that made me think I was qualified to get Paxlovid. I told her I didn’t know (a white lie) what the risk factors were, and hoped she could tell me. Over the course of our call, I brought up a mild heart arrhythmia I had when I was younger, and she noticed that, at 5′11″ and 200 lbs, I’m overweight. Based on that, she prescribed me Paxlovid and ordered it to my nearest pharmacy.
I then called the pharmacy. They noticed during our call that their Paxlovid stock was expired. This also happened at the second pharmacy I called. The third pharmacy, Walgreens, told me that there was some paperwork those other pharmacies probably could have done to ‘un-expire’ their Paxlovid, but in any case, they had some non-expired Paxlovid. They also told me that funding for Paxlovid was in a murky grey zone, and something about ‘pharmacy insurance’ that is somehow distinctly different from ‘medical insurance’, and something about how you’re not allowed to pay for Paxlovid out of pocket because the state is supposed to cover it, but maybe the state’s not covering it now… ??? Anyway, she thought one way or another, I probably wouldn’t have to pay for it.
This was fortunate because I left my insurance card in my Seattle apartment when I drove up to accept my parents’ generous offer to quarantine in their basement. My living situation in Seattle is very uncomfortable right at the moment—I’m subletting from a friend who himself just moved to a new apartment, taking all the furniture with him. I’ve been sleeping on a couple couch cushions I brought up from my parents’ house whlie looking for a new sublet to start at the beginning of next month. It would have been a miserable place to quarantine.
I gave Walgreens the phone number of the first pharmacy so they could have the prescription transferred over. They set up an automatic text message alert system to inform me when it was filled. I also messaged PlushCare, my telemedicine provider, to ask them to transfer it over. Then I noticed that their message response time averages 5-7 days, and indeed, hours later, I’d heard nothing back from them. I finally called Walgreens about 3 hours after my original call and heard from an automatic voice system that my prescription was, in fact, filled successfully. My dad kindly picked it up for me, although he didn’t see my text in time to grab any mint gum to alleviate “Paxlovid mouth.”
Last night, I tested positive for COVID (my first time catching the disease). This morning, I did telehealth via PlushCare to get a Paxlovid prescription. At first, the doctor asked me what risk factor I had that made me think I was qualified to get Paxlovid. I told her I didn’t know (a white lie) what the risk factors were, and hoped she could tell me. Over the course of our call, I brought up a mild heart arrhythmia I had when I was younger, and she noticed that, at 5′11″ and 200 lbs, I’m overweight. Based on that, she prescribed me Paxlovid and ordered it to my nearest pharmacy.
I then called the pharmacy. They noticed during our call that their Paxlovid stock was expired. This also happened at the second pharmacy I called. The third pharmacy, Walgreens, told me that there was some paperwork those other pharmacies probably could have done to ‘un-expire’ their Paxlovid, but in any case, they had some non-expired Paxlovid. They also told me that funding for Paxlovid was in a murky grey zone, and something about ‘pharmacy insurance’ that is somehow distinctly different from ‘medical insurance’, and something about how you’re not allowed to pay for Paxlovid out of pocket because the state is supposed to cover it, but maybe the state’s not covering it now… ??? Anyway, she thought one way or another, I probably wouldn’t have to pay for it.
This was fortunate because I left my insurance card in my Seattle apartment when I drove up to accept my parents’ generous offer to quarantine in their basement. My living situation in Seattle is very uncomfortable right at the moment—I’m subletting from a friend who himself just moved to a new apartment, taking all the furniture with him. I’ve been sleeping on a couple couch cushions I brought up from my parents’ house whlie looking for a new sublet to start at the beginning of next month. It would have been a miserable place to quarantine.
I gave Walgreens the phone number of the first pharmacy so they could have the prescription transferred over. They set up an automatic text message alert system to inform me when it was filled. I also messaged PlushCare, my telemedicine provider, to ask them to transfer it over. Then I noticed that their message response time averages 5-7 days, and indeed, hours later, I’d heard nothing back from them. I finally called Walgreens about 3 hours after my original call and heard from an automatic voice system that my prescription was, in fact, filled successfully. My dad kindly picked it up for me, although he didn’t see my text in time to grab any mint gum to alleviate “Paxlovid mouth.”