Medicare
Complete Prescriptions
By Don Harris
Medicare
Complete is changing our ID from Social Security numbers to numerals. This may cause the pharmacist to think you’ve
been terminated.
Here’s
what happened to me on Saturday, January 5, 2004. I requested a refill and went to the pharmacy shortly before 6:00
p.m. to pick it up. The pharmacist said his request for payment
had come back “terminated”. I jumped to
the conclusion that Solutia was not paying.
However, another pharmacist said she would call Medicare Complete the next
day, Sunday, and see if she could find out anything. Medicare Complete said Solutia had requested they discontinue
using SS numbers to identify Solutia retirees and the revised cards are in the
mail. I received the refill as usual
after the pharmacist entered my new ID number and the dreaded “terminated”
response no longer flashed on the screen.
If you
need a prescription before you get your new card, ask your pharmacist to call
Medicare Complete to get your new ID.