Finding someone who accepts responsibility

The update on my saga wrt the new medication. Yesterday I met with my doctor. He gave me a copy of a letter that the insurance company had sent him on the 14th, indicating that the prior authorization request was approved. I brought the letter to the pharmacy. The pharmacist was on the phone with the insurance company for 45 minutes and still couldn't get the request released.

I called today. The first person said that everything was approved and that pharmacy should just call the insurance company's help line if they're having difficulty. I explained that it seemed that there were two authorization requests in play here, one for the med itself, the other for the quantity. It appeared that the quantity had been approved, but not the med. (Imagine the tortured soul who came up with that rule.) The agent forwarded my call to the prior authorization line, which turned out to be an automated system that told me what I already knew, that one request had been approved.

I called back and eventually got to a supervisor who threaded his way through the events and explained that the approval had been for an increased quantity of a class of drugs, not for the drug itself. We still needed approval for the drug. But, mirabile dictu, he realized that I am a patient waiting for a medication. He arranged to have the pharmacy give me a five-day supply while he and my doctor worked things out. I thanked him for taking responsibility and helping me in a very direct way.

Now, this evening, we'll find out if the medication makes a difference.