This may be of general interest.
I just made some calls re: the effect of Y2K on med availability, and
here's what I was told---with an explanation of our personal situation.
Peter, as a retired librarian from a public university in Ohio, is covered
by Public Retirees Employment Services (PERS) which contracts with Aetna
for medical insurance. Aetna uses "PAID" for Rx services, whether the Rx
is bought by mail, through Merck-Medco mail order services, or locally . I
first called M-M, and they said "we're compliant for Y2K".
I then called our local pharmacist, in the Kroger grocery (a very large
chain). He thinks they have no problem, as Kroger , from memos he
receives,is internally compliant, but gave me the following useful info:
No matter what insurance company you get your Rxs through, they do not
directly handle the Rxs, but sell the plans to one of 5 or 6 "super
carriers" in the USA. These super-carriers have very large databases. The
one Aetna uses, PAID,is one of the biggest and best, and is a wholly
owned subsidiary of Merck Pharmaceutical Co. He felt that they should
have their "ducks in a row", but said he had also wondered, "We're OK, are
YOU OK?" Another of the giants is "PCS" ( I think those are the right
initials) which is owned by Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical Co., and he's not
worried about them, either. For our personal situation, he was reassuring,
saying with PAID and MERCK-MEDCO, we should be OK.
I would suggest that others might want to do the same sort of checking for
their personal situations, starting with the info above. He stressed that
the consumer has no way of knowing which super carrier handles the
insurance they may have for Rxs.......but your pharmacist should be able to
tell you.
Camilla Flintermann, <[log in to unmask]>
CG for Peter, 80/70/55 co-owner, CARE list
http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/camilla/one.htm
"If the only tool you have is a hammer,
everything looks like a nail. "
----Abraham Maslow
