Millions of Americans receive drugs by mail. But are they safe? – By Adiel Kaplan, Kenzi Abou-Sabe, Kit Ramgopal and Cynthia McFadden (NBC News) / Dec 8 2020
Many mail-order pharmacy customers feel trapped in a system that has left them with crushed pills, damaged vials and lifesaving drugs exposed to extreme weather.
One evening in mid-June, Megan Becker stepped outside of her Las Vegas home and scooped up a package containing her medication, a monthly injection to prevent debilitating migraines.
It was a sweltering night – the temperature hovered just below 95 degrees. When Becker opened up the package, which arrived a day late, she found that the ice packs were melted and the medicine, which is supposed to be refrigerated, was warm to the touch.
“They literally just dump the box on my front stoop, regardless of the weather,” Becker, an English professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said. “It’s just such expensive medication and it seems like such a careless way to deliver it.”
A shipment of Megan Becker’s migraine medication left at her door in late August. (Megan Becker)
Shortly after the drug, Aimovig, hit the market, Becker began picking it up from a nearby pharmacy. But last year, her health insurance confronted her with a choice: switch to the Express Scripts mail-order pharmacy and get it for roughly $50 per month, or pay out of pocket for the more than $600-per-dose medication.
Becker fought to keep picking it up locally, but said she gave up after two months of what she described as maddening calls with Express Scripts.
“I really, really, really did not want to get it this way and I was not given an option,” she said.
Millions of Americans receive their medications by mail but many, like Becker, find themselves forced to do so by their insurance plans or face the prospect of paying exorbitant amounts for the same drugs.
