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They make it extra painful sometimes when it's time to refill, requiring re-authorization every year. My doctor has a woman working for his practice who spends almost full time battling insurance companies so that patients can get their meds, and she's been my ally at managing these fights.

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> My doctor has a woman working for his practice who spends almost full time

Yep, and this is the sort of make work that the health care system is full of that drives up costs for everyone.

Every doctor has one of these people, and they are probably the most valuable member of the practice, after the doctor, themselves.

Most of them (in my experience) have been middle-aged women, hard-nosed, cynical, and no-nonsense. They can easily be abrupt and cranky.

It's a real good idea to ignore that, and make them your friend. They can do miracles.

A lot of the doctors I've seen recently just don't take insurance. Basically they just tell me what something costs and then I pay it. Obviously if you are poor this is a problem, but then again so is everything else and you probably can't afford health insurance anyway.

Getting new prior auths every year is annoying but not exclusive to Optum, thats been the case with all the specialty pharmacies I've gotten prescriptions from.

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