health care

Depends on the pharmacy. As a pnew STX resident who takes a lot of prescription drugs, here's what I can tell you about my experiences since we moved here six weeks ago.

The People's Pharmacy in Sunny Isle happens to accept my mainland insurance, but they never have ANYTHING in stock -- it took weeks for them to get an initial order of several non-narcotic prescriptions that I take and they refuse to carry most narcotic painkillers (such as oxycodone/oxycontin).

So we ended up using the Doctor's Choice Pharmacy at the Plaza Extra near Peter's Rest/Sion Farm. Rick, the pharmacist there, is terrific about working to expedite first orders of drugs they didn't already carry -- incuding calling my doc to confirm a prescription by voice so he could get it in on an order he was placing right then. (All I had to do was bring him the written prescription the next day.) RIck warned us that it takes between 10 days and two weeks to get an inital order shipped (he was right -- it took 11 days to get one of my narcotic pain medications) but that subsequent orders shouldn't be a problem to be there on time. He even worked with me and my doctor to make sure I didn't run out while we were waiting. That kind of service and the guaranatee that I will never have to go without anything I need makes it well worthwhile for us to pay in full up front (not an inexpensive endeavor) and then get reimbursed later.

The pharmacist at the Plaza Extra West was also very willing to work with us -- he's just not as convenient to our house.

One other item -- if you are on anyth uncommon medications, require narcotics, or have a complex medical history, I strong;y recommend that you start contacting doctors about taking you on/writing your prescriptions long before you need that first refill. I was rejected by two doctors who didn't want to write prescriptions for the painkillers I take -- one is the local pain management specialist! -- before finally finding a wonderful doctor who isn't freaked out by my unique medical history or afraid of prescribing monthly supplies of two scheduled narcotics I take lest the DEA start an investigation.

You can get in touch with pharmacies and potential physicians by using the phone book -- visit http://www.viphonebook.com

Hope this is helpful! It's a different world down here (thank goodness) -- we absolutely love it and hope you will too.

HipCrip