Let's all waste money, shall we?

I ran into an interesting situation the other day. One of my clients is a type 1 diabetic. She tests her glucose levels roughly ten times per day, which is pretty standard for intensive glycemic control. According to the claim information that's up on their web site, Anthem is paying almost $100 per 100 test strips at her local pharmacy. She wanted to know why she couldn't just purchase them on Amazon (test strips are a non-prescription item) at $25 for 50 and send in a receipt for reimbursement. It would save Anthem almost $1800 per year.

I called Anthem. Amazon isn't a contracting provider (no surprise), so they won't reimburse her. Not even a slight chance...

I wonder how many millions of dollars Anthem is unnecessarly spending on this item alone?