Blind man needs help with prescription problem
By Cathy Tatom
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TULSA, Oklahoma (KJRH) — Steve Satterwhite is a resourceful guy.
He lost his sight to a rare genetic disease called retinitis pigmentosa. It doesn’t keep him from living in his own apartment in east Tulsa filled with Kansas City Chiefs memorabilia.
When the clinic where he usually gets his COPD and heart medications told him it could not fill his prescriptions because he lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, he was confused.
He told 2 News he’s never lived there and has lived in the same apartment for the past 8 years and used the same clinic for his medications since 2017.
He said when he called Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services, instead of getting help, he just got passed around or put on hold.
“I talk to one person, I’ll have to wait probably 40, 45 minutes,” he said, “I get transferred to another person, and I’ve gotta wait anywhere from 20 minutes to 55 or an hour.”
He needed to start over each time, telling the new person why he needed help.
Finally, in frustration, he called the Problem Solvers, and we called OKDHS. Our contact immediately started an investigation and found the problem with the prescriptions, which is likely not on its end but instead with his Medicare or private insurer that pays the difference between what Medicare covers and what is still owed.
DHS is getting its Aging team involved to connect Satterwhite with the correct folks to straighten out his conundrum. We also connected him with Life Senior Services. It has experts who can help people unravel and understand Medicare’s sometimes complicated system.
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