Am I Wasting Your Time?

Mondays are usually my afternoons in the clinic. Today was a little different. My preceptor gave a lecture on chronic kidney disease to the P2s today from 1-3, so that pretty much killed our clinic time. We did have a 3:00, a 3:45, and a 4:00 patient. After the lecture, she and I rushed to the clinic so as to not make our 3:00 wait. This was, however, in vain because our 3:00 canceled. The 3:45 patient was a Medicare Part D consultation and the 4:00 was a Coumadin adjustment. I went ahead and pulled the 3:45's medication list and found her 3 potential Medicare plans. It was more like 4:00 when she finally got there. As I was explaining the concept of premiums, deductibles, and copays, it was blatantly obvious that this poor woman had NO idea what I was saying. I could've been speaking Latin and she wouldn't have known any difference. I tweaked my approach to focus on her cost-savings. I tried to explain that she was paying over $100 per month just for one of her scripts and with the plan, she could get all 8 prescriptions for $1400/year. Her glazed over eyes kind of cleared and she said, "$100?? I don't spend $100." Having worked retail, I knew this drug cost over $100 per month. When I asked her how much she did pay, she replied, "$3." At this point I knew something wasn't right. I asked her for the second time if she had prescription insurance and she said, "No. Well, I do have this program I qualify for because my husband was in the Navy, but it's not insurance." I said, "Is it called Tricare?" She said, "Yes." And at this point, I beat my head on the counter. I informed her that Medicare Part D would be a waste of her time...unfortunately, it was too late for my time at this point.