Postal Service Slowdowns Cause Dangerous Delays In Medication Delivery

Postal service delays mean some patients don’t get much needed medications on time.

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On Aug. 3, a prescription for Zach Matheny’s blood thinning medication was filled at his pharmacy and sent out for delivery via the U.S. Postal Service. It never arrived at his home in Columbus, Ohio.

“After a week I started to get worried, so I went ahead and called the pharmacy,” Matheny says. “And after some back-and-forth, they essentially gave me the answer along the lines of, ‘Well, it might be lost because of everything going on.’”

Recent delivery delays have raised concerns about the U.S. Postal Service handling ballots for November’s election. They’ve also created immediate worries for those who rely heavily on the service to obtain lifesaving medications.