Son of the Official Chat Thread Part II (dermatologist, insurance)

[chicagocubs]

Mornin' all...there seems to be a lot of wrecks out there this morning, so, be careful!! (and, it's not even raining!!)

[anifani821]

Good morning! Nice to see some sun. Hubby is doing well. Trying to get things organized w/ prescriptions. Geeezzz, this stuff is expensive. Our insurance is lousy on prescriptives, so I immediately thought about WalMart's $4 drugs. I checked this morning and indeed, two of his scripts are on their list. They do a 90 day refill for only $10. That is sooooo much better than our pharmacy can offer. So at least we can get two of the scripts cheaper than we are paying now. That only leaves six to figure out how to get the cheapest. Different drug stores charge different prices w/ our plan. It is not across the board - like $5 for all generics and $25 for all other drugs on the preferred list. Crazy stuff, trying to sort thru/ this. I don't know how elderly folks do it w/o someone acting as their advocate.

[TheEmissary]

Originally Posted by anifani821

Good morning! Nice to see some sun. Hubby is doing well. Trying to get things organized w/ prescriptions. Geeezzz, this stuff is expensive. Our insurance is lousy on prescriptives, so I immediately thought about WalMart's $4 drugs. I checked this morning and indeed, two of his scripts are on their list. They do a 90 day refill for only $10. That is sooooo much better than our pharmacy can offer. So at least we can get two of the scripts cheaper than we are paying now. That only leaves six to figure out how to get the cheapest. Different drug stores charge different prices w/ our plan. It is not across the board - like $5 for all generics and $25 for all other drugs on the preferred list. Crazy stuff, trying to sort thru/ this. I don't know how elderly folks do it w/o someone acting as their advocate.

ani - If you are not comfortable with the Walmart Pharmacy, you might want to ask your current pharmacy if they are "price-matching" Walmart. I ran into this at Rite-Aid. They were going to charge me $20 for my Lisinopril and when I mentioned "Walmart" the pharmacist said I was entitled to their special discount and got this first refill for $3.79! The remaining ones all were filled for $4. I think Rite-Aid and CVS are "feeling the pain" from Walmart competition and are reacting accordingly to maintain their customer base. Much of this will depend on whether the prescriptions are on the "Walmart list". My latest prescription for Lisinopril was increased from the 20mg size to the 40 mg size by my doctor. I was thinking I'd get it for $4 from Walmart but was charged $19.38 by them. I forgot to use my BCBS card which would have reduced that price to $10. I wonder if I would have gotten it from Rite-Aid for $4? Too bad prescription drug prices are all over the place - it's like trying to buy a 52" Sony LCD TV and finding prices from $1200 to $4000 for the same model!

Another thing you might want to do is ask your doctor for cheaper alternatives to what your hubby may now be taking. For example, the last time I went to my doctor she wanted me to take Norvasc which I already knew was priced a little on the high side for my "financial tastes". This drug also lowers your heart rate, which she thought in my case, was too high. I told her I rather try a cheaper alternative so she upped my dosage of Lisinopril and put me on Metoprolol which is a $4 item at Walmart. While my BCBS might have considerably reduced the price of the Norvasc, it irks me that I and the health care system would have to foot the bill for it! I'll go for the "cheap stuff" as long as it works effectively. The health insurance rates you help to lower might be your own!

I feel so sorry for the people who need those prescriptions that have stratospheric prices attached, and have to pay the "full freight" for them. Many of them are the ones heavily advertised on TV. If my doctor ever suggests one of the ones that has the little line at the bottom that says "financial help may be available if you can't afford your prescription", she'll have to remove the "chair" from her skull!

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by anifani821

Good morning! Nice to see some sun. Hubby is doing well. Trying to get things organized w/ prescriptions. Geeezzz, this stuff is expensive. Our insurance is lousy on prescriptives, so I immediately thought about WalMart's $4 drugs. I checked this morning and indeed, two of his scripts are on their list. They do a 90 day refill for only $10. That is sooooo much better than our pharmacy can offer. So at least we can get two of the scripts cheaper than we are paying now. That only leaves six to figure out how to get the cheapest. Different drug stores charge different prices w/ our plan. It is not across the board - like $5 for all generics and $25 for all other drugs on the preferred list. Crazy stuff, trying to sort thru/ this. I don't know how elderly folks do it w/o someone acting as their advocate.

Ani, call the nearest Costco. Ask them about their pharmacy.

The Costcos in the Philly area do not require membership to use their pharmacy dept. & they are supposed to leave Walmart in the dust. I don't know if the policy is the same here, but it would be worth checking out.

[anifani821]

EM and SB - great suggestions! I am going to do some cost comparisons and price matching. Gonna make some calls (already started!) and find out just what is possible.

I have it under $300. However, I can lower it under $200 w/ WalMart or price matching. So I really appreciate the help. Some of this stuff is just so expensive . . . we won't even get into how I feel about prices charged by the pharma companies. That will make my BP rise, Hee Hee.

[TheEmissary]

Originally Posted by anifani821

EM and SB - great suggestions! I am going to do some cost comparisons and price matching. Gonna make some calls (already started!) and find out just what is possible.

I have it under $300. However, I can lower it under $200 w/ WalMart or price matching. So I really appreciate the help. Some of this stuff is just so expensive . . . we won't even get into how I feel about prices charged by the pharma companies. That will make my BP rise, Hee Hee.

ani - Here is the list of the $4 Walmart drugs. If you can't read the fine print, (most people will need a magnifying glass!!!) - at the top of the first page is a link so you could download it as a much more readable .pdf file. I noticed that my Lisinopril is not available at this price, so one thing I might do is to persuade my doctor to write a new prescription so I could end up with 60 (30 x2) 20 mg tablets so I'd end up paying $8 instead of $19.38 for the same amount. I don't care if I have to take 2 20mg vs 1 40 mg since I have to take the Metoprolol twice a day anyway! Anything to save a buck!



$4 Prescription Program

[nascarnancy]

I've been using the Costco pharmacy for a long time, I give it !

[anifani821]

EM - great ideas! And excellent suggestion about checking out how the script is written as to units and how to get the cheapest deal!!! Who knew? Gosh, one has to be very innovative these days to get around the fine print, as it were!

NANCY - thanks for the rec on Costco! I am working on checking all these options out. It is time consuming but when it comes to a recurring monthly expense, the planning is literally worth every penny!

[chicagocubs]

mornin' all. They are saying that March is going out like a lamb...still too cold for me!

[chicagocubs]

Originally Posted by anifani821

Good morning! Nice to see some sun. Hubby is doing well. Trying to get things organized w/ prescriptions. Geeezzz, this stuff is expensive. Our insurance is lousy on prescriptives, so I immediately thought about WalMart's $4 drugs. I checked this morning and indeed, two of his scripts are on their list. They do a 90 day refill for only $10. That is sooooo much better than our pharmacy can offer. So at least we can get two of the scripts cheaper than we are paying now. That only leaves six to figure out how to get the cheapest. Different drug stores charge different prices w/ our plan. It is not across the board - like $5 for all generics and $25 for all other drugs on the preferred list. Crazy stuff, trying to sort thru/ this. I don't know how elderly folks do it w/o someone acting as their advocate.

glad to hear that he is doing alright. Meds are SO EXPENSIVE!! Hope that you can find a resolution.