Where do you get your prescription drugs and who pays for them?

[gristy]

Though I have my own insurance (I pay for it myself, and am not in a group plan), I don't ask for reimbursement on drugs (don't want to give them any excuse to cancel me). So I got a shock at my local pharamacy today: $353 for not quite a 2 month supply of drugs (insulin, syringes, Lipitor). Either prices are going up or I hadn't been paying close enough attention.

So I said no thanks and went home to check a pharmacy in Canada that I used once a while back. The cost of the same items is $219. That's a 38% savings!

So answer this poll:

Where do you get your prescription drugs and who pays for them?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. No health insurance

I have a cheap prescription, though-Armour thyroid for $7.50 for a month's supply. The rest of what I take is non-prescription supplements supplied by my MD, and I work part time at her office, so I get a discount there. BTW, NO WAY do I go to Wal-Mart pharmacy-go to a LOCAL one, not a chain. Help the small businessman.

[Sven77]

6. my med payments are too much

I am unemployed, I had to pay 100$ for a 5 min doctors visit, and then a 300$ tsh (thryroid) blood test to buy 38$ prescription at walmart for 100 thyroid pills. Worst of all my doctor tries to convince me that I should take this test 2x a year. My thyroid level has been the same for 15 yrs. they just want my cash.

If anyone has some links to medical forums and message boards, please link them here.

[Melinda]

2. How about an HMO option - we have Kaiser :-(

[greendog]

3. I used to drive up to BC every three months...

My prescriptions were costing $1600.00 per year in the US. By going to Canada I saved half.

Recently, I talked my doctor into prescribing generic drugs to replace the fancy big name drugs I was taking. Now I pay $21.00 per month and am having better luck with the generics than I was with the high priced stuff.

:)

[REP]

16. My Cost Would Be $2,100 Per Month Without Insurance

I have some of the costliest diseases on earth (diabetes, non-diabetic kidney disease, asthma and others), plus I'm allergic to many drugs, and the ones I'm not allergic to are often expensive. I just picked up four that without coverage would have been $1,100.00 - and I take 13 prescriptions every day, and now I'm on three weeks of Cipro.

I have Kaiser, and like the other Kaiser members, have nothing but praise for my PCPs and Kaiser's prescription service.

[TexasPatriot]

4. you left off the following option

"In a parking lot, my Maid buys them from her dealer"

i know of at least one DU fan that could use that one.

[gristy]

5. I added the option you suggested.

Funny!

[Dr Fate]

7. Ha-ha- From Rush's housekeeper!!!...

!!!

[sexybomber]

8. I couldn't tell you...

I'm in good enough health that I'm not on any prescription pills :-)

[SoCalDem]

12. Just you wait..

I am not wishing any bad luck upon you, but if you are young-ish, that's the way it works. For YEARS we had union rx coverage and the prescription drugs were FREE..and of course no one ever even needed a prescription except for the occasional painkiller or antibiotic..

Now that we are older, and we have rather sketchy insurance (still union, but much watered down over the years), and my husband has diabetes now, some of the ones he takes cost us $50.00 on a co-pay.. Our co-pay is a 3 tiered co-pay (it sucks).. Some drugs are a $10 co-pay, some are $25 co-pay and others are $50 co-pay... I have asked him to let the doctor know this, since, he takes quite a few, and if there is a $10 pill that will do the same as the $50, THAT'S the one we want..

and..

part of the plan is that for maintenance drugs, we MUST use their mail-order outlet.. It's ok, except that the first time we used them, they shorted us and gave us a hard time, so now we actually count every pill when they arrive..a pain in the butrt for sure..

[pasadenaboy]

9. Kaiser

I use Kaiser for my medical coverage and I have nothing but praise. They are super effecient.

[mitchtv]

10. other.... Mail order my HMO prefers

90 day supply for thesame copay as 1 mo. at a local preferred pharmacy. Alittle trouble getting started up but generally ok. They just cahnged mail order pharms on me for '04 so I have to start up again, but its worth it

[Beaker]

11. I have medicare.

but I'm on my wife's policy at work, and medicare is my secondary insurer.
through my wife's work policy, My prescription drugs and Dr. visits both cost the same- $10.00 copay per.
However- the meds that i do take are not all that expensive anyway, and if I had to rely on the new Medicare program, it wouldn't be worth it to me for the prescription drug benefit.
I intend to stay with traditional medicare part B as long as possible.

[VOX]

13. Have insurance, but the Rx co-pays keeps getting bigger and bigger...

If you need 2-3-4 different meds/month, the co-pays really put a dent in the budget.

[theoceansnerves]

14. target pharmacy

no insurance, but they will "price match" (yes...just like a television set or something) the lowest price of anyone who has that drug in stock. i have them price match costco. they call once a month to see what costco charges, and thats my price. pretty nice considering i don't have a costco membership.

[trof]

15. online and insurance

Order online from Merck-Medco.
Insurance is a retirement benefit that is (so far) free.
Used to copay $30 for 90 40mg Pravachol (cholesterol lowering statin)tablets (a 90 day supply).
Copay recently went up to $50.

[Padraig18]

17. Health insurance, but no prescription coverage.

I buy from my local pharmacy (independent), and pay for my own--- $183/month. :grr:

[lapislzi]

18. Where's the "other" option?

I purchase my Prilosec from New Zealand/Fiji for LESS THAN MY HMO CO-PAY. Every time I presented my prescription at a pharmacy, the HMO would give me a hard time, sometimes making me wait weeks before authorizing the pharmacy to fill the script, and I'd have to pay out-of-pocket for individual pills, for which I could never be reimbursed. Then they would charge me $50 for my trouble. I have been using the same online pharmacy for 3 years now, with no problem. I order 6 months' worth at a pop, and it arrives in 2 weeks.

If anyone wants information about the pharmacy, PM me.

[adriennel]

19. dream come true

first I was uninsured and paid approximately $800 cash per month for 3 prescriptions.

then I had student insurance in graduate school--but that plan only covered $1000 per year total for prescription meds.

finally, I have a job that provides good insurance at a reasonable price. it was one of the most exciting aspects of getting this job! My prescription co-pay is $7!!!

my scripts did cost about half as much cash as in Canada.

also, if anyone is paying cash for their scripts it is worth checking out smaller,indepdendent pharmacies than the chains (i.e. CVS). It actually cost less at my local pharmacy than at the chains, which actually kind of surprised me.