The cost of Prescription Drugs....ouch!

[Blondie]

I made the mistake of not bringing my BC&BS insurance card to fill a prescription for my son the other night. I could've sworn he had an RX filled under our new insurance at this CVS, but I guess not because they didn't have an insurance card on file to run it through.

The cost of that little mistake:

$47.39 for the cough syrup

and

$87.89 for the antibiotic

I went back the next day to present our insurance card and to get reimbursed the difference. The RX's ended up costing

$8.26 for the cough syrup

and

$16.23 for the antiobiotic

Big difference, huh!!!

 

[AirForceRocks]

Wow, I had no idea how expensive prescriptions had gotten! I just take mine in and they hand me the medicine, no cost.

 

[Boots]

I have an elderly friend who says she divides up her medicine to get different ones refilled each week as she can't afford to have them all done at the same time! It is outrageous!!!

 

[tiggerlover]

Wow, I had no idea the cost of prescription drugs. How do people without insurance afford it?! DH is in the military, so all of our scripts are free, I can't imagine having to pay those prices. I am so glad they were able to reimburse you the difference.

 

[grinningghost]

I take one prescription drug for my MS that would cost $900.00 a month without insurance coverage. I pay $20.00. Scary. If I lose my Rx coverage, I'm in big trouble. (And that's not the only Rx I'm on).

 

[vickyBaby]

That is so sad Boots. My DH, DS and myself are all on "maintenance" medications (different health issues). I'm thankful that some of it is covered under insurance. But it really does add up.

 

[Blondie]

Tiggerlover, I remember medicine costing nothing when I was little, my Dad was in the Navy. We'd just go down to the hospital's pharmacy, get the medicine and go home. No money involved!

 

[nativetxn]

My mother takes Pacerone twice a day. It costs her $3+ for each pill.

Her social security check just about covers her prescriptions. Thank goodness she doesn't have to pay for rent, utilities or food.

 

[luvwinnie]

$180 for NINE pills...another drug I take for the Connective Tissue Disease would be about $101 every 3 weeks. I pay $40 for each.

 

[Blondie]

How do people without insurance do it? I guess they stay sick!

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

my ex husband is a public school teacher. when we first got married, there was no co pay on prescription drugs covered by his plan. those days are long gone.

the dd's are covered by his plan and by my plan. for my plan I have to use a participating pharmacy -- like an HMO. his plan let's you use any drugstore, but there's a co pay.

I had a prescription for dd filled yesterday. since it wasn't a pharmacy on my plan, I used his coverage. the co pay was $15!


I suspect it will be cheaper if I use my plan next time. I have to get a list of participating pharmacies.

 

[Tartan Tigger]

I used to complain about the cost of a prescription in the UK, well, I did until my sister had to get a prescription when we were in WDW in July. I will NEVER complain about our costs again.

 

[candykisses]

The prices have gotten so out of hand....thank goodness I have good insurance and most of Ray's meds are covered by No Fault Insurance. During a non-sick month, his meds and supplies run a couple of thousand dollars.

On the not so lucky side, is my brother. He has medicare and a private insurance. Both insurances do not cover that much. he has Hodgkin's Disease and asthma. The asthma will probably kill him first. He takes 3 different inhalers a day plus Singular. He takes 7 different scripts for various problems with the Hodgkin's. His insurance only pays $100.00 per month. That means he skips dosages. It's so sad.

 

[becka]

DH takes two maintenance medications for both his allergies and his asthma. I was just filling out my flex reimbursement for this month and I happened to notice that the pharmacy puts the "regular" non-insurance costs on the slip as well as our co-pay cost.

Without insurance these would be the monthly costs...

Asthma med #1 - $16.32
Asthma med #2 - $145.88
Allergy med #1 - $69.32
Allergy med #2 - $61.32

The total per month would be: $292.84
The total cost per year would be: 3,514.08

It is a very good thing we have insurance.

 

[EROS]

OUTRAGEOUS . Of course, my greater concern rests with the over 20,000,000 Americans who have NO health coverage . Fortunately our drug company reps are very generous with provision of samples, but often I still have to write Rxs which I know may not be affordable for many patients ..............

 

[Rock'n Robin]

This scares me a great deal. I have a $5 copay now. This is one reason I could never be a stay-at-home mom, since DH owns his own small company and has no health insurance. My teaching insurance is very good, but they are considering changing it for retirees--if you retire before age 60 you may have to pay your full premium until that age. Which means instead of retiring at 53 (when I first can) or 58 (when DS gets out of college) I'll be working until I'm 60 so DH and I can keep our insurance.
Robin M.

 

[Blondie]

Originally posted by EROS
Fortunately our drug company reps are very generous with provision of samples, but often I still have to write Rxs which I know may not be affordable for many patients ..............

Many patients do not know to ask if their MD has samples or not.

When getting a new RX, always ask your MD if he has any samples. He/she may sometimes forget to offer it to you if it's available!

 

[Marla Hellwig]

My dad's one prescription is 1,300.00 a month - the other one is 1,769.99 for 4 shots (once a week) - thank heavens his co - pay is 25.00 each for these

 

[Blondie]

Marla! Yikes! That is outrageous!

 

[Kitty 34]

It's scary how much drugs are! It's pretty sad when illegal drugs seem cheaper!