Presriptions and insurance

[rockrat]

Had to pick up a prescription for thyroid medicine today. $14.99, not too bad for 90 pills. Got home and it was only 30!???? Called up the pharmacy and they said insurance company would only let them fill it for 30 days. Sooo, I asked how much if I get 90 and do without the insurance. $29.44 for the other 60. Nearly the same cost without insurance (actually a bit cheaper) and I only have to make one trip to town instead of three!! Saves me a couple gallons of gas.

Whats the sense in that??

[lylejb]

You might check goodrx.com. it's a site with coupon discounts. Just enter the name of your medicine, the amount and your zip code and it will return local prices with their coupon. Sometimes it's lower than insurance.

[Beagle333]

'Same way with mine. Since they took it off the "maintenance drug" list, they won't sell me more than 30. Like my thyroid is ever going to suddenly get better?

[MaryB]

Write your state insurance board and file a complaint. Insurance companies will bend over backwards to keep them off their backs!

[Tom W.]

Last year when I had my cancer surgery in January the insurance company called it catastrophic and for the remainder of the year my prescriptions were free..... I'm back to making the co-payments again now.

[Bookworm]

I will not complain about insurance Rx prices. Over a decade ago I was diagnosed with a tough to combat viral infection. The Rx was over $8000 per month. For 11 months.

The insurance through my wifes' work covered it all, no deductible. There is a very good chance I would not be here today but for that. If I gotta pay another $10 or so for whatever Rx I need until death, so be it. Call it karma.

[winelover]

Doctor told me years ago to shop around before filling scripts. My insurance prefers that I get them filled by Express Scripts, through the mail, in three month intervals. However, I have found that certain maintenance drugs are occasionally, three times cheaper at Costco or Walmart. Ten dollars for a 90 day supply, rather than the thirty that Express Scripts demands. Walmart fills, two of my three, prescriptions.

Winelover

[RED BEAR]

You might try RX outreach. Are a nonprofit and meds are very cheap.( if you qualify financially I think it is $48,000 per couple . one of my prescriptions at Walmart was & 640 per month rxoutreach was 25.

[rond]

Some insurance companies have a mail to the house program for 90 day prescriptions, you might check with yours.

[lightman]

Some insurance companies have a mail to the house program for 90 day prescriptions, you might check with yours.

Mine offers that program but its only for selected drugs. Its cheaper but the down side is that they are delivered by either Fed X or UPS and require a signature. That means that you are tied down for a day or two. Their delivery dates and tracking info have been very accurate so far.

[mold maker]

The mail-order outfit I had to deal with required several phone calls to verify and give permission to ship each script, each time. If I wasn't home they wouldn't ship and I ran out. The hassle of their procedures way outweighed the savings.
I'd rather deal with the local drug-store and pay a little more for the instant, and hassle-free service.

[smoked turkey]

We have just switched our drug coverage to Express Scripts. We just filled our first prescription at our small local pharmacy for the wife's thyroid medicine. $15 for 90 day supply. We are going to check on home delivery for the next time.

[popper]

Has a lot to do with where your pham/ins. gets their meds. Used to get Warferin cheap, then changed insur. Co. and cost went way up. (medco - canada). A lot of the rates are set by congress during end of year recess, then ins. co. get to play with the numbers.

[farmerjim]

Caremark mail order metformin 90 day $10 and at local pharmacy $ 0.96.
One of wife's anti rejection drugs, Mail order $10 and at Local pharmacy $ 1,800.00.
Warfarin was about $ 0.50 a month for me, but I could not keep a stable PT level.
Switched to xarelto, $ 80 for 90 days.

[higgins]

My wife gets Levothyroxine, a generic thyroid medicine, at no charge through our Humana Medicare supplement (PartD) drug plan. 90-day supply by usps, no shipping charges, no signatures, no nothing. Fortunately, all our maintenance drugs are generics and can be sent that way. If they can do so with the drug you're taking Humana will encourage you to get a 90-day supply by mail.

[Lloyd Smale]

the did that with my blood pressure meds. Used to get 90 and they told me I could now only get 30. I went to my doctor and he was willing to write me a new script saying I had to take it twice a day so I could then get at least 60 at a time. Don't know how many doctors would be willing to do it in the liability crazy world today. the insurance I had when working didn't care how many I got at a time but my blue cross supplement wont allow it. I suppose so they can have me pay my co pay every month instead of every 3 months.

[Beau Cassidy]

Yep, Lloyd. I can't speak for other providers but I play the insurance game all the time and love to take advantage of them when I can. I will gladly write for 3 months worth of a med or write it to be taken a little more often than needed but only for good patients I know will adhere to what I am telling them to do.

[KCcactus]

Blue Cross changed our prescription coverage last year to only allow more than a 30 day supply if you go to one of their "preferred pharmacies". If you go to a contracting one that isn't preferred, you can't get more than a 30 day supply. You might want to look at your policy info and see if they do something similar. Go to a non-contracting pharmacy and get ready to be gouged.

I ended up paying for one of my medicines outside insurance because the pharmacy can compound a version that is significantly cheaper than their cost for the brand of generic that BC requires them to sell me. Plus, I don't have to get it re-approved by BC 2-3 times each year. Only downside is it doesn't count towards my $3,000 deductible. Even for generics, there can be a wide variation in price between brands for the same medicine.

[hanleyfan]

with Humana and I get all my tier 1 and 2 drugs free through their pharmcy but it has to be a 90 day supply.

[Artful]

With the Obamacare - it was many times cheaper to just upgrade to higher level of sam's club membership and use that discount instead of the insurance - just remember to report your purchase to insurance so it goes against your deductible. Coupon's can be a life saver.

[johnho]

I also use thyroid medicine and have gotten it at walmart for years. $10 for 90 day supply. Other day I went in and it was almost $30 for same thing. Ask why. well seem the hurricane wiped out the suppler, go figure. Here in FL it's always the hurricane's fault. I have Humana Rx plan also, I will have to try that on next refill.

[fatelk]

If anyone has to take very expensive medication, be sure to check and see if the drug company has a "co-pay assist" program available. My 12yo son has been on a $4,000 per month medication for 8 years, and co-pay assist is the only way we can afford it.

[smokeywolf]

I seem to remember Mrs. smokeywolf saying that for maintenance type meds, Walgreens was our best choice.

[LUBEDUDE]

I was lucky that my doctor was ahead of the curve. He told me to buy my thyroid pills without insurance years ago so I wouldn’t have the OP’s problem.