Prescription plans and prices

[Sean of the Thread]

My few NECESSARY prescriptions are cheap thankfully. However some of the ones that I can do with out cost a fuck fortune.

Anyone know of a decent rx plan/coverage or some shit that I know nothing about.

NECESSARY:
Lopressor 100mg daily. $8 for 60
Librium 25mg 3x daily. $10 for 90

UNNECESSARY:
Flonase = equal a fortune something like $80 a snifter.
Proventil = Pricey
Flector Patches = $344 fucking dollars for 60.

PB I'm guessing you're self insured but any info in that department locally would be helpful as well.

Anyone with personal insight into self insurance would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to dive in blind if possible.

Also if any surgeons in the Tampa Bay Area or hell within a few hours drive would like to hook me up with a deal on a biopsy send me a u2u.


P.s. FLECTOR PATCHES rule! I guess they're just like the over the counter NSAIDS but put directly on the affected area (my case shoulder) and don't go thru your system (liver/kidneys).

My shoulder has been shit since the bike accident (already fucked up shoulder from football days) but I've used two patches and it feels brand fucking new.

Just thought I'd share.

[Warriorbird]

Canada and Mexico are your friends.

[Sean of the Thread]

Not an option. Not a legal option anyways.

[crb]

for allergies try just a steroid shot, I get them for free so I don't know how much they cost, but they last all summer and work. They're pretty much the only things that work for me since ornade was taken off the market.

[Ilvane]

I know this is going to sound silly, but have you tried Walmart?

I got my diabetes medicine through them and it was very cheap. 4 bucks for the month.

I saw a couple of your meds on there, generic version of lopressor is 4 bucks, the librium is there, but in a different dosage..might want to check with them.

http://i.walmart.com/i/if/hmp/fusion/four_dollar_drug_list.pdf


Angela

P.S. Flonase is SO overpriced. If you can live without it, try something like generic zyrtec over the counter, which is like 5-6 bucks.

[CrystalTears]

I personally couldn't live at this point without Nasonex (much like Flonase). OTC allergy medicines do not work for me since most of my allergy problems are nasal in nature.

But yeah, I'd look into getting them at Walmart as well.

[Trouble]

What about that Montel Williams drug bus thing? Partnership for Prescription Assistance maybe? I forget. I see the commercials all of the time and they apparently help people get more affordable drugs.

[Parkbandit]

My few NECESSARY prescriptions are cheap thankfully. However some of the ones that I can do with out cost a fuck fortune.

Anyone know of a decent rx plan/coverage or some shit that I know nothing about.

NECESSARY:
Lopressor 100mg daily. $8 for 60
Librium 25mg 3x daily. $10 for 90

UNNECESSARY:
Flonase = equal a fortune something like $80 a snifter.
Proventil = Pricey
Flector Patches = $344 fucking dollars for 60.

PB I'm guessing you're self insured but any info in that department locally would be helpful as well.

Anyone with personal insight into self insurance would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to dive in blind if possible.

Also if any surgeons in the Tampa Bay Area or hell within a few hours drive would like to hook me up with a deal on a biopsy send me a u2u.


P.s. FLECTOR PATCHES rule! I guess they're just like the over the counter NSAIDS but put directly on the affected area (my case shoulder) and don't go thru your system (liver/kidneys).

My shoulder has been shit since the bike accident (already fucked up shoulder from football days) but I've used two patches and it feels brand fucking new.

Just thought I'd share.


You don't want to ask me for advice.. I probably have the craziest insurance plan.

For me, I have catastrophic health insurance.. meaning that anything I need medically, I pay for out of my pocket. In the plan, I get 2 doctor's visits per year for $35, but any prescriptions that I need, I pay for. It does cover things that require over $2,000.. like accidents, surgery, etc.. but nothing under that. I rarely go to the doctors ever.. so it's perfect for me and cheap as hell every month.

For my kids, I have them on a HMO type plan. They can have 6 doctor visits per year and pretty much everything is covered once the deductible is reached.

For my wife, she is on Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida due to a pre-existing condition.

I spend less on these 3 plans a year (over a 30% savings) than I was having taken from my check when I worked for Hilton.. and the plans, for what is covered is better. We tailored our plans to meet our current needs. I never go to the doctor, so paying a bunch of money for me every month was retarded.

[Parkbandit]

What about that Montel Williams drug bus thing? Partnership for Prescription Assistance maybe? I forget. I see the commercials all of the time and they apparently help people get more affordable drugs.


Try generics... you can get $4 prescriptions filled at the evil Walmart.

EVIL!

[Gan]

Walmart and several large chains are running that $4 perscription plan.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=546834

http://i.walmart.com/i/if/hmp/fusion/four_dollar_drug_list.pdf

Wal-Mart lists:

Lopressor = Metoprolol Tartrate 100mg x 60 = $4.00

Librium = not available

Flonase = not available

Proventil = Albuterol = $4.00

Flector = diclofenac = tablets $4.00

[ClydeR]

Below are what the two candidates' websites say about prescription drugs. The quotes below are part of their larger health proposals.


John McCain (http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ba2f1c-c03f-4ac2-8cd5-5cf2edb527cf.htm)
John McCain will look to bring greater competition to our drug markets through safe re-importation of drugs and faster introduction of generic drugs.


Barack Obama (http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/)
The second-fastest growing type of health expenses is prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical companies are selling the exact same drugs in Europe and Canada but charging Americans more than double the price. Obama will allow Americans to buy their medicines from other developed countries if the drugs are safe and prices are lower outside the U.S. Obama will also repeal the ban that prevents the government from negotiating with drug companies, which could result in savings as high as $30 billion. Finally, Obama will work to increase the use of generic drugs in Medicare, Medicaid, and FEHBP and prohibit big name drug companies from keeping generics out of markets.

Both candidates want to solve high drug prices by having us buy drugs from other countries. I do not presume that I am smart enough to figure solve the country's healthcare problems, but I don't think that's a very good idea.

[Warriorbird]

Me either, ClydeR, me either. Especially when we make a lot of those drugs here. There are some legal Canadian and Mexican options as well, Sean2.

[Sean of the Thread]

Actually my scripts were Wally world first but they weren't $4 at the time.

The CVS a mile from my house offered to transfer my business in exchange for a $50 gift card and they're now my primary pharm. They match or reasonably match all prices compared to wally world you just have to ask and they're more than happy to come to a compromise (based on mg etc).

I'm more than comfy paying $20 a month for my needed ones... it's the ones that I don't really need that would kick ass to have I'm worried about.

A+ Flector Patches... I was like bullshit this ain't going to help and overnight I have full range of motion and no pain etc. But $350 bucks for 60 patches... hell no.

As many of you know my past includes self inflicted wounds to the liver. It's all good now with my AST at 41.. high end by 1 point but not 400 like it was before getting off the juice.

What I'm trying to get down is my alkaline phosphatase sitting at 143.

My HDL cholesterol is 1 point lower than range at 39. My LDL is close to high range at 126 with 130mg/dl being the threshold. Need to find a way to work on those.

Other than that I'm a+ except in the shoulder pain department and occasional high blood pressure. It's dropped 60 points since treatment. I average 130ish but without the librium it spikes obviously into the 150/100's. They've got me on tract at least and I feel great.

My goal is to get off all this shit no doubt but it's a pain in the ass.

DASH diet ftl.

[Sean of the Thread]

Me either, ClydeR, me either. Especially when we make a lot of those drugs here. There are some legal Canadian and Mexican options as well, Sean2.

There is like import license shit and what not I'm told but like I said < $20 a month for what I need is just fine with me. I'm not trusting some dumbass canadian or mexican with anything other than a lap dance or dry wall installation.

[Warriorbird]

Ah. Well. Other than Flector you have easy options.

[Sean of the Thread]

I'm to avoid any orally ingested pain relievers such as ibuprofen tylenol asprin any of them.

All effect blood pressure and kidney/liver functions ingested thru the digestive tract.

[Parkbandit]

I'm not trusting some dumbass canadian or mexican with anything other than a lap dance or dry wall installation.

WTF... no landscaping? You suck at stereotyping.

[Sean of the Thread]

Al gore conviced me to xeroscaping so no need for the grubbers grubbing up my lawn.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b236/Japgross/gore.jpg

[crb]

Below are what the two candidates' websites say about prescription drugs. The quotes below are part of their larger health proposals.





Both candidates want to solve high drug prices by having us buy drugs from other countries. I do not presume that I am smart enough to figure solve the country's healthcare problems, but I don't think that's a very good idea.
Here is an issue.

In most other countries if the federal government says a drug is safe, and it turns out not to be safe, it sucks, but thats life.

Here if the federal government says a drug is safe, and it turns out not to be safe, the company who made it loses billions for not being able to leap into the future and or second guess the government's ruling.

In other countries medical lawsuits must meet certain criteria to go forward, and or there are loser-pays laws where if you lose a lawsuit you file you must pay all the other person's fees, not just court filing fees, all fees.

Also, in other countries, the regulatory environment is more lax (good or bad) and you can get drugs to market much sooner. Drugs are often sold in Europe long before they're sold here.

So, a big reason why the same drug costs more here than it does in another country is that other countries put less administrative and legal costs on the drug companies.

[thefarmer]

With insurance and Humana I pay about $50 for what would normally cost me $300 WITH insurance. (And would cost me about 3k without insurance)

[Warriorbird]

Crb... the drugs are usually made here... by our companies. If the costs are so terrible... why do the companies still ship em elsewhere?

[Skeeter]

Sean seeing as you're indigent apply for Medicaid.

[Warriorbird]

Good call.

[ClydeR]

Crb... the drugs are usually made here... by our companies. If the costs are so terrible... why do the companies still ship em elsewhere?

That's what seems so crazy about re-importation. Drug companies make the drugs here, then ship them to Canada or Mexico. Then sick people in the United States buy the drugs from pharmacies in Canada or Mexico, and the pharmacies ship the drugs back to the United States.

And all of that is cheaper than just buying the drugs in the United States in the first place.

You know what I think? I think UPS is the one pushing the re-importation business, because they're the ones who will make a fortune from it.

[crb]

Crb... the drugs are usually made here... by our companies. If the costs are so terrible... why do the companies still ship em elsewhere?
I dunno

take a business class and ask the teacher to explain to you "the cost of doing business" and how that can affect a company's prices. Then ask how it is if it costs more to do business at location A, the prices can be more at location A, then at location B, where doing business is cheaper.

.

.
.
.
.
.


That's what seems so crazy about re-importation. Drug companies make the drugs here, then ship them to Canada or Mexico. Then sick people in the United States buy the drugs from pharmacies in Canada or Mexico, and the pharmacies ship the drugs back to the United States.

What'll be interesting is if we get a case where someone buys drugs from mexico, has a side effect, and then sues the drug company in US courts.

[Warriorbird]

I, for one, welcome our new UPS masters!

[longshot]

I dunno

take a business class and ask the teacher to explain to you "the cost of doing business" and how that can affect a company's prices. Then ask how it is if it costs more to do business at location A, the prices can be more at location A, then at location B, where doing business is cheaper.


That's how the drug companies can justify the price discrimination.

In reality, it's just market segmentation.

A little known fact... the Intel Pentium and the Intel Celeron are the same fucking chip. In fact, it costs more to make the Celeron because they have to fuse some shit together to make the chip run slower.

By segmenting the market, they have the ability to better control prices and maximize profits.

What happens with drugs happens to all kinds of things. Next time you're at Walmart or Walgreens, check out the perfume... check the boxes. In many instances, they are taped over in certain places, or altered in some way. This was because they were sold by the manufacturer at discount prices to vendors or stores outside of the US. They were then re-imported, most likely through duty-free zones, back into the states, and then sold to drug stores. The people that sell the goods to the drug stores need to cover up manufacture codes on the bottles that would give away which overseas source or vendor is selling the product back into the US. That's why certain crap is cut off or covered up on the boxes.

If the manufacturer were to ID the vendor, they'd stop selling to them and kill the source. After all, the manufacturers pay for all those ladies in the white lab coats in Nieman's and Marshall Field's to sell you those bottles at ridiculous prices. They don't want their product in drug stores...

This even happens with Jack Daniels... they soak the labels off to remove the tracing codes written on the bottles and then re-apply them.

This is known as the "grey market." Yes, it's legal.

[Sean of the Thread]

Sean seeing as you're indigent apply for Medicaid.

Pride.

I'm not the type to say "omg how did this happen to me". I know how it happened... I fucking did it to myself.


And yes I've gone from upper middle to indigent in a matter of months. Such is life and of course I was responsible for it. Moving fucking on one day at a time. Got there once and I'll do it again.

[Sean of the Thread]

That's what seems so crazy about re-importation. Drug companies make the drugs here, then ship them to Canada or Mexico. Then sick people in the United States buy the drugs from pharmacies in Canada or Mexico, and the pharmacies ship the drugs back to the United States.

And all of that is cheaper than just buying the drugs in the United States in the first place.

You know what I think? I think UPS is the one pushing the re-importation business, because they're the ones who will make a fortune from it.

UPS guy told me last night that they have made all new routes to include as many right turns as possible. Save gas (no waiting for a left obviously) and lefty turns are highly more probable to cause an accident.

Oh and UPS drivers make a lot of money. Oh and they run the best squares and brackets in town :)

[Warriorbird]

Go work for UPS.

[Sean of the Thread]

I would if I could. Think there is a longer waiting list to be a driver there than there are for Bucs season tickets.

We'll see how my job at Kohl's turns out. I don't know what an OP3 is yet but that's the title I hear. I find out at 4pm for when I go sign the job offer.