When the Cost of Yearly Prescriptions Equals the Cost of a Family Vacation
I’d say, when the cost of yearly prescriptions is the same cost as a family vacation, you’re paying too much. How can this be when you have private health insurance? Private health insurance companies, who you pay a monthly premium to, either don’t cover your med, even though a physician, who went to school to be a physician, says you need it, or they don’t cover enough of the medication. Who is the insurance company to say that you don’t need a specific medication or that another one would be better for you because it’s cheaper for them to pay for?
I was in line at the pharmacy a few days ago, and with my nursing background and current business, I always listen to what the people ahead of me are paying, just in case I need to swoop in and help them get a lower cost. I consider myself somewhat of a medication cost savings superhero. Unfortunately, not many healthcare professionals, especially pharmacists, tell you that you can be saving money on these life-saving medications. As a nurse who worked in the ER for several years, it was sad to see the amount of people who would show up in the ER because they weren’t taking their medications, all because they couldn’t afford them. Not taking their medications would cause emergency situations, as well as an ER/hospital bill on top of the medications they can’t afford.
My husband was prescribed a medication/injection to help him breathe better and the cost was $220 per month. Obviously, we want him to breathe, but also, that’s a lot of money! I later found a manufacturer coupon for him, since it was a brand name, and it brought the cost down to $0. The sad thing is, when I went to sign him up for it, he had already been signed up, but nobody told us. I still don’t know who signed him up. We had no idea, so we were not utilizing the coupon with the pharmacy.
My son was prescribed a steroid inhaler a few years ago and our insurance would not cover it. The cost was $180 per month. I was able to find a manufacturer coupon that brought it down to $16. I told his NP at the asthma office that our insurance did not cover his inhaler and she ended up giving us 4-5 inhaler samples. We didn’t have to refill his prescription for about a year and a half, which was last week. I had to start from square one again. I first asked his NP for samples again and she stated they can no longer get samples for that specific medication. Then I re-downloaded the manufacturer coupon. When I went to pick up his prescription, they said it’d be $80 with the coupon, still too expensive in my opinion. I still had a few extra days to figure out the cost, so I reached back out to the asthma office. They suggested that I switch him to another steroid inhaler in the same family. I was not happy about this, considering he was allergic to another steroid inhaler he had tried at the hospital; however, I was willing to try another one and watch him like a hawk to make sure he was not allergic to it. This inhaler would be $35 with my insurance and then $15 with the manufacturer coupon. Not a bad deal to go from $180 down to $15. The good news is he was not allergic to the inhaler and we saved money.
I hope this brings some insight into a few ideas on how to save money on medications, as well as what healthcare workers don’t tell us about saving money. It is possible to lower the cost of your medications and LahSET is here to help. LahSET has saved clients an average of $2,331 on medication costs annually. What would you do with all of the extra money you could save on your medication? Where would you go on vacation?
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