I spent part of the day today calling pharmacies and pricing my most urgent prescriptions now that I don't have insurance or prescription drug coverage. Never do this. It's too depressing for words.
I only priced the four that need to be refilled in the next two weeks. No point in going through the hassle if it doesn't need to be refilled yet, because the prices might be different in Indiana. One of my prescriptions-- just one prescription, for one month-- is $1011.49. And that's the cheapest price I could find for that one. It's a steroid, and I've been weening myself off of it anyway, so I may just take my last nine pills and hope for the best. I have a bottle of Prednisone for emergencies. It plays merry hell with the body, but it's cheap. If I start to crash and burn without the other steroid I'll just start up on the Pred. I could buy a couple of years' worth of Pred for the price of one month of the other stuff.
I will say one thing for my thousand dollar steroids. They make my $130/month Savella look mighty cheap in comparison. And the Savella, at least in the short term, would be much more miserable to go off.
EGAD!!! So, um, any cheap insurance options? Wow. FGBV's!
ReplyDeleteHate this for you, honey. Really. Am sending lots of FGBVs your way.
ReplyDeleteI priced Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Indiana earlier this summer, and they were willing to offer me a policy for a little under $800/month. Most places won't touch me because I'm a walking, talking pre-existing condition. (Can't wait for 2014 and the "no denial for pre-existing condtions" clause to kick in.) But BCBS wouldn't help me on this one, because the only plan they're willing to give me doesn't cover name brand meds, only generic. And of course this type of steroid hasn't been on the market long enough to have a generic.
ReplyDeleteOn the positive side, a friend suggested I check into Walgreens' prescription plan. It's $35/year to join, and it looks like it should save me about $100/year just on the Savella. There are several more meds that are probably covered, but I couldn't get the plan pricing online, so I'll have to talk to the pharmacist when I go in tomorrow.
OH Sweetie, this sucks so bad. I know what you are going through because of Mom's situation right now.
ReplyDeleteWe are looking forward to the upcoming Fed regulations changing as well, our 21 year old would have to be dropped from her Dad's policy completely if these new rules weren't getting ready to kick in soon.
Keep up the good fight, you will find the right way, I just know it.
Julie
800 a month? That is more than half what I make as a sixth year teacher with a master's degree and no debilitating conditions. BCBS is awesome coverage but yowza who could pay for it privately???? My school just switched to a plan underwritten by them and it saved me about $60 a month on my antihistamine and antidepressant. Yup, I'm ANTI everything :P
ReplyDeletehope walgreens can help. have you checked out sams club? i think they havea similar program.