Too much to cover in one post...
For starters... Prescription plan covered drugs.
Do you get a Formulary?
How do you check the pricing?
Are plans open ended for price changes?
How sharp is your doctor in selecting generics?
A few starters.
Tricor 30 days approx $430 - Generic fenofibrate -approx $35 but... even there, a little trick from the manufacturer re: dose.
https://www.goodrx.com/blog/why-are-tricor-and-trilipix-so-expensive/
Xarelto... 30 days $432... With my Prescription drug plan it used to be $36/mo., but the company changed payment "tiers", and without warning the price went up to $115 for the same drug.
https://www.goodrx.com/xarelto?drug-name=xARELTO
Another change for 2018... without notice the price of tier 1,2,and 3 drugs
doubled.. and the company stopped sending the Formulary... which used to be a 220 page document. Also many drugs moved from tier one to tier 2. Annual plan cost rose 13%.
Basically, it seems that unless one is willing to spend hours (for people who take multiple prescriptions)... that the only chance to outsmart the vendors, is to have a very smart doctor, who has a handle on the constant changes. Current estimates of the number of US drugs is over 7 thousand.
Old folks (like me) take an average of 4.2 drugs/day. You can check where you fit in here:
https://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/health/rx_midlife_plus.pdf
As mentioned above... just a few starters. Living in a CCRC , the stories about prescription drug costs is endless. Some paying thousands per month, sadly, because the the information available is so obscure.
...........................................................................................
I used to say "My mama had an ugly child, she didn't have a stupid child!:
Now I'm not so sure....
For starters... Prescription plan covered drugs.
Do you get a Formulary?
How do you check the pricing?
Are plans open ended for price changes?
How sharp is your doctor in selecting generics?
A few starters.
Tricor 30 days approx $430 - Generic fenofibrate -approx $35 but... even there, a little trick from the manufacturer re: dose.
https://www.goodrx.com/blog/why-are-tricor-and-trilipix-so-expensive/
Xarelto... 30 days $432... With my Prescription drug plan it used to be $36/mo., but the company changed payment "tiers", and without warning the price went up to $115 for the same drug.
https://www.goodrx.com/xarelto?drug-name=xARELTO
Another change for 2018... without notice the price of tier 1,2,and 3 drugs
doubled.. and the company stopped sending the Formulary... which used to be a 220 page document. Also many drugs moved from tier one to tier 2. Annual plan cost rose 13%.
Basically, it seems that unless one is willing to spend hours (for people who take multiple prescriptions)... that the only chance to outsmart the vendors, is to have a very smart doctor, who has a handle on the constant changes. Current estimates of the number of US drugs is over 7 thousand.
Old folks (like me) take an average of 4.2 drugs/day. You can check where you fit in here:
https://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/health/rx_midlife_plus.pdf
As mentioned above... just a few starters. Living in a CCRC , the stories about prescription drug costs is endless. Some paying thousands per month, sadly, because the the information available is so obscure.
...........................................................................................
I used to say "My mama had an ugly child, she didn't have a stupid child!:
Now I'm not so sure....
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