Presciption Cost

[Idnar7]

Just went on Medicare 5/01. Purchased Part D coverage for about $37/mo. I just used it today for the first time, and it seems like the cost is higher than before. With medical insurance statements you can see what the costs were versus what was covered. Prescriptions do not give this transparency. Any way to know what the actual cost of a prescription would be? I am looking for something like total prescription cost vs my cost. Precscriptions do not seem to be included on medical paperwork.

[rbmrtn]

You should get EOBs from medicare and the drug coverage. Many of the drug plans have online access to your info ( Caremark, SilverScript etc ) where you can get the cost info.

[imoldernu]

A general comment...
As Part D insurance is due for renewal, you may want to re-check the current drug company coverage for changes. For years, we just trusted what we already had. This year one of the more expensive prescriptions was dropped from our list.
An extra $400/year that we didn't expect.

Each of our prescription containers is always accompanied by a detail page with all dosages, instructions, ID numbers and the total cost, as well as the price I paid.

[sengsational]

If you want the price that someone off the street (without insurance) would pay, you can look at goodrx.com.

[Idnar7]

Thanks all for the replies.

[kaneohe]

medicare.gov is a useful website when selecting Rx plans during open enrollment but you can use anytime to check Rx costs. When you get there click on "Find health and Rx Plans", enter zip code, click find plans. Answer the questions , enter your Rx info, pharmacies and mail order. You will end up with a list of plans from cheapest first something like this http://www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan/...plan-list.aspx

Double-click on the name of a particular plan and you end with something like this: http://www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan/...=064&sgmntid=0

that lists full price and the cost you pay. It's a bit confusing.....mail order is probably stated as $/3mos. vs retail which is $/mo and the costs list premium as well as Rx cost...........the bar graph helps in separating out the various costs and you can select tabs for mail order or retail....the charts will tell youif the costs are for 1 mo or 3 mos.

[OAG]

Suggest you ask your Doctor if there are Generics for the medication you take. The generics can be much cheaper and in some case free outside of the plan D's.

[JOHNNIE36]

Some things you can do to cut cost:
1. Check your present cost with Costco, Sam's, WalMart, etc. At WalMart, I pay $10 (90 day supply) for one of my prescriptions. Same as my prescription drug company but that $10 does not get entered into the donut hole calculation.
2. DW takes Metformin for diabetes. It's free at Publix Supermarket. Publix will only fill this prescription 30 days at a time, so her doctor wrote the script "to be filled every 39 days".
3. We have a Medicare Advantage plan. That plan has many drugs that are now free and we get a (90) day supply.

Your doctor might have some recommendations on lowest places to buy your prescription drugs. Back when I was on Plavix, I got it through a Canadian medical supply company since I could save about $100 on a 90 day supply.
You just have to investigate and spend some time on the phone and internet.

[Idnar7]

Thanks again for all the replies. I have researched the sites advised and that has helped. One of my prescriptions - Glipizide - went from $14.48 to $62.16 for 180 days. Others went down. Seems to vary by medicine/insurance/drugstore. Like the convenience of one store, but wondering about shopping around by medicine. Seems to be about 40% higher. BC/BS MedicareBlue Rx at CVS.