TrumpRX.gov - What Ya Think?

[pb4uski]

Interesting WSJ article on TrumpRx:

https://www.wsj.com/health/pharma/trump-rx-drug-website-dd69f565?st=sMdf9T&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

...The website likely won’t have a substantial impact on the amount most Americans pay for their prescriptions, as most of Americans are insured—either through private or government plans—and are likely to get a better deal on the drugs via their coverage. The roughly 27 million Americans who are uninsured are those most likely to benefit from the direct-to-consumer offerings.

“TrumpRx is really catering to the self-pay market. That’s just a very small percentage of Americans,” said Ipsita Smolinski, a health policy consultant. “You just don’t have a big proportion of Americans that are able to take advantage.”

 

[marko]

Amazon has been trying to get into the Pharmacy business and found that it’s very challenging. The US pharma market is over $600B and it is not competitive.

Off topic, but I had to switch to Amazon Pharmacy when CVS stopped providing Pill Pack meds (daily multi doses in a strip of envelopes) for my brother.

I found them amazingly refreshing! Easy to use online and if you need to talk to someone, they pick up in less than a minute and are incredibly helpful and well informed.

 

[MichaelB]

Interesting WSJ article on TrumpRx:

https://www.wsj.com/health/pharma/trump-rx-drug-website-dd69f565?st=sMdf9T&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

It’s a good article, thanks for linking it.

To reinforce what DisneySteve said earlier, there is an assumption that having prescription drug insurance means all my pharma needs are covered. That is not the case. Aside from mental health many formularies only include 1 or 2 drugs per category of illness.

Even when they are covered, in my case Plan D, they can be on different tiers, meaning different levels of cosh sharing for me.

There are many, many moving parts here.

 

[Chuckanut]

I'm hoping it will give financial help for many people. After kinks are worked out and being tweaked through time it maybe a saver and game changer for the people. I'm always open to improvement and not fast to judgement!!

Mark Cuban’s Rx plan is supposed to be fairly good from what I have read. Personally, I have never used it as my few prescriptions are common generics that usually cost the $5 copay, max.

But, the reality is that the thrifty shopper should shop prescriptions. Sometimes Costco can be much cheaper. Or Good Rx. Or using insurance. Or skipping insurance. It’s a jungle of confusion out there.

 

[ncbill]

None of my meds are offered there.

Were I w/o insurance coverage I'd use Amazon Pharmacy as the generics I take are cheap there.

 

[Montecfo]

It's kind of funny, it's a "scam" because most people are insured.

I think in the rush to throw the baby out with the bath water we are forgetting there are lots of people that are not insured, or not insured for all drugs. That actually would describe most of us.

 

[Car-Guy]

As many of us have discovered over the years, just because someone has drug coverage doesn’t mean all drugs are covered. It also doesn’t mean the cost to us for a covered drug is affordable.

Drug companies use many different distribution channels to get their drugs into different market segments. There have been other initiatives like GoodRX and Cost Plus Drugs. When an initiative focuses on one channel the pharmaceutical companies shift their distribution into another.

This is a really tough nut to crack because there is so much money, not only in pharmaceutical production but also distribution.

Very sophisticated shell game

Amazon has been trying to get into the Pharmacy business and found that it’s very challenging. The US pharma market is over $600B and it is not competitive.

corrupted. (Fixed it for you)

 

[Koolau]

It’s a good article, thanks for linking it.

To reinforce what DisneySteve said earlier, there is an assumption that having prescription drug insurance means all my pharma needs are covered. That is not the case. Aside from mental health many formularies only include 1 or 2 drugs per category of illness.

Even when they are covered, in my case Plan D, they can be on different tiers, meaning different levels of cosh sharing for me.

There are many, many moving parts here.

I don't know if other mail order pharmacies are like this. Mine said "we will no longer supply Jardiance but will supply Farxiga. BUT if, for instance you are allergic to Farxiga, we will supply Jardiance." Words to that effect.

I forget the details, but it was more or less "We consider these virtually equivalent BUT if there is some reason you MUST use the prescribed med, we'll cover it."

 

[disneysteve]

I don't know if other mail order pharmacies are like this. Mine said "we will no longer supply Jardiance but will supply Farxiga. BUT if, for instance you are allergic to Farxiga, we will supply Jardiance." Words to that effect.

I forget the details, but it was more or less "We consider these virtually equivalent BUT if there is some reason you MUST use the prescribed med, we'll cover it."

This is a huge problem in medicine. The insurance plans and pharmacy benefit managers are overriding prescribing decisions. Sure, Jardiance and Farxiga are in the same drug class but that doesn't mean they are identical. If they were, Farxiga never would have gotten FDA approval. In order to do that, they had to prove that they were sufficiently different to justify coming to market. If your doctor wants you on Jardiance, you should get Jardiance, not Farxiga.

This was always a big problem every January when companies would update their formularies and patients would switch plans. Suddenly half of their meds were no longer covered and we had to waste countless hours jumping through inane hoops to get them the meds they needed.

The system is broken.

 

[Koolau]

This is a huge problem in medicine. The insurance plans and pharmacy benefit managers are overriding prescribing decisions. Sure, Jardiance and Farxiga are in the same drug class but that doesn't mean they are identical. If they were, Farxiga never would have gotten FDA approval. In order to do that, they had to prove that they were sufficiently different to justify coming to market. If your doctor wants you on Jardiance, you should get Jardiance, not Farxiga.

This was always a big problem every January when companies would update their formularies and patients would switch plans. Suddenly half of their meds were no longer covered and we had to waste countless hours jumping through inane hoops to get them the meds they needed.

The system is broken.

My Doctor prefers Jardiance (she put DW on it - different pharmacy) but was just fine with Farxiga for me. So, I wasn't worried and was happy that they covered Farxiga. My doctor would have gone to bat for me if she had a strong preference for Jardiance.

I would say that most of the time, this isn't a serious issue. When it is, your doctor is the first line of defense.

 

[bobandsherry]

My Doctor prefers Jardiance (she put DW on it - different pharmacy) but was just fine with Farxiga for me. So, I wasn't worried and was happy that they covered Farxiga. My doctor would have gone to bat for me if she had a strong preference for Jardiance.

I would say that most of the time, this isn't a serious issue. When it is, your doctor is the first line of defense.

My wife was on Farxiga, it was $75 a quarter, then our insurer FloridaBlue decided to change the tier mid-year and it was going to cost over $750. Her Dr suggested Brenzavvy. FloridaBlue doesn't cover that, but it's cheaper to pay cash price of $180/qtr. She could get it for slightly less through Cuban's CostPlus. She's done well on this lesser known and lower cost option.

 

[Koolau]

My wife was on Farxiga, it was $75 a quarter, then our insurer FloridaBlue decided to change the tier mid-year and it was going to cost over $750. Her Dr suggested Brenzavvy. FloridaBlue doesn't cover that, but it's cheaper to pay cash price of $180/qtr. She could get it for slightly less through Cuban's CostPlus. She's done well on this lesser known and lower cost option.

Yeah, in my case the pharmacy HAD covered Jardiance the year before but changed the next year not to cover it. Not a big deal, but a mild hassle 'cause I had to run it past my doctor and get her to change the script.

So glad you were able to find a substitute at a cost you can afford.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

We have ACA insurance, so I don't think we qualify to get our prescriptions from here.

Just curious... Has anyone found any prices on this website that were 800% lower? 900% lower? 1000% lower?
500% lower?

I heard somewhere that there was an initiative where prescription prices were supposed to be coming down.

 

[Koolau]

We have ACA insurance, so I don't think we qualify to get our prescriptions from here.

Just curious... Has anyone found any prices on this website that were 800% lower? 900% lower? 1000% lower?
500% lower?

I heard somewhere that there was an initiative where prescription prices were supposed to be coming down.

I think Zepbound is around $1200 or $1300 list and on the site it's like $300. I guess that's 400% lower. We looked 'cause DW is considering the drug which is not covered by her insurance.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

I think Zepbound is around $1200 or $1300 list and on the site it's like $300. I guess that's 400% lower. We looked 'cause DW is considering the drug which is not covered by her insurance.

Simple math:
If something costs $1,200, and they lowered the cost by 100% ($1,200), then it would be free.

If the cost was lowered by 200% ($2,400) then they would have to pay you $1,200 to take it from them.

If the cost was lowered by 300% ($3,600) then they would have to pay you $2,400 to take it from them.

If the cost was lowered by 400% ($4,800) then they would have to pay you $3,600 to take it from them.

So it looks like the savings on this drug is more like 75%. (If the price of an item is lowered from $1,200.00 to $300.00, you are saving 75% off the original price)

 

[Donno]

I take one of the drugs on TrumpRX that is not covered by my Part D insurance plan. When this "initiative" was announced, the drug price came down by $50/month, so it certainly helped me save some money.

 

[disneysteve]

I take one of the drugs on TrumpRX that is not covered by my Part D insurance plan. When this "initiative" was announced, the drug price came down by $50/month, so it certainly helped me save some money.

Had you previously checked for discounts like GoodRx or manufacturer coupons?

 

[disneysteve]

We have ACA insurance, so I don't think we qualify to get our prescriptions from here.

Just curious... Has anyone found any prices on this website that were 800% lower? 900% lower? 1000% lower?
500% lower?

I heard somewhere that there was an initiative where prescription prices were supposed to be coming down.

You certainly qualify for discount plans like GoodRx on an ACA plan.

And no, the numbers being thrown out are by someone who doesn’t understand math. You can’t lower a price more than 100% because that would make it free. More than 100% and they’d have to pay you.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

But, the reality is that the thrifty shopper should shop prescriptions. Sometimes Costco can be much cheaper. Or Good Rx. Or using insurance. Or skipping insurance. It’s a jungle of confusion out there.

I agree, I double check every med myself or DW is given. DW however cannot be bothered, so I do it for here, albeit she is learning. However, some older folks may not have the resources or wherewithal to do this. It is not really fair to them as often they end up paying more as a result for the same meds more savvy folk do.

 

[MichaelB]

You certainly qualify for discount plans like GoodRx on an ACA plan.

And no, the numbers being thrown out are by someone who doesn’t understand math. You can’t lower a price more than 100% because that would make it free. More than 100% and they’d have to pay you.

Im 200% in agreement with this.

Who is it that said “numbers is hard?”

 

[bobandsherry]

We have ACA insurance, so I don't think we qualify to get our prescriptions from here.

TrumpRX does not sell, distribute or ship anything. It's a bare bones search site, providing links, and maybe another link, to possibly a coupon that brings you to a possible product. The reality falls well short of the hype, IMHO.

You can get the prescriptions listed on the site, just note that insurance isn’t accepted by the dispensing pharmacy. That said, depending on your plan, paying cash can sometimes be cheaper than using insurance, or your insurance may not cover certain medications. For example, several of my wife’s prescriptions cost less when we skip insurance and use a discounted cash price instead. Whenever you’re paying out of pocket, it’s worth checking for lower cash prices through services like GoodRx. They often have coupons or special discounts you can show directly to your pharmacist.

 

[bobandsherry]

I think Zepbound is around $1200 or $1300 list and on the site it's like $300. I guess that's 400% lower. We looked 'cause DW is considering the drug which is not covered by her insurance.

The math on that doesn’t quite work. A price can’t be “400% lower” because the biggest possible reduction is 100% (that would mean it’s free), or you are getting paid to buy the drug.

If Zepbound’s list price is around $1,200-$1,300 and the site shows about $300, that’s roughly a 75% discount, not 400%. Still a massive discount, just not how percentages work. Glad you were able to find this discount for your DW.

 

[pb4uski]

We have ACA insurance, so I don't think we qualify to get our prescriptions from here.

Just curious... Has anyone found any prices on this website that were 800% lower? 900% lower? 1000% lower?
500% lower?

I heard somewhere that there was an initiative where prescription prices were supposed to be coming down.

Anything over 100% lower and they are paying you to take the prescription. Math is hard... and for some people words are harder.

PS. I suspect that you are not the source of the "...800% lower? 900% lower? 1000% lower? 500% lower?..." but just heard it from an unreliable source.

 

[disneysteve]

Im 200% in agreement with this.

I see what you did there.

 

[disneysteve]

But, the reality is that the thrifty shopper should shop prescriptions. Sometimes Costco can be much cheaper. Or Good Rx. Or using insurance. Or skipping insurance. It’s a jungle of confusion out there.

This is true, but also can be a huge pain in the butt. If you're in a situation where every dollar matters, go for it.

We love GoodRx and use it regularly, but only at CVS because that's where we get all of our meds. However, the GoodRx price varies by pharmacy. We could save even more by getting drug A at CVS but drug B at Acme, drug C at Wegmans and drug D at Walgreens. But I'm not running around to 4 different places to fill prescriptions just to save a few more dollars. Sometimes the difference between pharmacies is substantial, but still not worth dealing with multiple pharmacies personally.