Frugal | Saving on Medication

Saving on Medication

Posted by Lynnae on July 20, 2007

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This is so basic, yet many people don’t think to do it. I’ll admit I’ve never done it before.

Here’s the situation. I take a fairly expensive medication on a daily basis. Unfortunately there’s not generic alternative yet. I was running out of pills, and right now we’re without health insurance. (I know, that’s not really smart, but that’s a whole other post). We really can’t afford to pay for the prescription completely out of pocket. What to do?

I called my doctor’s office last week and asked if they had any samples. The nurse told me that she didn’t have any samples, but that they were expecting the drug rep to come in any day. Last night, when I had one pill left, the nurse called back to tell me she now had samples, and I could pick them up anytime.

So now I have a free 16 week supply of my meds. I’m sure if I had gotten a refill from the pharmacy, my out of pocket cost would have been into the hundreds of dollars. And by the time my current supply runs out, we’ll have health insurance again.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Saving on Medication”

  1. Rxforfinance on July 20th, 2007 11:04 pm

    Another way to save is to ask your pharmacist about a close generic alternative. Granted it might not be exactly the same but it is worth a try. Alot of people get put on Lexapro when there is it’s ‘cousin’ drug Celexa, which has a generic available for much less. Been prescribed Nexium at $150/mo? Prilosec OTC is it’s cousin drug and even Prilosec has a generic that is still Rx. Generic Claritin for Clarinex, Simvistatin for Lipitor, Venlafaxine tabs for Effexor XR, metoprolol for Toprol XL. Even when you are on insurance, sometimes the brand copay is $50-60.00 While the generic is $5-10. It is still worth it to try a generic alternative.

  2. JW Thornhill on July 21st, 2007 4:47 am

    AWESOME TIP!!!

    My youngest son is on daily meds right now. Just one of them runs $1,500. for a one month supply. I need to try this whenever we run out next.

    Thanks,

    JW

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