Media Coverage for LesliesList.org
You have insurance and, supposedly, it covers your medicines. However, you still get stuck with a portion of the bill that the insurance company calls a “copay”. In some cases these copays can run more than $150/ month per medication (e.g. Enbrel- an arthritis and psoriasis drug). If you are on more than one of these expensive, branded medications the copays can really add up. What are your options?
1. Generic Alternative- Always always always, ask your doc if there is a reasonable generic alternative. This is ALWAYS the best option for you in the long run. However, if there truly is no generic medication that comes close, then check into either (or both) of the next two options.
2. Drug Specific Copay Programs- These programs are run by the manufacturers of the drugs, aka Big Pharma (BP). Usually, these discounts are given to all patients, regardless of income. But make no mistake, it is a way for BP to circumvent your insurance company’s cost control mechanism for prescriptions. By picking up part or all of the cost of your copay, BP trying to make their product more attractive to you and to your physician. But when the manufacturer stops offering the copay discount programs you will be back to square one. However, if according to your doctor, you must be on one of these drugs, then by all means, take advantage of the savings while they last. In the case of Enbrel, their Enbrel Support Card Program picked up the tab for six months worth of copays. To find out more info on whether such a program exists for your medication, there are many websites out there, including the manufacturer’s site. However, I found the following two websites particularly useful:
Internetdrugscoupons.com- This website shows you all available drugs that have coupons, copay and otherwise, associated with them. It’s an ugly little site, and ignore the annoying ads for a prescription savings card. But it couldn’t be simpler to use. And all the coupons I clicked on were still valid- so it seems like the folks behind it keep it up to date. According to the mission statement on the website “[The founder] assembled this database of drug coupons to make it easy for people like my elderly parents to save money on their medications.”
RxAssist.org- This is a super slick website that allows you to look up your medicines, albeit individually, to see what deals are offered. When you see a deal you click on the medicine and you are directed to the manufacturer’s website. According to the About section of the website, RxAssist.org was established in 1999 with funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Apparently they also must get a big old pile of money from Astra Zeneca– since its logo is smack dab in the middle of the home page.
3. Disease Specific Copay Programs- There are many organizations that offer patients with specific diseases, such as cancer and HIV/AIDS, assistance with their prescription copays. These programs often require financial ability-to-pay information from you to qualify for assistance. Disease Specific Copay Programs is a very comprehensive list of copay and other assistance programs compiled by a BP-funded site called Partnership for Prescription Assistance, aka PPArx.org.
At LesliesList.org we get many emails asking where an adult can get low cost vaccines. It appears the answer is… nowhere. They don’t exist– unless you are an established patient in one of the county-funded or low-cost clinics in Chicago. (You can search for these clinics in our Clinic Section) Barring this, you can save a little money by comparison shopping. I think your best bet is to try one of the walk-in clinic chains at CVS or Walgreens. I have included each of their price lists below for comparison convenience.
You should know that some of the vaccines are actually a SERIES, meaning that you need more than one shot to be completely vaccinated. Other shots require a consultation fee (i.e. a visit with the provider) that costs extra, too. Here’s a look at what the vaccines cost at the two clinic chains and at a private primary care clinic on the north side of Chicago. The private clinic prices are a cash-pay discounted price (a 25% reduction of the usual fee) for the vaccines. It is important to note that while the private clinic prices might seem comparable, there are a couple of caveats: 1. These prices do NOT include administration costs that can run between $41- $25 per shot series. 2. You need to be an established patient of the clinic to get these shots, which is not the case for the Minute Clinics or Take Care Clinics.
Another resource for the Chicago area only:
City of Chicago Public Health Centers Fast Track Immunization Centers:
ALL VACCINES FREE for children ages 0-18 years of age.
FREE FLU SHOTS for adults.
Vaccines are given on a first-come, first-served basis and are not given every day at some locations- so be sure and check the website for hours of operation.
Minute Clinic Price List (CVS):
Flu (seasonal) $30
Hepatitis A (series of two shots) (adult): $117 per shot
Hepatitis B (series of three shots) (adult): $102 per shot
IPV (polio): $96
Meningitis: $147
MMR (measles, mumps, rubella): $116
PPSV (pneumonia): $77
TD (tetanus, diphtheria): $76
Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) $92
HPV: not available
Take Care Clinic Price List (Walgreens):
Tdap (tetanus, diptheria, pertussis): $65
MMR (measles, mumps, rubella): $96
Hepatitis A: not offered
Hepatitis B (series of three shots): $80 per shot
Twinrix (combination of Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B; series of three shots): $96 per shot
Shingles (over 60 years old): $220
Flu : $30
Pneumonia: $64
HPV (series of three shots): 1st: $215 (includes a $30 consultation fee), 2nd and 3rd shots: $185
Private Primary Care Clinic Discounted Price List:
Tdap: $48
Flu: $30
Hepatitis A (series of two shots): $94 per shot
Hepatitis B (series of three shots): $71 per shot
Twinrix (combination of Hepatitis A and B; series of three shots): $120 per shot
MMR: $68
HPV (series of three shots): $180 per shot
Finding cheap labs for patients has been the Holy Grail for LesliesList.
Good news! Thanks to a LesliesList.org reader we recently came across a doozy of a website called PrepaidLab.com that offers cheaper labs for patients. Here are some of the price differences between the discount price at my northside clinic (C), PrivateMD (PMD) (another online testing site) and PrepaidLab (PPL).
Lipid panel (cholesterol) 45 (C) 48 (PMD) 25 (PPL)
TSH (thyroid) 75 (C) 45 (PMD) 27 (PPL)
CBC w differential 27 (C) 45 (PMD) 16 (PPL)
There are a few caveats:
1. You must go to a LabCorp lab to have the blood drawn.
2. You must order the correct labs- or have your doctor order them for you online in the office. There are a lot of tests that sound the same once you start searching for the tests you need so order with caution.
3. You must pay with a credit card up front.
4. They tack on a $9.50 processing fee per order.
One nice feature is that the site gives you the option of providing your doctor’s fax so your test results can be sent directly to your doc.
As we have established repeatedly on LesliesList.org,– prescription prices can vary a lot from one pharmacy to another. But did you know that some pharmacies will actually match a competitor’s price? This could save you a ton of cash, but you have to know how, and whom, to ask for this service. Pharmacy retail chains all have different policies. I spoke to a pharmacist today at each of the seven top retail pharmacy chains in Chicago, and this is how their policies breakdown:
Osco- Will price match any and all prices. They will even price match $4 prices at Walmart/Target, $5 prices from Kmart, etc. BUT you must give them the price and the store/phone number where you found the lower price, and they will call and confirm. You could try handing them a printout from LesliesList.org’s medicine price search results, but I can’t guarantee they wouldn’t want a specific store’s phone number to doublecheck. In addition, in order for them to match Costco’s price, you must show them that you have a Costco card. I found this a bit odd, since you don’t have to have a member card to shop at Costco’s pharmacy. I believe this policy holds true for other warehouse discount stores such as Sam’s Club, etc.
Walgreens- No price matching at all.
Target- Will price match anyone else’s price, but not Costco’s or other warehouse store’s price– except on occasion? The Costco price match policy as described to me by the pharmacist was pretty fuzzy, and I would double check this before trekking out to Target expecting them to match discount warehouse store’s price.
Costco- No price matching at all.
Kmart- Will price match anyone’s price, as long as the competitor’s store is located in a 2 mile radius of the Kmart store.
Walmart- Will price match anyone’s price, except Costco or other warehouse discount stores. And they have a limit- they will only price match the same prescription up to three times.
CVS- Technically will price match another retailer’s price, but not any $4 or $5 prescriptions, nor Super Saver Card prices, nor Costco or other discount warehouse store.
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Read more: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/leslieslist/2010/05/bargain-hunting-at-pharmacies-try-asking-for-price-matching.html#ixzz16fS4eovH
The newscast is doing a piece on high deductible health insurance and we explain how LesliesList.org can help.
NBC Nightly News: Pay the Price
This is a reprint of my ChicagoNow blog on the pricing of newly generic Arimidex, the widely used breast cancer drug. If you would like to subscribe to future editions of the LesliesList Blog you may do so here under the “+ Subscribe” button at the end of the post:
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/leslieslist/2010/08/breast-cancer-drug-pricing-disparity.html
Breast Cancer Drug Pricing Disparity
The commonly prescribed breast cancer drug, Arimidex, was released as a generic in June 2010. The generic name is anastrozole. I called several local pharmacies last week to find out how much this medicine would cost for a one-month supply. I found some very surprising results:
Costco: $27
Walgreens (with Saver Card): $325 (without Card): $380
CVS: $361
Walmart: $347
Target: $340
These are not typos. Costco is selling a one-month supply of generic Arimidex for TWENTY SEVEN DOLLARS, while everyone else in town is selling it for over $300.
How can this be? Because Costco’s pricing policy is that they charge their customers the wholesale price plus a 14-15% mark-up. (And remember: you don’t need to be a Costco member to use the pharmacy.) The other pharmacies typically try to get as high a profit margin as they can when new generics are released, presumably because they know customers are used to paying an even higher fee for the branded medicine (e.g. non-generic Arimidex retailed for more than $400).
But come on. How can you justify extracting a profit margin of over 1000% FROM BREAST CANCER PATIENTS? That’s just unseemly.
A Silver Lining Foundation, a Chicago based group founded and chaired by Dr. Sandy Goldberg, is providing free mammograms for underinsured patients in the Chicago region. For more info please go to my blog:
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/leslieslist/2010/07/a-silver-lining-foundation-free-mammograms-for-underinsured-chicagoans.html
or to A Silver Lining’s website: http://asilverliningfoundation.org/
Leslie
Posts: 118
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:43 pm
Check it out under the Testing section. We are including full night sleep studies and split night studies. If you are a Sleep Center and would like to be included– please send us an email. We include only sites that are American Academy of Sleep Medicine certified.
Spring is here- and that means so is allergy season!
How to manage your symptoms without emptying your wallet?
Please check out our blog on this topic at ChicagoNow:
http://tinyurl.com/y3xnkq6