Any way to reduce cost of Insulin?

[Spbeyond]

Hello. I am on apidra insulin and my Co-pay is 40.20 a bottle. That may not sound like much to you but I am a college student that has just moved out and is very poor. Also like many of you I go thru a few+ every month. Does anyone have any ideas for reducing my costs. Seriously insulin is a large chunk of my monthly income. (I know some have it worse, I am just trying to reduce my costs to live within my budget. And so I can continue to eat. Hey! If I cant eat I dont need much insulin. That solves two problems. Three if you count my weight issue.)

[Jan B]

I would think that one co-pay should at least cover all the apidra you need in a month. Depending on how the doc writes the scrip . . . I could get one bottle, or 4 bottles on the same co-pay. $40 is sure a high co-pay (mine is $20 and that is higher that some.) I won't be complaining.

You know, when I started on insulin in 1979, the full price was $4 per bottle.

[RobiJo]

You might switch to Humalog or Novalog. My understanding is that Apidra is a tier 3 drug, while the other two are tier 2. This usually means a lower co-pay. Also, perhaps try getting a 3 month supply. It's costs more up front, but less in the long haul.

[Real4]

You might switch to Humalog or Novalog. My understanding is that Apidra is a tier 3 drug, while the other two are tier 2.

Worse comes to worse, you could move to a "regular" insulin, which is not as fast acting as the others but is also human insulin. In many states, that can be gotten even without a script.

[JediSkipdogg]

Could you quickly explain your copay methods for prescription drugs? I know some insurance carriers do it on set prices, some do it on set percents. Here's how much insurance works....

Tier 1 (Generics) - $7.50 per month
Tier 2 - $15 per month
Tier 3 - $30 per month

I use to have insurance that if you did their mail order it was a 3 for 2 deal. Pay for 2 months and get 3 months of supplies.

When my brother was on his own insurance he had something like 10%, 20%, 30% depending on the tier.

[Spbeyond]

My insurance pays 20% with name brand drugs. $5 generics.

[Spbeyond]

What does Spencer's pharmacy mean by We accept 80% payment as payment in full* (where allowed.)

[JediSkipdogg]

My insurance pays 20% with name brand drugs. $5 generics.

If they pay 20% then I'd love to know why you are getting hit with $40 a bottle. That would mean a bottle would be $200 each and the last time I checked it was around $115 at the high end.

What does Spencer's pharmacy mean by We accept 80% payment as payment in full* (where allowed.)

Alot of places mark the item up so much that they take what the insurance pays as 100% in full. That is one area where you can tell if they are ripping people off with drug pricing since they can throw the 20% you pay away.

[Spbeyond]

Yeah so does that mean if I order thru Spencers I wouldn't pay anything???

[JediSkipdogg]

Yeah so does that mean if I order thru Spencers I wouldn't pay anything???

If it's allowed in Utah yes. The reason the "where allowed" is there because technically it shows an insurance scam. If it costs the company $80 for the vial of insulin and they want to make a $20 "reseller" fee on it they would need to charge $100. However, they have two options, sell it at $100 and take your $20 (20%) and then charge the insurance the other $80 (80%). However, if they are waving that 20% you would owe, then they would charge $125. That makes it so when they take their 80% as full, they still get their $100. That's essentially ripping the insurance company off and I believe in some states now banned.

[Spbeyond]

I mean focus pharmacy. I dont know where I got spencers.

[JediSkipdogg]

I mean focus pharmacy. I dont know where I got spencers.

Call them up and ask them. Give them your insurance info and see what they have to say.

[notme]

There are several people here that use Focus Pharmacy and have had good luck. I hope you do too.

Can you get a three month supply through a mail in with one co-pay?

[Spbeyond]

It would releave alot of pressure on me. And stress. And hunger ;) Not to complain.

[kgm0612]

I use Focus Pharmacy, but only for pump supplies & test strips. They accept the 80% payment in full leaving me without any co-pays. However, my insurance company (United) requires me to purchase my insulin or other prescriptions through Medco or my local pharmacy. Fortunately for me, United dropped the co-pay on my Novolog to ZERO, so I get 2 vials a month for FREE!

I have several friends that purchase their insulins at Walmart because it's much cheaper, so you may want to look into that also.

Karen

[fgummett]

I'm probably not much help but you sure seem to pay higher prices for insulin in the USA... I just bought 3 X 10ml vials of NovoRapid for $89.97 CDN total.

[Cormac_Doyle]

Move to the UK or Ireland - the government pays for it entirely :)

[steamfan261]

Just as a curiosity exercise, I checked what a vial of Humalog would cost at local pharmacies, without insurance:

Walgreens $110/vial
Cub Pharmacy $94/vial
Walmart $85/vial

Needless to say, no more Walgreens for me.

[Spbeyond]

Actually on the move to ireland point. If I could get a residency visa I would so be there. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to live outside the USA for awhile. England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Spain ANYTHING. I have actually become quite obsesed with the idea. Anyway. Im going to call walmart and see what my copay would be there.

[MarcS]

Sure glad I have Kaiser Permanante....$10 (co-pay) for 3 10ml vials including shipping it in a cooler.

It's the darn strips that cost an arm and a leg!