The US is in the middle of a particularly bad flu outbreak and people are dying because they can’t afford medicine, or because they are making horrible choices between like that between medicine and other basic needs.
This breaks my heart literally every day, because I see so many customers have to make this choice. Sometimes they can afford it for the person in the family that is actually sick right now, but can’t buy it for the rest of the family (or at least those most at risk of catching it from their loved one), and then someone else catches it, and it’s just a vicious cycle. Especially since there’s multiple strains going around, so overcoming one bout of flu (or having the flu shot) doesn’t mean 100% immunity to catching another strain of it.
Over here in PA/NJ the generic $106.99 cash, but a lot of people haven’t met their yearly deductibles yet, so the insurance companies
(the absolute filth)cover NOTHING. NADA. ZIP. Not even a measly 5%.
SO!!! Here’s what to do:
- If you are prescribed Tamiflu or it’s generic, Oseltamivir, ask your doctor if they have a coupon for it, or immediately go online/on your phone and look up a coupon on google. Usually GoodRx or scriptsave have decent coupons.
(Between $40-$80 is what I normally see for coupon prices, much better than $100-$250). There’s also familywize, wish foundation, blink (who don’t work with CVS btw), or even your state’s drug discount card.- Make sure it’s for the form and strength of the drug you were prescribed (capsules or liquid, usually. 30/45/60/75mg) and for the pharmacy you’re going to. GoodRX has different prices for CVS vs Walgreens vs Costco, etc. You may need to check with the pharmacy if they have it in stock, because there’s a huge shortage since the manufacturers didn’t anticipate such high demand. Adjust the brand/generic and which chain on the coupon accordingly.
- Activate them if they need activating – usually an email or a quick call, sometimes an app download. Read any fine print and check that the coupon is not expired.
- Take a screenshot, or print it out. Barring that, write down all the codes exactly as they appear, including how they’re labelled. (Pharmacies always need BINs and IDs, but if there’s PCNs, [rx]Group numbers, Person Codes, etc, they’ll need everything on the card to be able to bill correctly. It’s better to have the actual card/email/screenshot.)
- When you get to the pharmacy, check how much your prescription is. If it’s more than the coupon (again, usually $40-80, but sometimes less), ask politely!!!*** for them to rebill the drug with this coupon, and wait patiently as they do so (depending on how busy they are and how busy the servers are for the company they’re submitting the info to, it may take a few minutes.) Understand that whatever amount is billed to the coupon is not being contributed towards paying your deductible, but hopefully you won’t have to worry about that much over the year.
- Success. Please feel better soon.
***Please, please, please be polite. Please do not yell or have your parent/spouse/sibling/child/friend/nurse/neighbor/nanny/errand boy yell at the pharmacists/technicians/front store employees/customers in front or behind you/hapless passerby
about the price or availability or how much insurance is a racket. Please understand that the workers have absolutely no control of how much ANY drug costs initially, nor how much your insurance asks for as a copay, nor how helpful the coupons turn out to be in regards to your own financial situation. Even their control over availability is tenuous at best, because of aforementioned manufacturer backlog, high demand, and strict ordering systems. If they need to call around to find it for you, let them call around. If they need a few minutes to get the information processed, give them a few minutes. Please treat your fellow humans with respect, even when you understandably feel like shit and they are limited in what they can do for you.GoodRX is an absolute saving grace. It brought my ADD meds down from $274 to $125. It helps with almost every med if you pay out of pocket. Sign up, download the app, follow the instructions. Be well, y’all. 💜
As a former pharmacy tech I promise you if you are polite and there isn’t a line 7 people deep a good tech will move heaven and earth to get you what you need and find you a coupon. For a while I had three different discount cards memorized. Sometimes they would only take off $5 sometimes it would make the medicine half price but I was willing to try.
As a current pharmacy technician I hate, HATE, having to tell my patients that their insurance won’t cover brand Tamiflu. Please double check that your insurance will cover brand Tamiflu (especially if you or a yonder family member is incapable of taking pills and have to have the suspension. Because Oseltamivier suspension is on back order and it probs won’t be seen again this flu season.). Please don’t get mad at us when we don’t have generic. We don’t have any control over this. We WANT you to get better. And we will do as much as we can to help. We think this is equally dumb as you do that most insurances won’t cover brand Tamiflu. We don’t like having to tell you that this medication is $110. But please. PLEASE. check what medications insurance will cover this year. We will work with you.
Report: TX Teacher who died from flu delayed picking up medicine because it was $116
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