Monday, July 28, 2008
sticker shock
My mom is in the donut hole for Medicare Part D. This means that we must pay full price for her medications. She takes 4 meds, half of which do not seem to be available in generics. The bill this month alone is almost $900., and that's just for her! Luckily, my dad gets many of his meds through Veterans, and we don't have to pay for them. I am not sure what to do about this. We need to hold onto every cent so she can continue to afford to pay for her housing. I am not sure what I will do when the money runs out. I know they will have to go live in a less satisfactory place, but given their emotional problems, this is going to be very rough. I find myself wishing, as I have said before, that they don't live long enough for this to happen. It's awful to have to think such a thing. What we accept as normal in this country is shocking.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I am going to assume that you've talked over this problem clearly and directly with your mom's doctor. I found that R.'s doctor was more than willing to prescribe less expensive alternatives. Plus, the pharmacist at CVS wrote out a list of R.'s Rx's and alongside, wrote a list of cheaper alternatives. Between the doctor and the pharmacist, I got the costs down to something more manageable.
Well Lou, this is the first month in the donut hole with these particular meds, and not even all 4 of them were ordered! As soon as I heard the price, I called the doctor's office immediately, but I don't know if we can do anything about the meds. I have read that there's a generic for Aricept, but no one seems to carry it. I'm not sure if it's legitimate. And there's no alternative for the Cymbalta that I can see, in the research that I've done. I'll have to ask the psychiatrist about that though, and he's only available on Thursdays. It's that med that is really really expensive, and the Aricept.
Post a Comment