Strep throat...have good insurance and still cost me almost 200 bucks

25 dollar copay

and way too much on medicine...even with insurance. I can not believe an advar inhaler could cost 300 bucks and cost me 80 With insurance and then another 60 on my antibiotic because insurance deemed it not necessary cause I could have used a less strong antibiotic

I had to have a substitute for my classroom

and no subs showed up because too many teachers are sick


I wish winter was over

That shouldn't cost you anywhere near that much. Even when I maxed out my prescription benefits last year, I never paid more than $160 for it.

But yeah, it sucks - health care is my biggest expense after the mortgage. I hope you feel better soon. Take care.

I am supposed to do the inhaler twice a day for a while...

It does help a whole lot. I've been on it for several years. I used to get bronchitis on an annual basis before I started taking it. I wish I had better prescription coverage. Mine usually runs out by Sept. :(

My prescriptions are covered- even if it's at a high copay rate, and sometimes having to deal with preauthorizations for certain drugs- one of which I have to get "re-preauthorized at the high dose used per month" every 6 months. At least I know about it now- (caught me off guard the first time- thought the preauthorization would last a year at the minimum...) and can make sure that it keeps getting renewed.

My catastrophic coverage is also excellent. It's everything in between that is so bloody expensive.

Even WITH Rx Insurance, right now, my meds cost a minimum of $220 per month. That's sick. I shudder to think of what it would be w/o Rx coverage- I don't think I could afford to live...

or are immigrants. America, what a country !

Gives new meaning why we should say a prayer before each meal, huh ?

care because he knows how it goes.


When I got there, he smiled and said "what virus did the kids give you this time?"


and usually gives me the strong stuff the first time around

when it comes to meds. Strep can be killed by most penicillin peparations, old drugs that are cheaper than dirt. Yes, you have to remember to take your pills four times a day for ten days or until you are out of pills (or the next strep will be more resistant), but that's not a problem if you're motivated to get well and save money. Z-packs are convenient, one pill a day for five days, but there are always older, cheaper, and just as effective antibiotics unless you're growing resistant bugs.

Just be aware that not finishing such a prescription is dangerous to your health.

Inhalers are all hideously expensive, even the old standards like Albuterol. Unless you can scoot across the border to Mexico, expect to get hammered for them. However, it doesn't hurt to ask the doc if there's a cheaper alternative and explain that you just can't afford the copays on the new ones.

Always ask the doctor for cheaper alternatives. Most docs will gladly oblige since they've started to get more sensitive to how we're all getting reamed by Big Pill and Big Insurnace.

Your doc and your pharmacist are your best resources to find out if there are generics or old line drugs that will work just as well as the ones that are still under patent. They may make a lot of faces at you, but the good docs will try to accommodate you.

I'm sick of winter, too.

The visit would've cost me 15, the antibiotic 20, and don't know about the inhaler. I guess I should be thankful I have a really good plan with United Healthcare. As far as the doc though, I've never heard of needing an advent inhaler because of a sinus infection about to go into the lungs. I get sinus infections all the time and used to get strep a lot as well, and not once have I heard a recommendation of an inhaler. Also, a good ole zpack (6 bucks I think on my plan) probably would've held the sinus infection at bay from going into your lungs all on its own. Even strep just needs penicillin and that should be cheaper than hell right?

Regardless, I hope you feel better soon.

Read here...

http://www.buyblue.org/node/6202

It pisses me off when Drs. overprescribe too-expensive brand name drugs when something cheaper will work. And it is unconscionable that they don't tell you in their office how much it is going to cost so you can insist on the cheapest appropriate drug.

A urologist prescribed an antibiotic that cost over $100 (one my insurance wouldn't pay for) when a $6 antibiotic would have worked just fine. The pharmacist said he sees it all the time.

A Dr. prescribed Zetia for my mom and her insurance wouldn't pay for it because they required that she try the less expensive drugs first. She called the doctor's office and asked them to call in a different drug, and they wouldn't do it. She just went without. The next time she went in for something else, the Dr. said again that she needed Zetia. She said no, her insurance wouldn't pay for it. He said he would check on it and call her in something. When she went to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription, it was for..........Zetia. :eyes:

Cause that one isn't listening. And that is deadly on so many different levels!

that is a very important point indeed. In that case grab the phone and speak your mind to the bastid... demand him/her to prescribe you with an affordable medication. They will get you another prescription. I work in health care and see that done all of the time. There are a very few instances where medications are costly and just because they are new drugs.

But wait... frivolous lawsuits, that is what is increasing health care costs!!! :sarcasm:

But you don't want to be there

She was diagnosed with migraine headaches when she was 6.
For some reason...her auras have changed and now her headaches are centered occipitally.
She completely loses her vision.
So, because there is always a possibility that these could hit her while driving, her pediatrician prescribed Zomig so she can take it at the first onset of her headache.
With insurance...I paid $120.
That is ridiculous.

for a 5 mg pill, it runs $18.90 a pill. $567.15 for a 30 day supply.

OUCH!

it was a prepackaged box with some in it.
I am not sure how many was in it because since the obvious danger to these quick onset headaches is driving...she put them in her car so I don't know how many there are.

that is a potentially life saving drug for the price of a monthly utility bill.

that I spend $600 a month on insurance premiums and still have to pay $120 to use it...not to mention the physician copays.

that has knocked me off my feet for the past week. I gargle with asprin for the soar throat, and use saline for the nose, and a few over the counter pills to dry me up and stop the cough. But if come this Monday this isn't gone, I will break down and see a doctor. I too lay there wishing for my patio to sit on and breath some warm air. I hope this finds you feeling better.

I just checked with my insurance. Advair HFa 115/sa mcg inhaler, $175.05 is the estimated cost without insurance. I pay about $50. I decided to check on the disk ones, and forgot how much my copay for it would be 'exactly. but the disks are running about the same as the inhalers.

but whenever I feel under the weather, I go to a health store or Vons and buy "Green Machine" by Naked Juice. It packs a lot of vitamins and good foods that heal and most important zinc:

Green Machine
apple and pear juice blend
pineapple juice
mango puree
kiwifruit puree
banana puree with powdered sirulina, chorella, brocolli,
green tea extrac
spinach
barley grass
wheat grass
blue green algae
echinacea purpurea extract
odorless garlic

insurance....they can't afford to even get looked at and will shallow tons of vitamin C and hope for the best.

I need to be registered in a school district like that.
But actually I found the emergency sub application in Kansas to be too much of a hassle. It was easier in Missouri, but no school ever called me.

for a scratched cornea. $50 for emergency and then a total of $80 for two visits to an opthalmologist.

Then the prescriptions - of which I got more than needed since I got what was prescribed by the emergency doctor and then the opthalmologist prescribed something different - most of which I never used. I don't remember what I spent on those, probably around $30-50.

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that was the most expensive granola bar, I ever ate, cracked my molar and had to go to the
dentist, with the deductible and 50% of crown, the bite is $500.00, that is with a temporary
crown and no root canal and will cover the permanent crown, root canal add more. Do I think this is too much, no, anyone that wants to work in my mouth earns it, but it's still expensive.

:-)