[TSO/ISPF]

Originally Posted by blueash

You may be making a potentially costly mistake. While you are in what used to be called the donut hole you do NOT pay the retail cost of the medication. Rather:



For Eliquis, the retail cost of 3 months is about 1500. But you will only pay 25% or 375. That is likely not much different than your Canadian cost. Purchases via a Canadian pharmacy, thus outside your Medicare plan, also do not count toward getting out of the coverage gap. For that 1500 Eliquis, 1425 would be applied to your getting out (95%)

You need to look at not just the cost of the medication but the overall result of paying your 25% on the big picture. I might also add that Jublia is a not covered medication in some Medicare plans as it has a very low complete cure rate, only about 10 to 15% better than placebo when using it every day for an entire year on nails where only a maximum of 50% of the nail was involved, the easier cases to cure. [see also table 2 in the link from the package insert] It did slightly better [additional 5%] if you define cure as mostly better. So if you are self paying, you may want to balance the cost against the likelihood of benefit. Photo from the manufacturer's website:

Canadian cost was $163 for 168 tablets, slightly less than a 90 day supply of 180. I think I will save some money using the Canadian Pharmacy. Let's just shed some light on these drug pricing practices. It seems the issue is as convoluted as they come by BIG PHARMA.