[billethkid]

In yesterday's paper was an ad for obtaining from Phyzer a copay card that will allow one to get 30 days of lipitor for $4.

However if you have medicare prescription coverage you can not use the card. In our case that means with medicare Rx coverage we continue to pay $30 for the same medication!!!!!!

I called Humana to get a better understanding of how this inequity could be possible. She confirmed my info as correct. However she did suggest telling the pharmacist to NOT run the lipitor Rx through the Humana insurance and then use the $4 copay. She said people do it all the time.

However the clerk at Walgreens interpretation of the rules is that as long as one is on medicare they can not use the $4 card. I checked again with Humana, they said one can have medicare but no Rx coverage and still be able to use the $4 copay card as there is/was no payment for medication from medicare.

So I am going to go back and try again to get through to the "local interpreters".

If that does not work then the next trial is to go to another pharmacy where we are not registered and just give them the $4 copay card.

By the way the generic for lipitor is the same price as the name brand....$30 per 30 days @ one per day. Does anybody else smell a hose job.....AGAIN.

So how comfortable should a senior be paying for medicare Rx coverage when those without it can buy or get the same meds for little or nothing???

There must be a story to be had in this inequity....some where.

btk

[aljetmet]

I'm currently working and have a Cigna health plan with my employer. I had used the $4 Lipitor card for about a year and just paid $4 per month.
Right after the generic came out our pharmacist advised that I had to pay $10 per my insurance company. The next time, I was going to be charged much more ( I forgot how much) because the generic was available. I now buy the generic by mail getting a 90 day supply for $40. I'll have my liver function and cholesteral taken right after my LSV next month. We'll see what happens....

By the way, the pharmacy wants to sell you the drugs. The insurance company you have dictates how much they have to charge. So it just depends on your health plan if you have medicare or any other plan...

[wendyquat]

When you go to the Pfizer website to get the $4 copay card you must answer 3 questions. The first question is "are you covered by Medicare part D". (paraphrased). I had to answer yes so I did not qualify for the card. BTW my part D coverage is through AARP and my copay for the generic Lipitor is still over $100 for a 3 month supply!

[Number 6]

I am still too young for Medicare and use the $4 Pfizer card. Here is what is funny. With my insurance, brand name Lipitor is tier 2 or $45 per month. Generic Lipitor is Tier 3 or $85 per month. I called up United Health to see if that was true and until June 1 that is the way it is. Brand name for much less than generic. Go figure.

[billethkid]

as a senior on medicare + medicare part D (Rx coverage) one pays more for a Rx.

Many insurance companies have not as yet included the new rates for the lipitor generic, hence the pharmacies charge the same until May/June when the price is supposed (SUPPOSED) to come down like most generics. What is suspected is the pharmacy gets the generic at generic pricing and until such time as the formularies are changed they charge the same. So the pharmacy makes out until the formularies are changed.

Pharmaceuticals like oil are controlled and supported by politicians (including Obama) hence the only ones who make out are the pharmaceutical and oil companies and the politicians they buy out (which is all of them).

Until that changes affordable health care is nothing more than WORDS.



btk

[twinklesweep]

Originally Posted by billethkid

as a senior on medicare + medicare part D (Rx coverage) one pays more for a Rx.

Pharmaceuticals like oil are controlled and supported by politicians (including Obama) hence the only ones who make out are the pharmaceutical and oil companies and the politicians they buy out (which is all of them).

Until that changes affordable health care is nothing more than WORDS.

btk

The Part D Prescription Plan is the worst. At the time it was created I had private coverage & was not required to subscribe to Part D, but I still screamed about how bad it was going to be for seniors & that is exactly what happened. When I had to enroll in Part D, I researched it but still couldnt figure it out so went to a counselor. She listened to me & said that I knew more than her! She spoke about seniors living on the edge, choosing between heating & eating, breaking pills in half to make them last longer, who would come to her office with a shopping bag full of advertising they got from Part D insurance plans & had no idea what to do.

Think of when & who created Part D & you will understand why its goal was mainly to line the pockets of the pharmaceutical & insurance industries. At the same time it became illegal for Americans to buy the same but cheaper drugs from Canada. Why? Because Canada requires the same drug companies to quantity discount their drugs, while the creators of our Part D set it up so that the these companies get whatever THEY consider full freight even though the U.S. population is ten times Canadas.

This is off the topic of Lipitor, but what billiethekid wrote is absolutely right, but we have to look at it in the right time frame. Maybe it can be changed, like now trying to get rid of the donut hole, but who knows?

[bonrich]

Getting a RX, brand name Lipitor may be a good thing if you have concerns about generics. But remember, the cost of the brand is significantly higher than the generic and that will put you closer to the "doughnut hole" sooner since the insurer is not paying for generic.

[billethkid]

in the case of Lipitor the brand name and the generic are the same price.

The pharmacist said medicare has not yet authorized the generic to be included in insurance coverage formularies yet.

Supposedly the cost of the generic will go down after June 2012. I have no idea why...that is what the pharmacist at Walgreens said.
Your wonderful government at work bogging things we the people need but good for the pharmaceuticals....as usual.

btk

[aljetmet]

Time to change pharmacies, has nothing to do with the government, just an uninformed pharmacist. Sometimes people just make things up...