[ArkOuFan]

My wife and I just recently transitioned to Medicare from our private plan. One thing that surprised us is that several of our prescriptions Medicare will cover the name brand but not the generic alternative. We were used to getting generic to save cost, but we’re shocked when the medication was either not covered or came at a high cost. We were concerned to the point that we thought we may have to stop taking some things. When we asked the pharmacy asst she said she check coverage on the name brand and surprise everything was covered. While it was great news it was also a little disappointing that they didn’t offer this information without asking. Not sure if this is true of everything or if everybody already knows this, but thought we’d offer it up to help newbie’s like us.

[Stu from NYC]

Go and talk to a Shine rep. They are extremely knowledgeable and no cost at all.

[petsetc]

Medicare Plan D is tricky at best and outright dishonest at worst.

My wife has COPD and takes a bunch of expensive inhalers, my Plan D (Caremark CVS) recently further increase my copay to the point we "shopped around". Her rescue inhaler from Plan D with a copay was $152 for 3 (75 day supply) or ~$50. each. We got the EXACT same inhaler from Walmart using GoodRx for $77. for 4 (100 day supply) or ~19.25 each. Then there was her two medication inhalers - Plan D wanted about $1,314. (3 month supply), I looked everywhere and finally went to a "Canada pharmacy" and got the same brand names for $574. (same 3 month supply), also got a promotion bonus of another 10% (-$57.). And if my wife would have been happy with a generic for 1 of them (genetic NOT AVAILBLE in USA) we would have saved an additional $81.

I know that many, including me, are skeptical of the "Canada pharmacy" offers. I spent the better part of a full day researching and learning before we took the chance, so my less than 8 hour effort will save us $740. /quarter forever, more if the continue 10% off specials.

Done that rant - last comment, at least check GoodRx or one of the other US discounters if you don't want to go "abroad".

And for the record, the drugs were shipped from pharmacies in Australia an New Zealand.

FWIW

[Nell57]

Thanks for the info. I also use asthma inhalers, and have been reluctant to try Canadian pharmacy. Now I’ll try them. 👍

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Originally Posted by petsetc

Medicare Plan D is tricky at best and outright dishonest at worst.

My wife has COPD and takes a bunch of expensive inhalers, my Plan D (Caremark CVS) recently further increase my copay to the point we "shopped around".

Is it medicare or CVS? with CVS, you have to pay for all the senior management bonuses as well as the very complex system to managing all the insurance prices which are individually contracted in each formulary.

great find at Walmart though.. . and I suspect the generics are manufactured offshore, where the supply chain delivery from 1/2 around the world can be less reliable. .

I dropped my moms dental insurance as the cost was 10x a cleaning cost

[petsetc]

Originally Posted by CoachKandSportsguy

Is it medicare or CVS? with CVS, you have to pay for all the senior management bonuses as well as the very complex system to managing all the insurance prices which are individually contracted in each formulary.

great find at Walmart though.. . and I suspect the generics are manufactured offshore, where the supply chain delivery from 1/2 around the world can be less reliable. .

I dropped my moms dental insurance as the cost was 10x a cleaning cost

It's Medicare Plan D administered by Caremark CVS found by entering all drugs on Medicare Plan D website. One of the few plans that had all needed formulary.

And the Walmart find was exactly the same brand name as the plans.