...Since Ive lost my insurance and all, ( but have always been on Morphine Sulfate since day one ( 5 plus years) , and have never thought about taking name brand...... I went to get my script today....since we ' all ' have been discussing pricing of co pays, meds etc, I thought I'd call and check the prices of self pay prescriptions of what I'm taking and its ludicris ...I mean, I know theres overhead and such but DAYUM...

OK..since I lost my insurance Ive been getting my
Morphine Sulfate 60 mg ..90
Hydrocodone 10/325 ....90

The non big pharmacy charges me :
morphine~ $64.09
hydrocodone~ $24.25

***
Walmart
morphine~ $137.72
hydrocodone $ 61.62

***
CVS
morphine~ $263.99
hydrocodone $67.59

Is this not CRAZY !!!!......And I'm so greatful that the off brand , so to speak , pharmacy carries the better, in my opion , medicine...



I just cant believe the MARKUP !!! And CVS is higher than Walmart...I should have called Walgreens to see what theirs was !!


OK...I'm done whining !!

I think you may find this thread very interesting as it's quite comprehensive in terms of different med prices.

http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=706513&highlight=med+prices

The thread is titled "Pain Med $$$."

Regards,

Ex

Luv, I know what you mean, I am on the same exact meds you are. Right now under our current insurance, since the MS Contin is a "GENERIC", I only pay $5 for 90. But under a previous insurance that basically only allowed you like $300 a year and then runs out (yeah like that's gonna get me maybe 1 month at cost) it was over $200 for the same thing. What happened to the generic price here. I am as baffled as you are. My husband summed it up in one word GREED! Something has got to be done about this ridiculous pricing on medicine that people need to have to live a halfway normal life at least if not meds to keep them alive.

LeMans

LuvMyPittie,

If you have a Triple AAA card you can gte a pretty good discount on your meds.

And if you don't have one it is worth the $50.00 a year to get one cause you will make it back on your first script.

I know Wlagreen and Longs drugs and Costco accept the Triple AAA card. When I used to get MS Contin I would also at the time get 60mg - 120pills.

Anyways without the AAA it would cost about $240.00 and after the dicount I think it was like about $130.00 mabe even less.'

Anyways check it out just ask the Pharmacy if the accept AAA insurance for the discount on meds. I think CVS even accepts it now as well.

From what I remember Costco was the cheapest they almost charged full price what the other Pharmacies charged with the AAA discount. And if you added the triple AAA discount Costco was maybe the cheapest by a few bucks, then Walgreens, then Longs and CVS was the most expensive usually.

But I think all Longs Drugs are now CVS's so I'm not sure what that will mean for there prices.

Hope this helps:wave:

LuvMyPittie,

Another suggestion would be to maybe go to short acting.

Anyways it sound like you take your MS Contin once every 8 hours or so. If you went to MSir (Morhine immediate release) 30mg you could probably just take it about once every 4 hours and get the same if not better pain releif.

That is what I did once when I lost my insurance and I was getting so much better releif from the MSir.


And I think for like MSIR 30mg - 180 pills cost about $60 - $70. Could even be cheaper maybe about fifty something if I remember correctly.

That and your Hydro and you wouldn't be spending more than $85 bucks a month.

Thanks for the advice and info LeMans and Leo ! I very much appreciate it !

That AAA thing sounds like something I should look into !!

aIll throw that around with my Dr and see what he thinks !! ...

Again, thanks SO much !!!

I always get a chuckle when drug prices are justified by manufacturers claiming they are offsetting the cost of R&D on drugs. In reality what they're doing is riding the horse as hard as they can on drug prices before a generic is available. Pharmacies are just as bad, and if you have your scripts filled at certain medical clinic pharmacies, you're really going to get soaked. I had a script from Mayo Clinic here in Rochester once that - if I filled it at their pharmacy - would have cost $83.00 - compared to $19.00 at a non-Mayo pharmacy. Pharmacies - especially the big chains - love to claim their prices beat the competitition, but then charge rediculous prices. I think they are still operating in the days when people didn't shop around; they just took their script to a pharmacy and filled it and accepted whatever the charges were.

Pharmacies - especially the big chains - love to claim their prices beat the competitition, but then charge rediculous prices. I think they are still operating in the days when people didn't shop around; they just took their script to a pharmacy and filled it and accepted whatever the charges were.

That's correct. Just look at those prices quoted by LovemyPittie...Comparing a non big chain to the chains....Wal-Mart is over 2x the price while CVS is 4x the price.

Regards,

Ex

Costco will also give you a discount if you don't have insurance. Our giant schnauzer has diabetes incipites. He needs meds every month. We get it at costco 'cause it's cheapest there-our vet called around and checked before she placed the order.

Well, the pharmacist came up to me and said - Costco would like to give Gustavus a discount on his meds because he doesn't have insurance. My eyes got big and I looked at her and said - Gus is a DOG! She looked at me and smiled and said-they don't care! He doesn't have insurance! So now Gus gets 10% off on his diabetes medicine every month...and at $73.14 I am not going to complain. LOL.... So you might want to tell Costco you don't have insurance.

Another idea, BakenPray...Thanks !