So I picked up a sample at work the other day, and I was curious... I decided to look up the cost. Now, the most accurate way I know of to see what a drug would cost Joe Schmoe off the street to buy it is to use GoodRx. I have this app on my phone and usually use it several times a day to show people costs....
So this drug is for pain and inflammation and according to GoodRx, to buy this drug without insurance would cost you... get ready.... $2,584 for 90 tablets. And it's a 3x daily med, so that is one month's worth.
Now... this is a combination drug containing famotidine (Pepcid) for your stomach, and ibuprofen (Advil) for pain and inflmmation. To buy separate bottles of these meds it would cost you $18.99 (for generic Pepcid) and $12.99 (for a bottle of 500 generic ibuprofen). Obviously these can be had even cheaper (per pill) when purchased in higher quantities.
Sooo... let's just take those numbers and calculate.
For a dose of the generics (5 pills) it is $0.10 worth of ibuprofen and $0.21 worth of famotidine. All available over the counter. A grand total of:
$0.31/dose or less than $1/day.
For this med (Duexis), it would cost you .... $86.13 per day.
For the same damned medicine. Just in a combined-pill form.
Just wow... so tell us some of your prescription medication stories, if you don't mind sharing. I'll answer some questions some might have about various meds, too, and maybe could give you some advice on if there might be some cheaper options you could talk to your doctor about - remember... don't go telling your doctor, "Some fool on the interwebs done tol' me you's a idiot and I should be on XXXXX med instead o' what you's got me on!" These may help you with some ideas of things to bring UP to your doctor, TALK ABOUT the various side effects, and why they may have a very specific reason they might want you on a more expensive medicine - sometimes there may be interactions with other meds you don't know about, some side effects that could crop up, or maybe your doc has had a number of patients who had problems with one of the cheaper alternatives, and doesn't like using them anymore.
There are a million reasons out there that could be pertinent, but if I give you some ideas of things to DISCUSS, then it opens lines of communication with your provider, and could possibly save you a few bucks.
So this drug is for pain and inflammation and according to GoodRx, to buy this drug without insurance would cost you... get ready.... $2,584 for 90 tablets. And it's a 3x daily med, so that is one month's worth.
Now... this is a combination drug containing famotidine (Pepcid) for your stomach, and ibuprofen (Advil) for pain and inflmmation. To buy separate bottles of these meds it would cost you $18.99 (for generic Pepcid) and $12.99 (for a bottle of 500 generic ibuprofen). Obviously these can be had even cheaper (per pill) when purchased in higher quantities.
Sooo... let's just take those numbers and calculate.
For a dose of the generics (5 pills) it is $0.10 worth of ibuprofen and $0.21 worth of famotidine. All available over the counter. A grand total of:
$0.31/dose or less than $1/day.
For this med (Duexis), it would cost you .... $86.13 per day.
For the same damned medicine. Just in a combined-pill form.
Just wow... so tell us some of your prescription medication stories, if you don't mind sharing. I'll answer some questions some might have about various meds, too, and maybe could give you some advice on if there might be some cheaper options you could talk to your doctor about - remember... don't go telling your doctor, "Some fool on the interwebs done tol' me you's a idiot and I should be on XXXXX med instead o' what you's got me on!" These may help you with some ideas of things to bring UP to your doctor, TALK ABOUT the various side effects, and why they may have a very specific reason they might want you on a more expensive medicine - sometimes there may be interactions with other meds you don't know about, some side effects that could crop up, or maybe your doc has had a number of patients who had problems with one of the cheaper alternatives, and doesn't like using them anymore.
There are a million reasons out there that could be pertinent, but if I give you some ideas of things to DISCUSS, then it opens lines of communication with your provider, and could possibly save you a few bucks.