by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Jan 23, 2014 | Drug Prices, Saving Money on Prescription Drugs
Tom Sengupta, pharmacist at Schneider Drug
A recent story on PBS made it pretty clear to me that you ought to check out your local mom and pop pharmacy before going to a big chain drugstore or an online pharmacy. Not only might you find better drug prices, but you could also be supporting the business of someone who really cares about you. I’m talking about people like Tom Sengupta, a pharmacist at Schneider Drug in Minnesota, who puts patients before maximizing profits, unlike some of the big pharmacy corporations.
Carol Thompson used to pay over $400 for a brand name drug, but once it went generic the price plummeted to $10 at her local Costco. That’s what we’ve come to except and need from our generic medication: much lower prices. Curious about prices at other pharmacies, Ms. Thompson called around and found some other pharmacies were charging about $400!
Mr. Sengupta is not the kind of guy who would charge you $400 for a generic medication. He explains that big chain pharmacies often determine drug prices for generics by simply charging less than the brand name drug, rather than a small mark-up from the wholesale drug price of the generic, like Schneider Drug does. Sometimes their pricing can even depend on the circumstances of the individual buying. Mr. Sengupta says: “My pricing is based on the person I’m talking to. You know, because if they need something, this is my responsibility to provide that to them. I’m not losing any money.”
Schneider Drug
PBS reported that Schneider Drug charges $14 for 30 pills of Letrozole 2.5mg. We just placed a phone call to a “local” chain pharmacy and they quoted a price of $599 – over 4,000% higher! Outraged by the pricing policies of some big chain pharmacies, Mr. Sengupta stated: “How could you justify that? You know? If you had any morality – we don’t need to make money like that. We have to ask, what’s happening? Where is their moral compass?”
So next time you have to fill a script check out your local independent pharmacy’s price. And if you’re visiting the Twin Cities and need a prescription medication, pay a visit to Mr. Sengupta!
Tagged with: Letrozole, PBS, Schneider Drug, Tom Sengupta
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Apr 25, 2013 | Drug Prices, Medication non-adherence, Saving Money on Prescription Drugs
New research by Express Scripts shows that our nation is wasting $418 billion dollars annually on excess medication-related expenses. To our dismay, our home state of New York was near the top of the list of wasters, spending an extra $1,411 per resident due to our failure to purchase the lowest priced medicine, use the most cost effective pharmacy, and – worst of all – properly take medication.
Not surprisingly, one of the main problems identified by Express Scripts was failure to use a generic substitute for brand name medicine. However, not all brand name medicines have generic counterparts! Many New Yorkers (and people from other states, too) turn to online pharmacies to save. In fact, by ordering many brand medications from verified international online pharmacies, New Yorkers and all Americans could save well over $1,411 annually.
As examples, check out the savings on Advair Diskus, Abilify, and Crestor below. For prices on other brand name medications from verified online pharmacies, compare drug prices on PharmacyChecker.com.
Advair Diskus:
Advair Diskus is one of the most popular maintenance medications for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Savings on a three-month supply by ordering internationally online instead of a local pharmacy in New York City are $1,184. Over the course of a year, that’s $4,736!
Three-Month Supply of Advair Diskus (250-50mcg) Cost
Local pharmacy in New York City, International Online Pharmacy price as found on PharmacyChecker.com. Prices collected 10/24/2012
Abilify:
Abilify, used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder, major depressive disorder, and other conditions, costs just over $2,200 for a 90-day supply. When ordered from a verified international online pharmacy, the price drops to $330. That’s $1,870 for three months of medicine. Over the year that’s $7,480. That’s the amount of medication-related wasted spending for over 5 New Yorkers.
Three-Month Supply of Abilify (10 mg) Cost
Local pharmacy in New York City, International Online Pharmacy price as found on PharmacyChecker.com. Prices collected 10/24/2012
Crestor:
Spending on Crestor, a medication used to treat conditions including hyperlipidemia, mixed dyslipidemia, and hypertriglyceridemia, has increased by over 250% from 2007 to 2011, from $1.7 billion to $4.4 billion. So how big are the savings? For a three-month supply, you can save $580. Over the year, that’s $2,320.
Three-Month Supply of Crestor (10 mg) Cost
Local pharmacy in New York City, International Online Pharmacy price as found on PharmacyChecker.com. Prices collected 11/26/2012. International Online Pharmacy prices calculated from 84 pills.
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Mar 14, 2013 | Drug Importation, Politics, Saving Money on Prescription Drugs
The personal drug importation saga continues in the State of Maine this this week as legislators consider a bill that would allow state residents to order prescription medication from foreign pharmacies. The bill follows in the wake of – and as a response to – Maine Attorney General William Schneider’s suspension of drug importation programs last September. Pressured by local pharmacies, Schneider argued that licensed foreign pharmacies could not sell to Maine residents because they were not licensed by Maine.
As the bill’s name makes clear, An Act to Ensure Consumer Choice in the Purchase of Prescription Drugs (LD 449) aims to preserve consumer choice and facilitate personal drug importation in order to bring down drug costs. This bill calls for legal personal importation from the following countries: Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, South Africa, and any country in the European Union or European Economic Area.
According to a December poll conducted by the Press Herald, 92% of respondents felt that state residents should be allowed to purchase prescription drugs from Canada. LD 449 has support from Governor Paul LePage and the Maine State Employees Association. The City of Portland claims it saved $3.2 million through the importation program suspended by Attorney General Schneider.
The bill also has support from private employers. Scott Wellman, CFO of Hardwood Products Company, cited savings of $638,000 over the six years that the company’s employees imported medicine through CanaRx, a Canadian international mail-order pharmacy service.
The importation bill is noteworthy for declaring the existing legal impediments to importation an “emergency,” requiring that the legislation’s provisions take immediate effect. Maine’s legislators are taking a very progressive stance on personal drug importation, one that we’ll certainly continue to closely follow.
Tagged with: Maine
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Jan 25, 2013 | Drug Prices, Medication non-adherence, Saving Money on Prescription Drugs, Skipping medications
High prescription drug costs make Americans sicker and contribute to our national budget woes, according to a report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released at the end of last year. The report serves as a reminder to always take your prescribed medicines. We view this study as further evidence that access to affordable medication from reputable international online pharmacies improves the health of Americans and decreases healthcare spending.
To put it simply, as consumers’ out-of-pocket drug costs rise, they are less likely to take their medicine as prescribed, which leads to more medical services and increased healthcare spending. The CBO report tells us that the converse follows: when out-of-pocket prescription costs fall there is less need for medical services, and as a result less healthcare spending.
The CBO’s report is based on an analysis of relatively new studies that have tracked out-of-pocket prescription drug costs and overall healthcare spending in employer and government-based health insurance programs. The result is that CBO has now internalized out-of-pocket prescription drug costs in its methodology for calculating the effects of legislation affecting drug costs. This means if a new bill aims to bring down prescription drug prices in the United States or through drug importation, CBO would calculate how many more prescriptions would be filled and estimate the resulting decrease in healthcare spending.
It is critical that our elected leaders and government officials take this into account when considering new laws or taking actions that affect access to affordable medication .Just yesterday, Minnesota U.S. Senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar re-introduced a bill, The Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, to enable the federal government to negotiate lower Medicare drug prices with drug manufacturers. Such legislation would most certainly lower drug costs, improve health, and decrease the taxpayer burden on healthcare spending
Tagged with: CBO, healthcare spending, Medicare, Medicare Drug Plans, Medication non-adherence, Prescription Drug Prices
by PharmacyChecker.com | Nov 20, 2012 | Drug Importation, Online Pharmacies, Saving Money on Prescription Drugs
Safe online pharmacies outside the U.S. sell popular brand name medicine at prices that average 85% lower than American pharmacies, according to our new analysis of online and local U.S. pharmacy prices. The analysis compares cash prices for top-selling brand name medications in the U.S. to prices for the same medicines abroad. All international online pharmacies in the study are licensed and require prescriptions.
The savings ranged from 82% for Celebrex to 91% for Nexium. Annual dollar savings averaged just over $3,000. The study noted the rising costs of prescription drugs in America and, perhaps surprisingly, the fact that these same drugs are becoming cheaper abroad. Average savings have increased from 80% in March, 2011.
For more information, view the press release. To view price comparisons among online pharmacies, visit PharmacyChecker.com.
Tagged with: affordable prescriptions, Drug Prices, Online Pharmacies, personal drug importation
by PharmacyChecker.com | Sep 6, 2012 | Saving Money on Prescription Drugs
Why spend $194.00 for a three-month supply of generic Lipitor (20 mg), called atorvastatin, at a local pharmacy in Detroit when you can get it for free? We’ve been comparing prices on Lipitor for years, and we’ve finally found the lowest possible price for its generic alternative – ZERO!
That’s right – Meijer, a Michigan-based chain store with locations throughout the Midwest, is offering atorvastatin for free in all of its pharmacies. Considering over 40 million prescriptions were written for Lipitor last year, Meijer’s price is just what the doctor ordered.
So, if you live near a Meijer store and are in need of atorvastatin, then Meijer is the place to go. On the other hand, if you want to find the lowest price on brand name Lipitor, or other brand name drugs, then comparing prices on PharmacyChecker.com is your best bet. You can save 89% or about $2,400 per year just by ordering Lipitor online!
Check out these prices and happy savings!
Brand Name Lipitor Prices
For other medications
Tagged with: Atorvastatin, free, Lipitor
