by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Oct 3, 2014 | Medicare Drug Plans
October 15th is just under two weeks ago, and while that date might not mean much to those not enrolled in Medicare, it marks the beginnings of open enrollment for Medicare’s Part D pharmacy benefits. That means that if you are looking for a new Medicare plan, you have until December 7th to do so. Even if you don’t think you need a new plan, you should check out what’s available, for a variety of reasons:
- Your plan may be discontinued, in which case, if you do not act, you might be transferred to a plan that is worse for you. There are 14% fewer plans in 2015 than there were in 2014.
- New plans exist, and they might be better than your current plan.
- Your prescription needs have changed. If you started taking a new medication in 2014 and it wasn’t covered by your current plan, or required you to spend more out-of-pocket than you expected, it might be time to switch to a plan that covers any new meds.
Our sister site, MedicareDrugPlans.com, can help you find a new plan. It compares premiums, deductibles, and even lets you know if drugs are covered during the coverage gap. More importantly, you can read reviews from enrollees who have actually signed up for these plans! Knowing the costs and coverage can only go so far, as these reviews tell us:
Alabama, Tennessee – Cigna-HealthSpring Rx –Reg12
“I have been trying to sign up for this plan but have a very hard time getting answers. Many of the telephone reps answer questions with “I don’t think so or I’m not sure” which is not helpful. They also require you to sign a statement that says “Humana has the right to change the program at any time if they notify the customer.” I have been told that this is just a formality but it makes me nervous.”
New York – First Health Part D Value Plus
“I used this plan in 2013 and it was pretty good…most prescriptions cost me 0. But some prescriptions were not covered and I had to scramble to find the drugs elsewhere. Their cost per month was good, but now it is going up, and I will be switching to a cheaper monthly cost plan.”
Once you read reviews and compare plans on MedicareDrugPlans, head over to the government’s site, www.Medicare.gov, at which you can type in the drugs you take and find out which plans offer the best coverage for you. Using Medicare.gov and ratings from MedicareDrugPlans.com will help you make a fully informed decision. And don’t forget to leave a review on MedicareDrugPlans, so your fellow enrollees can learn from your experiences. Good luck finding the plan that is best for you, and don’t forget to enroll by December 7th!
Tagged with: Medicare Drug Plans, Medicare Part D, medicaredrugplans.com
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Sep 26, 2014 | Advocacy, Online Pharmacies, Pharmaceutical Industry
In George Orwell’s famous novel 1984, published in 1949, we find a future in which totalitarian, one-party rule has run amuck on a global scale. It is a world in which whatever “The Party” (think Communist or Nazis) states is a fact must be believed, regardless of the obtuse logic and propagandistic origins of that so called “fact.” The quintessential and frightening example provided by Orwell is the notion that 2+2=5 if The Party Say’s so. When I attended the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) conference last week, it felt as if many people were willing to believe absurd notions about online pharmacies. Most positions espoused at PSM’s conference support the following fallacious statement: IF an online pharmacy is not based in the U.S. and sells prescription drugs to the U.S. THEN it is dangerous. They essentially put on a show in which different people in a myriad of ways communicate that 2+2=5.
The event, called the PSM Interchange, is a Lion’s Den with many people who are directly paid by drug companies, indirectly paid by drug companies, U.S. pharmacies or their trade groups, or those who would like to be paid by the aforementioned entities someday, either directly or indirectly. PSM’s stated mission, “working together to protect the safety of your prescription drugs,” is, it seems, a smoke screen for big drug companies working together to keep drug prices as high as possible in their most cherished market – America. (more…)
Tagged with: CanaRx, Kenneth "mac" McCall, Libby Baney, Maine, Partnership for Safe Medicine, Peter Pitts, phrma, PSM, Todd Brown
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Sep 17, 2014 | Advocacy, Drug Importation, Personal Drug Importation
The opinions and research of two Americans, published this week in local newspapers, epitomize the position of millions of Americans: drug prices are too high and safe personal drug importation is a smart way to afford medication. Tom Kennedy compared prices between the U.S. and Canada in 2003, and he is doing it again 11 years later. His guest opinion in the Billings Gazette has shown that U.S. prices have increased 153% for the drugs he tracked since 2003, far outpacing the rise in income and cost of living. He has some good economic insight and analysis, and I recommend reading his whole opinion, which you can find here.
David Di Saia, from North Providence, Rhode Island, found that he could save $480 a year by using a Canadian pharmacy instead of the pharmacy associated with his Medicare plan. And that’s just the savings for one medication! Imagine the savings if he had to order more than one drug. You can read his story, which is “sad, but true” on the Valley Breeze website.
Tagged with: Billings Gazette, Drug Prices, Valley Breeze
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Sep 12, 2014 | Health Insurance, Specialty Drugs
Back in July, we brought you Part I of a series of posts about how to afford Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), the new Hepatitis C (Hep C) cure in the form of a $1,000 pill — $84,000 for the standard 12-week treatment. We focused on consumers paying for Sovaldi in cash. It wasn’t pretty.
Thankfully, most Americans who are taking and will take Sovaldi are covered by health insurance. And if Sovaldi is on the drug list of your health insurance plan then the cost can be a co-pay of $75/month or sometimes $175/month, which is not too bad all things considered. However, as we know – health insurance policies don’t cover all medications, even ones that are far less expensive than Sovaldi. Not surprisingly, health insurance companies are resisting open coverage policies for Sovaldi. In fact, there’s a big battle brewing between Big Health and Big Pharma about who is to blame for problems with affordable access to Sovaldi and other specialty meds – but that’s for another day.
The short answer to the blog title question is – Sovaldi coverage depends on multiple and often technical variables, such as, your age, current health, efficacy of other treatments, intolerance to treatments that are recommended to be taken with Sovaldi, Hep C genotype, history of drug abuse, and more! Herein I do my best to shed some light on what’s up. I believe you’ll find below that most privately insured Americans with Hep C are not guaranteed access to Sovaldi. (more…)
Tagged with: gentotype, prior authorization, sofosbuvir, Sovaldi
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Sep 5, 2014 | Drug Prices, Generic drugs, Specialty Drugs
Specialty drugs have been in the news for their exorbitant prices lately. Gilead Sciences’ Hepatitis C cure Sovaldi has received media exposure for costing $84,000 and in 2012, when Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center refused to use the colon cancer medication Zaltrap because of its $11,000 a month price, the manufacturer responded by offering discounts of 50%. Will these high prices come way down once the medications go generic?
A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, examined costs and utilization of specialty drugs (specifically cancer meds) as generic versions are introduced. Generally, prices for generic drugs drop as more manufacturers produce them due to price competition. This should presumably happen for specialty drugs, but there’s a catch. Many specialty drugs have a small user base and some of them are formulated as solutions or injection, which may require more specialized and expensive manufacturing processes compared to traditional oral drugs (i.e pills, liquids). For those reason, the drugs price discrepancy between brands and generics is not as great among specialty medications compared to regular medications.
The study didn’t analyze the best way to actually pay for these medications. But a recent analysis by HealthPocket took a look at Obamacare plans and specialty meds. Check that out here. We are still researching paying for specialty drugs and will have our own analysis and tips for saving at some point in the future.
Keep in mind that over time specialty drugs, such as Sovaldi, will go generic in the U.S. and be prices considerably lower than the brand. But unlike many pills for high blood pressure, depression, or cholesterol, you won’t find $4 Zaltrap at your local Rite-Aid anytime soon.
I wish I had a more concrete answer and analysis on the prices and access to specialty meds. It’s something that we here at PharmacyChecker.com are keeping an eye on, and we will certainly have updates in the future.
Tagged with: Gilead Sciences, National Bureau of Economic Research, Obamacare, Sloan-Kettering, Sovaldi, specialty drugs, Zaltrap
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Aug 29, 2014 | Advocacy, Drug Prices, Online Pharmacies
In writing about the web domain company EasyDNS’ online pharmacy policy, Mike Masnick, founder of award-winning technology and business innovation blog Techdirt, makes the following observation:
“Fake and dangerous drugs from rogue pharmacies are a real (if relatively small) problem. Legitimate foreign pharmacies selling into the US at cheaper prices are a made up problem by US drug companies. But those US drug companies like to take the “small” problem, and blame it on any non-US pharmacy in an attempt to block out the competition.”
Thank you Mike for expressing that so clearly! The essence of TechDirt is to “analyze and offer insight into news stories about changes in government policy, technology and legal issues that affect companies’ ability to innovate and grow.” Innovation via the Internet has allowed consumers who can’t afford their medicine domestically to access it through foreign pharmacies. The pharmaceutical industry and its well-funded agents are getting away with murder by pressuring online “gatekeepers” such as domain registrars, search engines, and credit card companies to disallow service to pharmacies that American consumers have come to rely on.
To some in the public health community and in government, Mike’s expression of rogue online pharmacies as a “relatively small” problem” may come across as flippant and even naïve – but it cuts much deeper than that. The question is relative to what? If he means relative to the public health crisis of high drug prices in America then Mike is entirely correct: rogue online pharmacies are a small problem compared to high drug prices in America. Far more Americans are getting sick and/or dying because they can’t afford medication at home than they are from dangerous online pharmacy purchases.
That does not excuse the actions of rogue pharmacy websites that endanger the health of consumers. That’s precisely why EasyDNS’ decision to only provide service to online pharmacies if they are approved by LegitScript or PharmacyChecker is visionary. It does not let dangerous pharmacy websites exist, but it refuses to succumb to a protectionist, anti-consumer, big pharma initiative to snuff out innovative business models – safe international online pharmacy – that hinder their profit-making machine and grossly disadvantage consumers.
Rock on TechDirt!
Tagged with: LegitScript, Mike Masnick, pharmacychecker, rogue online pharmacies, Techdirt
