Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Make Do Day 10

My No/Low spend day started out great. I was able to use 40% coupons to pick up two spools of thread, saved $4.80. At the checkout counter I found this fabric marked down to $2.99 for 2 yards, saved $14.99!!! This will be perfect fabric to use on some project "Linus" Quilts

Then you know what hit the fan :(


After the great run at the fabric store I was off to the drug store to pick up 2 of my prescription drugs. No big deal, it doesn't count towards my No/Low spend challenge. As the clerk checked me out he ask if I was aware of how expensive the first drug was, yep it is crazy but gotta have it, he rings up the second drug and states the same thing....hum only one of the drugs is really expensive so I pull out my reading glasses to check it out. Thanks for letting me know there is obviously a problem, may I speak to someone about the cost, this is clearly incorrect. No problem the pharmacist comes over to check it out, sorry but the price is correct NO WAY NO HOW can this be right. One drug that costs $171.00 a month was now $678.00, the other that has been running $51.00 was up to $155.26. I still had an additional drug to fill next week, hubby has 2 that will need to be filled. Our monthly budget has our prescription drug cost figured in, I know to set back around $300.00 a month to cover all of our meds.

You may want to check out at this point...

We signed up for a Health Savings Plan for 2012. The premiums are a really great price but the deductible jumped to $4,000.00 @. We decided to fully fund the account, I'm thinking its around $6,400.00 for our age bracket, hubby's company threw in $1,000.00 for the first year, I knew we would be getting hit for a $550.00 deduction each month from our pay but we can carry over whatever is left year after year. I was thinking long term here, if we can continue to bank the $$ tax free by retirement age we will have a nice little nest egg to tap from, if hubby gets out of work we could use the funds to pay for a policy and maybe keep our heads above water till he could find employment. Holy Hannah what have I done!!!! I studied and played the number game for almost 2 weeks before jumping in on the plan.

Turns out the plan was not the problem, the drug company's had gone up that much in the price in 2012. After a LONG call to our insurance provider they let me know that with the new health care changes generic drugs are now the preferred drug, in turn companies had raised the prices on the name brands to get as many $$ as they could as fast as they could!!! One of my meds has NO generic drug, to bad so sad you have to pay the new price of $155.26. I have tried the generic of the other drug with BAD results so the Dr. requires I use the name brand, again to bad so sad, that will now run us $678.00. Her suggestion was to get with our Dr and find some sort of alternative drug. It is possible our Dr. has come up with a solution, they have prescribed a different drug for the one that is only available by the name brand (not sure of the cost yet) I will be switching back to the generic drug that didn't work so well in the past, we will be watching it closely to try and head off any ill effects. The $678.00 drug will now cost.....are you setting down? $8.17.

This is the biggest pile of you know what I have EVER heard of, anything the government gets involved in you can bet things will be CRAZY!!!!! What the heck are some people going to do???? As it is I will have to be monitored regularly to see if the new meds will work out, lots of Dr. appoints will be in my future. We will have to bring back in the Neurologist (GRR, I just graduated 2 years ago from them) Want to guess what a MRI runs, how about a MRA, and they don't give out coupons for a few EEG's. Not to worry our health care plan will cover all of those costs but the preventive drugs is a no deal.

So sorry for the rant tonight but stuff like this blows my mind

Today I spent $8.79

Over the next year our insurance company will be paying out thousands in additional lab work, tests and specialists all because of greedy drug companies and dear old Obama care.



4 comments:

  1. it truly sucks what it costs you guys in health care in the States. We are so very lucky in Canada.

    Gill in Canada

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  2. It is crazy! I have our prescriptions filled at walmart now because even though we have insurance it is more expensive for 6 of our drugs at cvs then it is at walmart.

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  3. Holy Hannah Debby!! That is totally outrageous! I have NO IDEA what my drugs cost as I have a great benefits plan that covers 100% of the cost. Most businesses offer a drug plan to employees here - I pay a nominal fee every month, about $20, deducted off my pay. Your health insurance system sounds so complicated and I am glad things finally worked out for you.

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  4. Judy, I may just have to check into Walmart, every little bit helps.

    Jane, we do have a drug plan with the health plan, but we have to pay 100% of costs until we hit the $4,000.00. I was OK with that until the price jump!!

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