So, 16 weeks over here and still feeling the horrible nausea and heartburn. Have gone from taking the Zofran “as needed” to taking it on a schedule. 2 mg (half dose) every 6 hours during the day. It keeps things mostly bearable, but I still seem to be getting at least 1 day each week where the nausea and exhaustion send me home from work to crash. On those days, if I can keep from puking I feel like I’ve won. But that’s not really what this post is about.
This post is about the cost of prescription medication and the racket that is prescription drug coverage and pharmacies.
After my trip to the ER for excessive vomiting and dehydration, my OB called in a prescription to CVS for a 30 day supply of Zofran, an anti-nausea drug that is safe for pregnancy. Later that day, CVS left me a message saying that my insurance company had denied coverage of the medication. Luckily, we had some friends locally that had a nearly full 30 day supply of the same drug left over from when they had been pregnant earlier in the year and had struggled with similar problems. They generously gave me what they had and it’s gotten me through until this week.
I’m now down to only a few days supply so on Tuesday I went to CVS to pick up the prescription. To my dismay, I was told that the out of pocket cost for a 30 day supply of the GENERIC was going to be over $1,000. In shock, I laughed at them and told them they could keep it. In my internet research I had been cautioned that it was costly, but this was excessive! I also had been advised that different pharmacies had been found to have widely differing prices, so I sat down with my phone and placed some calls. Here’s what I discovered:
Cost for 30 pills of 4mg ondansetron odt (generic Zofran, orally dissolving tablet) at CVS over $1,000, at Target $109.99, at Walmart $109.72, at the local cooperative grocery store pharmacy $65.00, at Costco not available.
Can you guess where I’m going to fill my prescription?
1 In Vermillion 