Chuck and Lisa, a retired couple from Washington, are among the 40% of Medicare patients who find themselves in the Medicare Part D donut hole and can’t afford their medications. Luckily, they are able to get the treatments they need with the help of GoodRx. The Medicare “donut hole” refers to the prescription benefits coverage…
FDA Approves Cheaper Alternative to Specialty Anemia Drugs Epogen and Procrit
We have news for your healthcare wallet. The popular anemia drugs, Epogen and Procrit (epoetin alfa), will soon have a less expensive alternative, Retacrit. Epogen and Procrit are specialty medications used to treat anemia caused by chronic kidney disease (CKD) or chemotherapy, but they don’t come cheap. A 30-day supply of Procrit costs well over…
Why isn’t My Prescription Covered? — A Beginner’s Guide to Drug Formularies
Have you ever tried to fill a prescription at the pharmacy only to discover that it wasn’t covered by your insurance? This was a direct result of your plan’s drug formulary. A drug formulary is a list of prescription drugs that an insurer covers and ultimately determines how much a patient will pay for a…
The Latest in Rosacea: 5 Treatments to Help End Redness and Pimples
It’s bad enough having acne as a teenager, but with acne rosacea, redness and pimples may visit you even after the age of 30. Rosacea can look a lot like common adult acne too, so you have to be careful — they require a completely different set of treatments. Here are the latest recommendations for…
How To Beat Expensive Asthma Inhalers: Budesonide Alternatives
It’s no secret that asthma inhalers have gotten expensive, and there are no signs of soaring prices slowing down. Even under Medicare Part D, asthma inhalers are high-ticket drugs. They’re listed under Medicare’s higher-tier, “non-preferred” or “specialty” drug categories, which pushes the cost of these medications onto the 43 million Americans enrolled in Part D. Whether…
FDA Approves First Drug to Prevent Migraines But It’s Not Cheap — Here’s How to Save
On May 17th, the FDA approved Aimovig, the first medication specifically developed to prevent chronic migraines. Makers of Aimovig say that patients on the drug can experience, on average, one to two fewer migraine days per month. But at a price of $575 per month, is it worth it? Nearly 40 million people in the…
Are Z-Packs Still a Good Choice for Infections?
The Z-Pack (Zithromax, azithromycin) is an antibiotic medication that unfairly gets a bad rap. True, it’s often incorrectly prescribed for sinus infections caused by viruses, which don’t respond to antibiotics. But Z-Packs offer many benefits we shouldn’t forget. Here are some of reasons why they’re still worth considering. First, Z-Packs are easy to use and…
Here’s What Gayle Did When Her Mail Order Pharmacy Got Too Expensive
Skipping the pharmacy line and getting your prescriptions mailed to you may seem like an easy choice, but as Gayle learned, mail order pharmacies don’t always offer the best price. For years, Gayle had relied on a mail order pharmacy to fill her prescription for estradiol patches, simply because her insurer had offered it as…
What Should I Do If My Drug isn’t Covered by My Insurance? 4 Tips and Tactics
Viagra, Symbicort, Plavix — these are some of the drugs that insurance companies stopped paying for this year, leaving many people on the hook to shoulder the full price of often expensive medications. Why? Drugs are dropped from a formulary — as the list of medications covered by an insurance plan is called — if…
Is It Safe to Give Your Child Antibiotics?
Infants are exposed to germs that their newly developing immune system often cannot fight off on its own. In order to treat those nasty infections, many pediatricians will prescribe your child an oral antibiotic. But are these medications safe? Although these antibiotics have their benefits, there may also be some downsides to their usage. Recently, results posted…