Cut your perscriptions bills in half (literally)!

[cornflakesdisease]

I get my doctor to perscribe me 20mg instead of 10mg of the medicine I take for my high blood pressure. Then I cut it in half (my proper dosage). My portion of the bill is always the same no matter what the dosage, so I make my pills last twice as long. Just educate yourself on the dosage amounts you pills come in and see what you can do.

It's just one of many ways to save with high perscription drug costs.

Docotrs are generally very favorable to doing this, I have found.

[vsjhoc]

Re: Cut your perscriptions bills in half (literally)!

Good tip, provided you have the type of pills that can be split.

Also - always ask your doc for free samples. The pharm company reps give them lots. You may be able to squeeze another week's worth of your meds.

[Fern]

Re: Cut your perscriptions bills in half (literally)!

Just remember you can't do this with time released medications.

[aurielle]

Re: Cut your perscriptions bills in half (literally)!

DH and I are on each other's health insurance and before he switched jobs in August, all my meds were completely paid for except one that my copay is $10. I stocked up on all my meds except the $10 one when I knew he was going to change jobs. Two weeks ago I go and pick up my $10 prescription and I hadn't ordered it in a couple months. During that time, my health ins. upped my copay to $15, then doubled it! Lady tells me "That'll be $30." I say "There's a problem." Pharmacist comes and talks to me, tells me about copay going up $5 then doubling. Hoping that DH's new insurance covers all the copays like before. It's Blue Cross, same insurance and from what I can tell, same plan like his previous job so I'm hopeful.

[disneysteve]

Re: Cut your perscriptions bills in half (literally)!

I get my doctor to perscribe me 20mg instead of 10mg of the medicine I take for my high blood pressure. Then I cut it in half (my proper dosage). My portion of the bill is always the same no matter what the dosage, so I make my pills last twice as long.

This is fine, as long as the doctor is writing the proper quantity and instructions on the prescription.

For example, if he writes for 20mg, 1/2 pill daily, #15 for a 1 month supply. If he cheats and writes 1 pill daily and orders #30 knowing that you are actually splitting them, that is insurance fraud and is illegal.

[vsjhoc]

Re: Cut your perscriptions bills in half (literally)!

Hey Doctor Steve,

I thought you were going to get on my case for telling people to beg for freebies!!

[disneysteve]

Re: Cut your perscriptions bills in half (literally)!

Hey Doctor Steve,

I thought you were going to get on my case for telling people to beg for freebies!!

Not at all. I give out zillions of samples each year. I do try to save them for patients with no insurance, though. Any prescription plan is better than no prescription plan. I will give samples to some of my patients who I know have financial difficulty even if they have insurance. If you have a $15 copay but you are on 5 different meds and your spouse is on 6 different meds, that still adds up to $165/month which is more than some of my patients can manage.