This breaks my heart literally every day, because I see so many customers have to make this choice. Sometimes they can afford it for the person in the family that is actually sick right now, but canât buy it for the rest of the family (or at least those most at risk of catching it from their loved one), and then someone else catches it, and itâs just a vicious cycle. Especially since thereâs multiple strains going around, so overcoming one bout of flu (or having the flu shot) doesnât mean 100% immunity to catching another strain of it.
Over here in PA/NJ the generic $106.99 cash, but a lot of people havenât met their yearly deductibles yet, so the insurance companies (the absolute filth)Â cover NOTHING. NADA. ZIP. Not even a measly 5%.
SO!!! Hereâs what to do:
If you are prescribed Tamiflu or itâs generic, Oseltamivir, ask your doctor if they have a coupon for it, or immediately go online/on your phone and look up a coupon on google. Usually GoodRx or scriptsave have decent coupons. (Between $40-$80 is what I normally see for coupon prices, much better than $100-$250). Thereâs also familywize, wish foundation, blink (who donât work with CVS btw), or even your stateâs drug discount card.
Make sure itâs for the form and strength of the drug you were prescribed (capsules or liquid, usually. 30/45/60/75mg) and for the pharmacy youâre going to. GoodRX has different prices for CVS vs Walgreens vs Costco, etc. You may need to check with the pharmacy if they have it in stock, because thereâs a huge shortage since the manufacturers didnât anticipate such high demand. Adjust the brand/generic and which chain on the coupon accordingly.
Activate them if they need activating - usually an email or a quick call, sometimes an app download. Read any fine print and check that the coupon is not expired.
Take a screenshot, or print it out. Barring that, write down all the codes exactly as they appear, including how theyâre labelled. (Pharmacies always need BINs and IDs, but if thereâs PCNs, [rx]Group numbers, Person Codes, etc, theyâll need everything on the card to be able to bill correctly. Itâs better to have the actual card/email/screenshot.)
When you get to the pharmacy, check how much your prescription is. If itâs more than the coupon (again, usually $40-80, but sometimes less), ask politely!!!*** for them to rebill the drug with this coupon, and wait patiently as they do so (depending on how busy they are and how busy the servers are for the company theyâre submitting the info to, it may take a few minutes.) Understand that whatever amount is billed to the coupon is not being contributed towards paying your deductible, but hopefully you wonât have to worry about that much over the year.
Success. Please feel better soon.
***Please, please, please be polite. Please do not yell or have your parent/spouse/sibling/child/friend/nurse/neighbor/nanny/errand boy yell at the pharmacists/technicians/front store employees/customers in front or behind you/hapless passerby about the price or availability or how much insurance is a racket. Please understand that the workers have absolutely no control of how much ANY drug costs initially, nor how much your insurance asks for as a copay, nor how helpful the coupons turn out to be in regards to your own financial situation. Even their control over availability is tenuous at best, because of aforementioned manufacturer backlog, high demand, and strict ordering systems. If they need to call around to find it for you, let them call around. If they need a few minutes to get the information processed, give them a few minutes. Please treat your fellow humans with respect, even when you understandably feel like shit and they are limited in what they can do for you.
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