Coupons

[themusicman]

Last month my grandpas nephrogist switched his phosphorus binder from Renvela to Velphoro. He really hated taking “The big horse pills” and he got constipation. I was reading some topics about people unable to afford their binders. How does that happen? When he was taking renvela we printed a coupon that gave him a bottle of 270pills for $5. Now that he is on Velphoro we printed up another coupon. We just got two bottles of 180 pills for free! From what I read online pharmacies are not suposed to accept coupons for medicare patients. However, I figured out if you ask them to run it without medicare they can use the coupon. Does this happen to anyone else?

[LorinnPKD]

Sadly, the Renassist program for Renvela is no more as of 2018.

My medication is 1/4 of my monthly budget.  More than groceries, even.

There's a new generic for renvela that seems to run up less for me at the pharmacy -- not always but sometimes!

[Paul]

I take a hell of a lot of pills for several conditions, most of which are really expensive and I could not have afforded them if I did not live in a country where the state pays for them. However my kidney related medication is not on that "too expensive" list. I take two medications, one is my phosphate binder, which is calcium carbonate, you can buy that from Amazon for pennies a tablet. So in reply to "was reading some topics about people unable to afford their binders. How does that happen?" I would say: Because they are buying the wrong binder. If you are in that situation, change binder, and buy it from Amazon, a week's worth will cost you less than a cup of coffee at a cheap coffee shop.

The other medication I take for kidney problems is sodium bicarbonate. That you can buy from the baking isle of the supermarket. No idea what it costs in the US, but over here it is about the equivalent of $2 for a big enough pot to last weeks. True, the capsule version is probably costing the state more than a tub of the powder from the supermarket, but you can buy a capsule machine from Amazon, and a big bag of empty capsules, and make your own for a couple of cents each.

[Michael Murphy]

If you are skipping medicare drop insurance there is a app called goodrx on iOS and android devices it lists the price for every drug at most pharmacies.  In some cases gives a coupon but will always give a list of drug stores and prices.  if the prices are less than what my insurance pays I go to the cheaper source.

[kickingandscreaming]

I recently needed to refill my Velphoro.  I got a message from the mail order RX provider asking my permission to ship.  On their message the voice said it would cost $2,600!!!!!  After I picked myself off the floor, I decided that I couldn't afford to fill it.

Later, I got a letter from them saying they were still waiting for my instruction and that the prescription would cost $90 (3 month's worth).  That's because I have Prescription Advantage, a service from my relatively enlightened state that protects me from the donut hole.  Thank heavens I have that.

[KarenInWA]

I take a hell of a lot of pills for several conditions, most of which are really expensive and I could not have afforded them if I did not live in a country where the state pays for them. However my kidney related medication is not on that "too expensive" list. I take two medications, one is my phosphate binder, which is calcium carbonate, you can buy that from Amazon for pennies a tablet. So in reply to "was reading some topics about people unable to afford their binders. How does that happen?" I would say: Because they are buying the wrong binder. If you are in that situation, change binder, and buy it from Amazon, a week's worth will cost you less than a cup of coffee at a cheap coffee shop.

Sadly, not every dialysis patient can take calcium carbonate. Those who have high calcium levels, which does happen to many dialysis patients. Calcium carbonate is a good one to start out with, though. It's what I took for the 7 months I was on dialysis.

KarenInWA

[Simon Dog]

Some of the binders can be pricey.   I had a 90 day Rx for Auryxia which was working well.  When my insurance changed, it was "not covered, $5000 if you want it".

My insurance appeal was denied because I had not tried the low-cost alternative (Lanthium).  That too was denied, because it was $2000.   Turns out the pharmacist needed to file a "cost override request" and that low cost  drug was approved.