Paying for Prescription Meds

My co-pay for Treximet (nominally Sumatriptan + Naproxin, though far more effective than the two taken together) increased from $22 to $75 a couple of years ago, and then last year to $250. A good bit of that last price increase had to do with the manufacturer selling the rights to another company which then began charging 2.5 times the price. I changed to generics, and just live with the rebound migraines they cause.

I used to use coupons for lots of prescriptions but because I work for a local government I can't use them anymore. I am considered as having "govt insurance". Which is bull crap!

I am hoping to find a way to not go broke between migraine treatment costs, psychiatric appointments, migraine appointments, and then 11 different medication copays with two not having generics so I pay big time. I am on Disability and have been since 2008. It was on doctor's advice since I was calling out sick often and needed out to take care of myself full-time. While I did get the disability it adds up to about $250.00 a week. And I only have Medicare Part A which covers ONLY in-patient hospital stays that my husband's employer's insurance plan will not. So yes I do have good insurance, Anthem BC/BS but thru my husband and his employer. Each start of the year the employees are given a "Benny MasterCard" to use for copays, and other costs. But its just like a pre-paid credit card, you only use the exact money you put in the card. Now the maximum amount for a year for one employee is $3,000. My husband's co-workers even with a bigger family, For me its my husband and me and our daughter, which THANK GOD has never in her 11 years had anything wrong health wise except the regular colds and allergies. So his co-workers will put about $1000-$2000 max and use it the whole year. Well again my husband put the max amount of $3,000 and its literally 2 months now, today is 2/22/2015 and I can easily say that ONLY I have used the card so far and its already down over $450...I see my neurologist every three months at $40 per appointment, then my botox appointments he does which I have to pay the first $500 of that treatment which again is every three months. Then I need a sleep study. For the migraines I am on 5 medications with two of those with no generics. So the normal copay for just one script that has a copay is $20. No generic can run in the hundreds. Now I also have a mental illness and need to see my psychiatrist once a week, every week. That runs me $40 each time so in a month its $120. She now has me on 6 medications that cost me $20 each. So my total copays for visits equal about $200-$250 a month and then medication copays hit me the hardest costing up to $400. I was wondering if there was a way to either reapply at the Disability Office since I can't afford to pay anything extra on my Medicare Part A. In other words I know Medicare has options like part B and more but then you pay or more like they take out even more of me pathetic monthly check already. My husband and I are not doing well at all and he says all the time that I am using him just for his insurance and only because I am the mother of his child who needs to be healthy whether we are together as parents or divorced. And he works 60-80 hours a week at a shop where he is standing in steel toe boots about 11 hours each day and he is in a lot of pain with his feet and back but he is the person who NEVER calls in sick to work, he gets there early and will stay however late his boss asks him to. He hardly goes to a doctor, dentist, and hates medication and will take some Motrin for his pain and aches. I know if I can get some help financially to deal with all the costs that come with me "getting" healthy it might save what little remains of our marriage but even if it doesn't I still want that burden off of him and not watch him kill himself working because I am more of a liability to my family than an asset. If anyone has any advice I would be so grateful Thanks Malissa

Sweetmalis,
I'm so sorry to hear you're going through this. The financial stress of having a chronic disease can be just as bad as the disease itself. I just started my taxes and discovered that my medical costs last year totaled over $13,000. Crazy!!

I'm not an expert at all on Medicare and have no idea if you can get your coverage changed. It wouldn't hurt to call your local social security office and see if they can help you.

What I can tell you is that there are a lot of prescription drug coupons, manufacturer discounts and financial assistance programs out there.

You could also use drugsrx.com to find which pharmacy has the lowest price for your prescriptions in your area, which may reduce your copays. Until recently, I had no idea that drug stores charged different prices for the same drugs.

I hope this helps, even if it's just a little bit.

-Katie
Migraine.com Moderator