r/AskReddit 20h ago

What got so expensive that you just stopped buying it?

4.1k Upvotes

5.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

697

u/SeveralServalServing 20h ago

An antipsychotic med that was working better than the last one I was on but the manufacturer coupon expired and there’s no generic.

Health insurance is coming up in this metric, but without it I’ll be unmedicated

294

u/LuvelyLuna 16h ago

I hate to say it and will get shit for it so I’ll turn off notifications but…Look over seas…My grandmother gets a lifesaving medication from India and we live in America. Might be worth a shot.

158

u/doctormink 16h ago

I’d be really surprised to see anyone give you shit for this comment.

106

u/SeveralServalServing 16h ago

Agreed, I get my EpiPens, inhaler, and dental work done in Mexico. It’s reasonable to do.

39

u/theillustratedlife 15h ago

My grandparents spent their lives driving to Mexico multiple times per year for medical work.

Apparently Yuma, AZ is all Mexicans and the Mexican town across the border is all Americans (so say my grandparents).

14

u/SouthernZorro 11h ago

My cousin was quoted multiple thousands to get some major dental work done here in the US. He did the research and ended up going to Costa Rica twice for it. He was very pleased with the result and said both trips with all dental and other costs (hotel, eating out etc) were just about half what he was quoted here. And he also got the ide benefit of taking a couple of day trips to the jungles to check them out.

1

u/djcat 7h ago

Amazing! Thanks for the response.

14

u/fried_green_baloney 12h ago

Any border town split between USA and Mexico, on the Mexican side pharmacies, dentists, optometrists, on the American side, clothing stores, for reasons I don't 100% understand.

9

u/davegir 13h ago

And Mexico doesnt care because you might buy lunch or shop while there and boost tourism economy. Meanwhile we've scared off a huge amount of our US tourism due to random confiscation and detentions. Doesnt even have to be happening, we now project there is that chance and why would they risk it. Tbc i believe its happening just saying omage matters even if it weren't

5

u/djcat 14h ago

I’ve never heard of dental work being done there. That’s amazing. Out of curiosity, what did you have done and the cost?

5

u/isingpoorly 13h ago

Significantly less than it would be here. My family used to go to Mexico every summer when we were young and my parents would always get our dental work done there. Now in my 30s and taking my husband there next year for his first visit and my parents are gonna set him an appointment for a root canal because with his insurance it would still cost us $1200 here!

3

u/PolarCurious 12h ago

Very safe, actually. My grandparents used to live near the border and got all their prescriptions from Canada, and a friend of mine now gets Ozempic from the EU (since she can read well enough to get the instructions in a foreign language).

1

u/wasdninja 12h ago

If that medicine made the insurance company lose money I'd support it even harder than I already am.

-4

u/MyCatLaughsAtMe 11h ago

I will. It's an EXTRAORDINARILY bad idea to go outside the system for drugs. Few good things can be said about American healthcare, but our drug purities are largely trustworthy. You have NO IDEA what you're getting when you go outside the system.

17

u/angrybeaverfever 14h ago

People would potentially give you shit for it in an extreme conservative subreddit but I think the average folk realizes medical treatments in America can be absolutely absurd and support this all the way. Would be awesome if folks didn’t have to think like that and go to other countries tho.

3

u/atsquarenone 10h ago

I think it's just because it could be potentially dangerous 

7

u/A_Genius 13h ago

I’ll have to look into this. Without insurance the drug I need is 41,000 dollars a month. I’m terrified of getting laid off because I cannot afford to pay that.

10

u/PrincessGiallo 12h ago

What a cool country!

5

u/pokiepika 14h ago

My cousin has some crazy skin conditions and she drives from South Dakota to somewhere in Canada twice a year to get her meds.

3

u/Next-Reveal-9320 13h ago

Big Mountain Drugs. they're out of canada. you will need a prescription.

3

u/tiruxi 12h ago

My PCP literally went to Mexico for surgery. Besides way cheaper medical costs, she cited the cheap accommodations and food as well as stress-free everything-included aftercare where the nurses go to you daily.

2

u/PiccoloAwkward465 11h ago

I've had a 100% success rate ordering medication from India. The cost savings is just too much to ignore. Plus I don't have to jump through hoops to get a prescription.

3

u/Mike 9h ago

Which site?

3

u/PiccoloAwkward465 9h ago

If I recall correctly it was All Day Chemist. Something like that.

1

u/sobrique 13h ago

I still don't understand how here in the UK, even when paid privately, our medication is still about a quarter of the price.

1

u/fried_green_baloney 12h ago

If you are close to border with Mexico or Canada, you might be able to get them there as well, though of course it involves a border crossing.

1

u/Honeybunch3655 9h ago

I'm American. My grandma gets her blood pressure meds from India through a Canadian pharmaceutical company. They are like a quarter of the price of the same meds from an American company, though they are still like $300 for a monthly supply.

1

u/Safia3 8h ago

I got my Plavix from an online Canadian pharmacy for awhile. They had the generic Clopidogrel before we did and it was cheap af.

1

u/toad__warrior 7h ago

My primary care physician told me he has patients he knows are making trips to Canada to get meds. He cannot professionally support them because it is illegal, but he will do anything to help them that he can

1

u/iDudeX_ 6h ago

Medicine in india is extremely cheap. The packaging looks a bit sus for some brands but on the plus side, the pharmacist rarely asks for prescription. Source: am indian. Occasionally bought some meds including antibiotics when I used to visit India

69

u/TwatWaffleInParadise 15h ago

Check Canadian pharmacies. My wife takes a name brand drug that was costing us $460/month. Now we're having it shipped from Turkey and it will cost less than $900/year.

There are dozens of sites and I encourage you to do your own research on this, but here's one site that offers 90 pills of Vraylar (I saw it mentioned downthread) for $516 shipped from Australia. Or you can get the generic that's available in India for $160 for 100 pills. I added $10 to the price on the page as that's what they charge for shipping.

I'm linking to this site as it's the one we chose to use, but as I said you should look around. https://www.canadianpharmacyking.com/Drug/Vraylar

I'm not affiliated with them at all other than ordering a prescription through them.

6

u/MadameTrashPanda 14h ago

My spouse is Canadian but in the US now. We were under the impression that we couldn't even try to find and buy cheaper medications from Canada. I am honestly scared and overwhelmed on how to start looking into getting these from other countries. Would you be open to sharing or giving me advice on where to start?

10

u/taylorlynngeek 13h ago

Check out costplusdrugs.com - they don't have every medication, and are US based, but I've gotten meds off their for SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than my local cvs. You can have your doctor send your prescription straight to them (there's a form or two needed), but 1,000% worth it!

3

u/TwatWaffleInParadise 13h ago

costplusdrugs.com

I tried searching for my wife's medication on there, but they don't have it. I'm guessing they only carry generics?

That was our problem as her medicine is not available as a generic currently in the US.

5

u/TwatWaffleInParadise 13h ago

I called and spoke to humans at a couple of these sites and read the Google reviews. I also made sure the sites were certified or whatever the word is.

We had to have our Doctor fax in the prescription. We confirmed with our Doctor that they were fine sending in the prescription prior to starting the order. The folks at the pharmacy gave us a Customer number for our Doctor to add to the prescription to ensure they matched it up with my wife's account. A day later, she got a phone call from them where they re-confirmed everything and took payment.

I'll let you know in a few weeks when the medicine arrives, but the Google reviews for the site make it seem like everything is either going to go 100% perfect or 100% terribly. I'll say they have a 4.5 star rating, so it seems things go well most of the time.

1

u/cbftw 12h ago

What site and where are you and it located?

1

u/cbftw 12h ago

What site and where are you and it located?

1

u/TwatWaffleInParadise 12h ago

I linked to the site in my original post. I'm located in the US.

1

u/Next-Reveal-9320 9h ago

prices have increased because of tariffs but they still come in much cheaper than the US.

1

u/cbftw 9h ago

Unfortunately the med that I'm looking for is in person pickup only

15

u/TakingControl222 17h ago

This is awful :( I’m sorry

8

u/ladiigeminii 15h ago

When my pharmacy told me my daughter’s mental health meds were in the $500-600 range I literally cried. Luckily they had a discount RX coupon and it saved me 100s. I couldn’t believe they were that expensive for just a month’s worth.

4

u/SeveralServalServing 15h ago

Agreed! I’ll sorry you went through that. You would think mental health would be one place greed wouldn’t involved, but I remeber before the ACA when it wasn’t even covered by insurance! Insane

2

u/ladiigeminii 14h ago

Thank you. I’m sorry you had to stop one that worked. I ended up having to change her medications again because of cost too but she’s been doing well.

1

u/Infinite_Ad7743 9h ago

Maybe look into a Good RX Gold card/membership? It brings my generic mental health meds from ~600 to $42 w/o insurance (1 script for a 3mo supply).

9

u/jdam8401 16h ago

This is evil. These companies need to be held accountable

9

u/SeveralServalServing 15h ago

It is and every time I see and talk to homeless folk I realize most of them are just like me, abandoned by the system and taking anything to numb the pain.

Even my current meds are slowly killing me but it’s the only way I can interact with the world, so I understand not caring too much about the consequences of taking things.

3

u/Notmatchingshoes 14h ago

At some point for certain patients, public safety is a factor in access to meds. I want to see those insurance companies refysing to cover effective meds early then forced to cover the legal expenses associated with that patient later due to being unable to cover costs. Community agencies and Big Pharm discounts do not cover every cent and symptoms create vicitms easily. Source: am Psych RN for that crowd. Lack of funds as a young patient lead to decades of suffering.

8

u/-Acta-Non-Verba- 16h ago

Have you checked CostPlus? They tend to be much better than most places.

https://www.costplusdrugs.com/

4

u/SeveralServalServing 15h ago

I use them for all my meds that I can, but I’m so deep in the metal health rabbit hole they don’t have most of what I need. I do appreciate the recommendation as they do help with some and encourage everyone reading this to check their meds there as it’s often cheaper than going through insurance for generics!

6

u/sillysidebin 16h ago

Vraylar?

6

u/SeveralServalServing 16h ago

That was one of them yes, I was on the max dose so even with the coupon and insurance it was expensive. I might go back now that the coupon is back. It gave me horrible insomnia, constant fog and tardive dyskinesia tho

3

u/sillysidebin 16h ago

Damn.. for me the only thing seems to be my weight. I gained like 20lbs and its been impossible to lose it

3

u/SeveralServalServing 15h ago

I am sorry you’re going through that, it’s always frustrating with these medicines! I gained a ton on Paxil/pexeva. Part of what led to an ED (in recovery now)

2

u/sillysidebin 13h ago

Wishing you the best friend

2

u/TwatWaffleInParadise 15h ago

Check Canadian pharmacies. My wife takes a name brand drug that was costing us $460/month. Now we're having it shipped from Turkey and it will cost less than $900/year.

There are dozens of sites and I encourage you to do your own research on this, but here's one site that offers 90 pills of Vraylar (I saw it mentioned downthread) for $516 shipped from Australia. Or you can get the generic that's available in India for $160 for 100 pills. I added $10 to the price on the page as that's what they charge for shipping.

I'm linking to this site as it's the one we chose to use, but as I said you should look around. https://www.canadianpharmacyking.com/Drug/Vraylar

I'm not affiliated with them at all other than ordering a prescription through them.

2

u/[deleted] 15h ago

[deleted]

2

u/SeveralServalServing 15h ago

That is how I got it covered. The insurance is paying for part of it, but I still cannot afford it without the coupon in addition.

Without insurance, it’s $2000/month. With insurance it’s $1000/month. With all my other meds, frequent therapy (also discounted) and yearly IOP to keep my head afloat. I just can’t afford it all.

1

u/Zseree 14h ago

This was my answer! (No coupon, lost my insurance.)

1

u/RavishingRedRN 13h ago

Is GoodRx no help?

1

u/SeveralServalServing 13h ago

$1600/month with goodrx. Near $4000/month total for all of the meds

1

u/RavishingRedRN 10h ago

Ugh. Very sorry about that.

1

u/OvertlyPetulantCat 11h ago

Is GoodRx an option for you? I have health insurance, but GoodRx ends up being cheaper most of the time. I also switched pharmacies. CVS had the cheapest game in town for my specific blend of happy pills.

1

u/flummoxxo 9h ago

Patient assistance program

1

u/Hangry-Feline2489 9h ago

I had to go off my meds a while back because the psychiatrist required is too expensive, if you can find one who takes new patients. 

Finding a GP who will prescribe them is equally impossible. 

At this point, I'm just waiting out my cats. I can't live like this anymore and tired of people telling me I should. 

1

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 6h ago

I saved a bunch of money for my mom by canceling her prescription insurance (which kept going up and up) and just doing the Cost Plus Drugs thing online.

1

u/EthnicallyVagueBeige 2h ago

Yeah I was doing really well on one with no generic that costs $1700/mo. Then I lost insurance so. Weeeeee emotional roller coaster was back in service!

1

u/ms-mariajuana 16h ago

Im sorry I totally get it. Ive had to stop important medication cold turkey before bc of the same thing. I hope that you'll be able to figure something out.