Any Advice for Finding Best Prices on Asthma Meds?

[beckbjj]

Well, I had a really interesting weekend.  My poor Grace, a 2 year old kitty who was a feral barn kitten abandoned by her mother at around 4 to 5 weeks, was having what I thought was trouble getting up a hairball, but after 30 hours in the emergency hospital she came home with an asthma diagnosis.

She is currently on oral steroids, with a weaning schedule, and of course directions to see her vet, which I am arranging.  She also has an albuterol inhaler prescription that I am filling today (I ordered an AeroKat and received it today, thanks Amazon Prime).  I've been calling around to pharmacies all day asking about new client discounts, my AAA Prescription Savings discount, drug company discounts, pharmacy discounts, and anything else, and I've mostly struck out.  AAA says their program works for pets, but the pharmacies I've asked have said they don't accept it for pets, regardless of what AAA says.  No one has said they are offering any new client discounts, even though I see commercials on TV offering them all the time.   All I could find is that Walgreens has a program that costs $20 a year but will save me $15 on fills of the albuterol, and there's a grocery store pharmacy that also has a program that I think is free (they didn't mention a cost) that will save something.  

The albuterol of course is a rescue thing, so I'm not super worried about that as it should last a very long time (fingers crossed).  But I am concerned about the maintenance drug I know she will ultimately be on, Flovent.  I know that's in the neighborhood of $200 per fill.  OMG.  I have no idea how I will afford this, but I will find a way.  But I do absolutely need to find the best deal I can find.

Does anyone have any tips, advice, or anything on discount programs through the drug company or through anyone else, or advice on who really does have the best prices (mail order, warehouse club, national pharmacy, mail order pharmacy, a safe Canadian pharmacy, whatever)?

Advice/tips appreciated!!!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
Well, I had a really interesting weekend.  My poor Grace, a 2 year old kitty who was a feral barn kitten abandoned by her mother at around 4 to 5 weeks, was having what I thought was trouble getting up a hairball, but after 30 hours in the emergency hospital she came home with an asthma diagnosis.

She is currently on oral steroids, with a weaning schedule, and of course directions to see her vet, which I am arranging.  She also has an albuterol inhaler prescription that I am filling today (I ordered an AeroKat and received it today, thanks Amazon Prime).  I've been calling around to pharmacies all day asking about new client discounts, my AAA Prescription Savings discount, drug company discounts, pharmacy discounts, and anything else, and I've mostly struck out.  AAA says their program works for pets, but the pharmacies I've asked have said they don't accept it for pets, regardless of what AAA says.  No one has said they are offering any new client discounts, even though I see commercials on TV offering them all the time.   All I could find is that Walgreens has a program that costs $20 a year but will save me $15 on fills of the albuterol, and there's a grocery store pharmacy that also has a program that I think is free (they didn't mention a cost) that will save something.  

The albuterol of course is a rescue thing, so I'm not super worried about that as it should last a very long time (fingers crossed).  But I am concerned about the maintenance drug I know she will ultimately be on, Flovent.  I know that's in the neighborhood of $200 per fill.  OMG.  I have no idea how I will afford this, but I will find a way.  But I do absolutely need to find the best deal I can find.

Does anyone have any tips, advice, or anything on discount programs through the drug company or through anyone else, or advice on who really does have the best prices (mail order, warehouse club, national pharmacy, mail order pharmacy, a safe Canadian pharmacy, whatever)?

Advice/tips appreciated!!!

i have no experience actually buying from a Canadian pharmacy, but did gather all the info i needed and was prepared to do so -- years ago, for my mickey

. that was for diabetes, insulin.

you might try the yahoo group, feline diabetes. it's free to join the group and you may find others who have experience buying from a Canadian pharmacy. my personal opinion is to look into that. my dad, who has passed now, used to buy some of his medications from Canadian pharmacies -- the prices were so much better there/so outrageous here in the US.

i have bought fluids (for sub-q's) for my snick

from a Canadian company. this company doesn't sell asthma supplies/flovent.

 

[beckbjj]

Thanks much, I will definitely start doing some research on Canadian pharmacies.  I wasn't sure if any of them were safe, but I know they're supposed to be a lot more reasonable prices.

I'll check out the feline diabetes group.  

I did right away join a feline asthma Yahoo group, filled out their welcome questionnaire, and got a response back right away telling me that the vet (which is at the animal ER and not my regular vet, but it is a very legit animal ER) is doing it all wrong and claiming that as soon as I start the prescribed weaning schedule on the prednisone Grace will start having attacks again.  Now I don't know what to think, but I know I have to follow the vet's instructions at least until we see the regular vet.  I do find it hard to believe that someone with no medical degree on the internet knows more than a vet, but on the other hand, I know the person who said it does have real world experience with asthma kitties.

Anyway, if anyone else out there has any good tips and/or advice, I'd really welcome it!

 

[LTS3]

Originally Posted by beckbjj  

I've been calling around to pharmacies all day asking about new client discounts, my AAA Prescription Savings discount, drug company discounts, pharmacy discounts, and anything else, and I've mostly struck out.  AAA says their program works for pets, but the pharmacies I've asked have said they don't accept it for pets, regardless of what AAA says.  No one has said they are offering any new client discounts, even though I see commercials on TV offering them all the time.

Well, you don't tell the pharmacist the medicine is for a pet unless specifically asked

You can refer to your pet as a "child" if you wish unless your pet has an obvious non Human mame like Fluffy or Spots.

Many people order their Flovent and other meds from an online pharmacy Inhousepharmacy.vu  It used to be called 4 Corners Pharmacy but has changed the name. The Yahoo Feline Asthma Group often recommends this pharmacy.

GoodRx.com lets you compare medicine costs at local pharmacies so you can find the best price.

Look into a pet prescription card. These are free to use and there are many different ones out there. Here's one: http://www.petdrugcard.com/index.html And there's a Flovent specific "coupon" http://www.petdrugcard.com/flovent-hfa-coupon.html

The Yahoo group can come across as rude with the "know better than the vet" attitude but don't let it bother you. Not all the the members are like that. There is vaulable info there that members will share and you can discuss with your vet.

 

[beckbjj]

Thanks for the really helpful info, @LTS3

The script was written out to "Grace Feline Jones" and signed by a DVM so I think I'd probably have a hard time convincing the pharmacy that she's not a cat, LOL!  

I appreciate the tips on the mail order pharmacy, the drug card, and the coupon, I will check them out for sure.  

I guess the price on the albuterol is pretty much fixed as far as local brick and mortar pharmacies here, because when I tried GoodRx everywhere came up within a few dollars of the same price. :-(   I ended up at a local grocery store pharmacy where it came out to a couple dollars less than the next lowest price.  Not a huge difference but they were really nice and helpful to me on the phone, so that plus the price did the trick for me.  The albuterol has an expiration date of 12/2017 and since it's just for attacks I'm hoping it will last about that long.  

The Flovent of course will be a whole different story, since it's expensive and given daily, the pharmacy can curse me out on the phone for all I care, as long as they have the cheapest price! ;-)   So I'm pretty doubtful that the grocery store will win out on that one; it will most likely be mail order I would think, through the place you suggested or through a Canadian place or somewhere.

Thanks also for the tip on the Yahoo asthma group.  When I got that message I was already super stressed out and scared to death for Grace, and getting that did not help my stress level at all.  I feel a little better today since Grace is doing great, and since I do have the means to deal with an attack now if one happens.  And she's seeing our vet next week Monday (the soonest appointment they had unfortunately, but safely within her current course of prednisone.  

 

[LTS3]

I actually found the cheapest place to buy Flovent (I'm wary of buying meds online) was the vet hospital's pharmacy. It was about $50 less than what the chain pharmacies were selling it for.

I don't think a pharmacist would question why a prescription is written by a DVM instead of a MD or refuse to fill it.

 

[donutte]

Perhaps a local pharmacy has a drug discount program of their own? I know the Osco next door to me has one, it's about $12 a month, and good for the whole household, including pets. It would be hard for them to say their own discount program won't take it for pets. I'm a little surprised they say you can't use it for pets.

I do know pharmacies generally don't like discount card programs (external anyway) because in a lot of cases, they actually lose money on the deal. That could be why they have such a policy in place.