I currently take Strattera 40mg TID, and the prices is outrageous, nearing $800.00 USD for 3 months. Strattera 80mg once daily would be about half as much also which is just another thing that stirs me. I do not have insurance and do not qualify for any government insurance program and the cost is overwhelming. Is there anything you guys/gals know about that helps lower the prescription cost?

Well, Strattera is a new drug without a generic available yet, and drugs like that are usually fairly high.

However, shopping around for the best price from one pharmacy to the next one makes a huge difference in cost. For example, a year or so ago I decided to get back on the name brand Dexedrine (I usually just get the generic), and so I called around town to get the best price. Here are the highest and lowest prices I was quoted for the exact same prescription medication:

K-Mart Pharmacy: $190

CVS Pharmacy: $490

That's a difference of $300! I think it should be a crime for some of these pharmacies to price gouge like this, but most people are indifferent to this because they have insurance, and they pay the same co-pay no matter where they get their medication filled.

However, I am like you and I pay out pocket for my medications. What I hate to think of are the elderly, and the other people who are uninsured who have no idea how much some of these pharmacies price gouge like this. I imagine an elderly couple going into a CVS, or Right Aid, or Walgreens (those three are the worst price gougers) and thinking to themselves, "Gee, the price of Metamucil is only a nickle more here than it is at Wal-Mart, surely my prescription is competitively priced." However, nothing could be further from the truth. To think that these people (who often times have to choose between medication or food based on limited incomes) could save hundreds of dollars by going to the pharmacy down the block, or across the street is immoral in my opinion.

I suggest that anyone who has insurance to please try and support pharmacies like Wal-Mart, and K-Mart to name a couple of the better ones, because these are the pharmacies that are not price gouging like some of the big chain pharmacies are. These are the pharmacies that are more concerned about the health of their customers, than they are about the amount of money that each customer represents.

I remember after 9/11 when some gas stations raised the price of their gas a dollar or two a gallon, and I remember the public outrage against those stations that did that. In fact, I remember Attorney Generals from each state asking people to report who those gas stations were so that they could be made an example out of. Well what's worse, a gas station price gouging by charging a dollar more a gallon, or a pharmacy price gouging by charging several hundred dollars more for a prescription? I think the latter is so much worse. In fact, I don't see how the pharmacist that work at those particular pharmacies can sleep at night knowing how many elderly and uninsured patients they take advantage of every single day.

Anyhoot, sorry to ramble on and on about this, but I have very strong feelings about this issue, and I find that as often as I have told people about this price gouging, that I always find out that virtually nobody is aware of how bad it is. It's like this in every city in America. Please call around and get price quotes in your city and see how big the difference is.

I currently take Strattera 40mg TID, and the prices is outrageous, nearing $800.00 USD for 3 months. I decided to check it out for myself and see just how much you are likely being over charged, so I called K-Mart here in town and asked for a price quote on 90 of the 40mg Strattera. They quoted me a price of $114.50. That's less than half of what you are paying, and that was just from one pharmacy. Usually Wal-Mart is cheaper, but their number was busy. :o




Is there anything you guys/gals know about that helps lower the prescription cost? Yes, call around, and never support the pharmacies that price gouge. The more people that boycott these evil businesses, the better the system will be for all of us. ;)

Thanks for the great ideas! I have shopped around and unfortunately in my area the prices just aren't as low, but maybe I'll get lucky and find something nearby.

Thanks for the great ideas!You're welcome. My pleasure. ;)





I have shopped around and unfortunately in my area the prices just aren't as low, but maybe I'll get lucky and find something nearby.I hope you can find something better than what you are currently being charged too.

I'm not sure what part of Ohio you're in, but I live about an hour and a half south of Cincinnati in central Kentucky. If I knew that I could save about $500 off the cost of a three month supply of Strattera, I think that saving a chunk like that would make a trip to Cinci such a worthwhile endeavor that I would have to just find the time to make a trip like that. ;)

I was in my doctors last week and we were discussing why my local pharmacy ran out of concerta. I nearly fell off the chair when he mentioned the price.

In scotland there's a flat rate of something like £6.50/prescription but I bought a £100 12 month ticket which covers me for everything....whatever is prescribed for whatever ailment...so it covers both my heart meds and my ADD stuff. In Wales (which is part of the UK) prescriptions are free.

If I had to pay full whack for my meds I'd be in serious trouble.

Sounds like there should be a part of this board with retail ADD med prices for different outlets in different states and countries to try to stop people and their insurers being gouged.....after all if the insurers get gouged it'll end up back on your premium.

kilt

Sounds like there should be a part of this board with retail ADD med prices for different outlets in different states and countries to try to stop people and their insurers being gouged.....after all if the insurers get gouged it'll end up back on your premium.

kilt
I agree that we should try and prevent the insurers from getting gouged too, because they in turn pass those cost on to the people paying the premiums.

However, starting a board here with retail ADD med prices would not work as well as it sounds due to the fact that the price that these pharmacies charge varies so much from one town to the next town. Pharmacies are allowed to charge whatever they want to in the USA, and the worst ones like CVS, Right Aid, and Walgreens (just to name a few of the price gougers) don't care about people like myself who call around for the best price, because they get more than enough customers with insurance who usually care less what their insurance is actually covering due to their small co-pay.

The price gouging pharmacies typically are located in places that are very accessible, and they also make it very easy for customers to obtain their medications. For example, CVS, Right Aid, and Walgreens all have drive thru windows. They would like each of their customers to think that they "love to see you smile" so to speak for such convenient customer service, but in reality all they are concerned with is how much profit there is to be made off of each and every customer they have.

I'm on Ontario Drug Benefits (ODB) only because I'm on Ontario Works right now (Social Assistance). When I get off of that (they want me on Permanent Disability, I think not, just what I need to feel better about myself!...) I will have to pay about $50 a month for my brand Ritalin (generics suck the big one).

(generics suck the big one)
Some are better than others. Have you tried all the available generics? It's been my experience that some are much better than others. In fact, in some cases I found the generics to be more potent than the brand name drugs.

We each can respond differently to these things, so what works best for one person may not be best for another person. However, I found it to be very beneficial (albeit a tedious process) to try as many different generic versions of the medications that I have been prescribed.

In fact, I have noticed how some generics differ in their effectiveness between different strength tablets. For example, with the dextroamphetamine generic made by Mallinckrodt, I found that two of their 5mg IR tablets were more potent than taking one of their 10mg IR tablets. It's been too long since I took Ritalin (early 90's) and the generics of it to really remember much here, but I do remember that some of it's generic versions worked better for me than other generic versions of it did.

Food for thought. ;)

I'm sorry I should rephrase. The generic available in all the drug stores in Niagara Falls suck the big one. I'm all for trying the others, but they aren't available. It's either "PMS-Methylphenidate" for 30 bucks a month or Ritalin for 50.

This particular generic available here (I've been to 3 pharmacies its all the same kind) you cannot even tell when it's began working and it only seems to work at all for about 2 hours tops. Ritalin I can feel beginning to work at about 35 minutes in, and it last after that for about 3 hours.

This particular generic available here (I've been to 3 pharmacies its all the same kind)
Are there only 3 phamacies in the Niagara Falls area?

I have found that it's usually the mom & pop pharmacies, or the compounding pharmacies that will order what you prefer. The pharmacies that are limited in what they can and can not order are usually the big corporate pharmacies that have contracts for this or that.

I would suggest if you have not done so already to ask the pharmacies if they could order another brand, and also to see if there are more than 3 pharmacies in the Niagara Falls area. ;)

standing on a street corner every friday night between 12 and 3 am helps me

I get insurance so I can't help you there, but when I did take Straterra my doctor gave me TONS of free samples, she gave me enough to last three months. So I'd suggest asking your doctor if they have samples, seeing as it's a newer drug with no generic there should be some samples floating around your doctor's office.

Also, is Straterra really working for you? If so then keep going with it, if not then maybe it's time to try some generic other medications?

My doctor has given me samples from October 07 and enough until February when she is leaving her practice of 20 years to begin working with Veterans. She wrote me a prescription for 4 months while I begin searching for a new doctor which is why I'm looking for the most affordable outlet of purchase.

I was taking Strattera for awhile along with Adderal(generic form). But the Strattera was costing me 35 bucks every month, while the Adderal was only 10 bucks being a generic. Well I had changed jobs and went to get a prescription with my new insurance and was told to fill Strattera it would be 75 bucks for a month's supply, the Adderal was the same price 10 bucks like before. Well to make a long story short, I went to my doctor and told him, I just could not afford that much every month. So now I am on just Adderal, which I take twice a day instead of once. And it only costs me 10 bucks a month for 60 pills. But the only thing that stinks is, I know Strattera was working for me, but with all my other bills, I just can't afford it.

But the only thing that stinks is, I know Strattera was working for me, but with all my other bills, I just can't afford it.
Perhaps you might want to consider contacting Eli Lilly, and checking into one of their patient assistant programs like the one that I have copy and pasted from their website below that they call "Lilly Cares."

Lilly Cares™

Lilly Cares is a patient assistance program provided by Lilly through the Lilly Cares Foundation. As part of the company's efforts to provide access to our products for legal U.S. residents regardless of their ability to pay, we created a program to offer free medication, through physicians, to patients who are otherwise unable to obtain our products. Lilly Cares assists patients who are uninsured and whose income is less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. In 2006, the Lilly Cares Foundation, Inc. program responded to over 162,000 patients, valued at more than $161,000,000, for Lilly products. Most Lilly products are available through the program.
Eligibility is based on the patient's inability to pay and lack of third-party drug payment assistance, including insurance, Medicaid and government, community, or private programs and cannot be eligible for Medicare. Applications are available to anyone and must be completed and signed by the patient and the physician. Patients can download a blank application from the Lilly Cares website (http://www.lillycares.com/) or applications can be faxed to you by calling 1-800-545-6962.

I was thinking like Lars about the drug manufactures assistance programs and they also have legit on-line pharmacies - also if you are close to a state border your medications maybe cheaper in another state - all but scheduled drugs like Adderall can be filled in another state. . .