Gay Men's Health Crisis
May/June 2004
| Barry takes 4 prescription medications for HIV and pain management. Of the drugs covered by the lowest-price discount plan offered by Medicare, the following price comparisons were found: | |||
| Drug Name | Medicare | Drugstore.com | Canadadrugs.com |
| Celebrex | $151.56 | $76.99 | $88.72 |
| Levaquin | 266.28 | 97.93 | 149.56 |
| Viracept | 603.08 | 635.97 | 565.97 |
| Zerit | 329.75 | 316.24 | 259.08 |
| Total Monthly Cost for Barry | $1,350.67 | $1,127.13 | $1,063.33 |
| Barry's best bargain | Most Expensive | Less Expensive | Least Expensive |
| Total number of Medicare plans that cover all of Barry's drugs: 4 | |||
| Patricia takes 6 prescription medications each day. Of the drugs covered by the lowest-price discount plan offered by Medicare, the following price comparisons were found: | |||
| Drug Name | Medicare | Drugstore.com | Canadadrugs.com |
| Epivir | $264.45 | $269.99 | $244.90 |
| Hydro-chlorothiazide | 3.89 | 8.99 | 2.02 |
| Retrovir | 308.16 | 326.21 | 330.61 |
| Total Monthly Cost for Pat | $576.50 | $605.19 | $577.53 |
| Patricia's best bargain | Least Expensive | Most Expensive | Less Expensive |
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Patricia can purchase more of her drugs at one time through non-Medicare outlets. Total number of Medicare plans that cover all of Patricia's drugs: 0 | |||
| Jim has been on Medicare for 9 years and takes 12 prescription medications daily for HIV, high cholesterol, sleeplessness, and pain. Of the drugs covered by the lowest-price discount plan offered by Medicare, the following price comparisons were found: | |||
| Drug Name | Medicare | Drugstore.com | Canadadrugs.com |
| Elavil | $15.38 | $10.99 | $2.86 |
| Famotidine | 25.30 | 19.99 | 86.12 |
| Lipitor | 67.33 | 62.99 | 46.48 |
| Naproxen | 13.00 | 17.99 | 12.82 |
| Reyataz | 756.94 | 775.51 | 665.99 |
| Total Monthly Cost for Jim | $877.95 | $887.47 | $814.27 |
| Jim's best bargain | Less Expensive | Most Expensive | Least Expensive |
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Total number of Medicare plans that cover all of Jim's drugs: 0 Analyses were conducted using prices listed on CMS's website www.medicare.gov, Drugstore.com's website, www.drugstore.com, and Canadiandrugs.com's website, www.canadiandrugs.com, on Thursday, May 20, 2004. Only drugs that were available from all three sources were compared. All prices in U.S. dollars. | |||
| Medicare-Approved Discount Cards Will Benefit Some Summary from AIDS Treatment News |
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Patients who are on Medicare and have income under 135% of Federal poverty level and are not on Medicaid probably should obtain one of the new Medicare discount cards that became available on June 1, 2004, because all these cards include $600 annual credit for prescription drug purchases for persons within that income limit. Unfortunately, this program is complex, no one yet knows how it will work in practice, and after choosing a card one is locked in until November 15. The most difficult part of the choice of which card to get may involve how it interacts with other programs, including ADAP, and pharmaceutical company patient assistance programs. For the complete report, visit: www.aidsnews.org. |
Back to the GMHC Treatment Issues May/June 2004 contents page.
This article was provided by Gay Men's Health Crisis, and is a part of the publication GMHC Treatment Issues.
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