General Discussion

Last year, she was paying $45 for each 30-day refill. Not too bad. This year, she suddenly found the price had shot up -- $221, but it turned out that was for a 90-day refill. Whenever something like this has happened before, she has asked the pharmacist for a 30-day supply, which is more affordable. This time, the 30-day refill was over $100, so a 90-day supply would cost her over $300 -- closer to $330-340, IIRC. In other words, the price per pill was almost exactly 50% higher if she bought them 30 at a time than if she bought them 90 at a time. A pharmacist told me -- rather apologetically -- this was a new practice the insurers are forcing on everyone, because it saves them a little money to process 4 claims a year instead of 12 -- but $440 worth ?? She's on SS, so her income is limited and now she has to make sure she can afford to drop 10% of one month's benefit check on a single purchase, while still balancing all her other expenses. She has nothing left in savings at this point, and a backlog of car repairs ready to claim more than she gets from SS. So boo hiss for the insurer (Cigna), but thanks to the pharmacist who let us know about this.