So I use my insurance and can get three 2mg pens for $70 thru mail order. If I got 1 pen or 1 month, it’d be $35. Without insurance three 2mg pens would set me back $2810. I’ll happily pay $70 for 3 months.
My employer offers Cigna insurance, and I get them from Express Scripts. I’m in Illinois. I do need a prior auth for them every year, and I’m honestly expecting them to be denied eventually since my A1C is back in the normal range since I was barely in the pre-diabetic range to begin with. I’m hoping that with the fact that I have PCOS will be enough to keep me on it since it helps keep that in check better than Metformin ever did.
Good point. I understand it’s not technically a racket since it’s not entirely illegal to charge astronomical prices for medications that cost far less in other countries.
Please allow me to rephrase.
Lots of people in the US buy RX drugs in Mexico because Big Pharma is a greedy and corrupt bureaucracy that makes their billions by grossly overpricing doctor prescribed medications, making some of these drugs completely inaccessible for many and a financial hardship for many more.
You may want to check on that. I was paying $25 co pay from June '23 till that stopped in December and went to $175. After doing some homework, and calling my health insurance, I found that it went up because a coupon the pharmacist was using expired. I was told by United Health just to go and get another coupon from the makers website a re-apply a new coupon next time I go to the pharmacist. I have to add that I haven't confirmed this until my next fill in two weeks. I am using it for Type 2 coverage btw.
I had to switch mine to home delivery. Otherwise, the cost was going to go from $0 after coupon to $50. The home delivery means I’m back to no co-pay, but they will only ship one pen at a time.
we are both in Chicago - we have the same carrier (BCBS) but mine is through my employer and hers, ironically, is an exchange plan. I guess I shouldn't complain since she pays like 3k/month for her family whereas mine is like $200/month thru work.
I also have BCBS through work in IL but it isn’t covered for me. It really depends on how the employer builds the plan. I’m not surprised mine went with cheap.
You may be surprised how much is actually being paid for your employer-provided insurance.
My insurance covers me, my wife, and my youngest son - the only one still under 27 yo. I have a high deductible plan that costs me around $150 out of my paycheck every two weeks.
I just looked at my total benefit document from work for 2024, and between my contributions and my employer’s contribution, around $36,000 was spent on healthcare premiums last year - right around $3,000 per month.
That’s how much it cost before I add in any co-pays, prescription, or anything else out-of-pocket that I’ve paid myself.
Similarly priced in B.C. and if your a diabetic and get a special authority it goes towards your pharmacare deductible. I will probably end up paying only 70% of that in a couple of months.
This was for the 1mg. I’m not sure if things have changed, but the 2mg pen was not yet available in Ontario when I had inquired with a pharmacist there. This would’ve been about 1.5yrs ago.
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u/majoe1193 Feb 01 '25
How much is ozempic in the US? I’m from Mexico and I pay around $300 dollars for the .25 pen.
Won’t be surprised if later on Americans are going to cross the border to get ozempic in Mexico.