Friday, September 17, 2010

A Drug Deal Gone Bad

I actually had been handling Monday's bad news (IVF delayed because of cysts) rather well, I thought. Maybe it's because cysts are no surprise at this point. It's more of a surprise if I don't have them. I got the dates for IVF #2 soon after learning that IVF #1 had failed, but I never really let myself believe things would go according to plan. Never told anyone what the dates were. Never put any of the dates on my calendar or on this blog. I did joke to hubby, though, that if the IVF worked I could have big sore Boooooobs for Halloween. What a treat that would have been.

Anyway, I was managing very nicely until my drug shipment arrived yesterday along with a nasty surprise - my $10K drug coverage has just been exhausted. Price tag for the package - $4832!!! I thought we still had enough coverage for this next cycle, but it turns out that the pharmacy my insurance makes me use is the most expensive of them all for the drugs I'm on. Therefore, the $10K drug coverage was burned up after just one IVF and 3 Follistim IUI cycles. The pharmacy was supposed to call me in advance with the post-insurance cost of this cycle's drugs, but they didn't! They were also supposed to email me when they sent the package out, but they didn't. If they had, I obviously would have only ordered what was covered by insurance.

Q and I had a very tense 24 hours wondering if we'd be stuck with this bill. We thought we had this IVF thing figured out so could handle it without ending up in the poor house or the nut house or in separate houses, but this latest drama had me worried we'd be pushed over the edge. We were feeling the burn in our wallets, and then...



Finally this morning the pharmacy called me back to say they will take the drugs back since they screwed up by not calling me. Hallelujah, I'm saved!! *HUGE sigh of relief!*

Thanks to my cysts, I now have ample time to shop around for more reasonably priced drugs. Yesterday as events were unfolding, I got an email from another blogger who has leftover Follistim and is Lucky enough not to need it. How awesome is that? Can't get over the timing. Since I have some drugs left from last cycle, it shouldn't be too expensive to get the rest of what I need - certainly not $4800. Good thing, because we're still recovering from the recent bout with unemployment! So, that's the latest here at Cradles and Graves, where nothing happens without a great deal of unnecessary drama!

8 comments:

Oak said...

I got the lowest prices from Alexander's Twin Pharmacy - have you called them yet? Just a thought, they drugs they got me worked very well! :) Glad you're getting it all worked out, you deserve it!

Me said...

Yikes! I am glad you weren't stuck with that bill! I hope everything works out with round 2~

Nick and Kristi said...

Wow I would have crapped my pants over that bill for meds!!! I called a ton of pharmacies and for the most part I always found Schraft a Walgreens specialtiy pharmacy the cheapest...Anyways hope you dont end up having to pay so much

Jana said...

I am so glad you were able to send the meds back. I always hate the shock of IF bills. I have a bunch of needles and syringes I am trying to find a home for. Would you like them? I think I may also have a follistim injection pen. Let me know.

Lori said...

I *may* have a menopur vial...I know I have maybe two bravelle. I have several needles/syringes/saline (all cheap, though, and pretty easily covered with even cheap insurance!) I also think I may have some endometrin if you end up using that.

The pharmacy I use is Professional Pharmacy out of Maryland. They'll ship anywhere and are who my clinic uses. I don't know if they are the dirt cheapest, (especially with follistim, because apparently Freedom has made a deal with the devil and can be the best price for that exclusively, I think) but I know they are pretty competitive with the menopur and the thing I like about them is that if you over order, you can send it back and get 90% of your cost back...which is nice, if you are like me, and play tricks with your RE on how you'll respond...

Thank goodness the pharmacy took that back...talk about pit in your stomach!

Jeanne said...

Annie,

I'm sorry you went through all of that stress and worry. :(

I'm glad they took it back!

Jeanne

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry your cycle was cancelled - evil cysts!!! Delays can really drag you down. Relieved to hear that you weren't stuck with a nasty bill for the meds.

ICLW

Lisa said...

I've read your newer posts, but I wanted to comment on this one particularly because it struck me how generous Infertile women, especially those in the IF blogger network, are. I remember trying to find someone to give my extra syringes and meds to when I could no longer use them, but this was before blogging was really popular and my clinic wouldn't get involved. Even the pharmacy wouldn't take them back, except to dispose of them. (I sort of understand that, because someone could be a nut-case and mess with them.)

I'm glad to hear that you stood up for yourself with the pharmacy. Best of luck.

Lisa (ICLW #86)

P.S. Your daughter's drawings are lovely and show that she has a lot of sensitivity at a young age.