Any advice people can give me on ordering Gonal F, HCG, Menopur, and Lupron at a discount would be greatly appreciated. My insurance company has a new prescription med plan, and NONE of my fertility drugs are covered. We are looking at a bill of $5K for this cycle, and money is already tight. Not sure what we are going to do. I need to start Lupron in one week. Any recommendations for good discount pharmacies is greatly appreciated. We are willing to go into debt, but we want to minimize it as much as possible since this may be only the beginning for us. We recently had a bad car accident that wasn't covered by insurance that happened on vacation right before our IF diagnosis. If that hadn't happened, we would be able to afford this, but the car repairs depleted our savings. Nothing like getting kicked while you are down, huh?
I'll be out of town until Tuesday with no Internet access...the clock is is ticking for me to get my meds without breaking the bank.
10 comments:
I have ordered from IVFmeds.com too many times and with great sucess. The prices are also ALOT lower then in the US. I have used Schraft's they were much more expensive.
Have your DR look at a price list from them and tell you which one to order as there are multiple selections.
Also, I am not sure about other people, but the 14 day lup*on kit has lasted me 2 cycles. Maybe you can get away with a one weel vial depending on how much you need to take.
I hope this helps.. Let me know if you have other questions.
I use Freedom Fertility Pharmacy www.freedomfertiitypharmacy.com. I know that they do have some deals and tend to be a bit cheaper than other places.
This may sound totally rediculous, but ... could you order meds from Canada?
My cycle of drugs will be $3,500... I know we are probaby taking different things, etc, but I've hear of y'all Americans, especially seniors coming to our side to get your meds before :) Find out if FedEx will allow it (IMPORTANT, it is an international shipment).
I know time is tight, if I can help you out I could even be so bold as to give you the name of a pharmacy nearby like a Walmart or something, and you could check out the prices - you check out FedEx and you pay by credit card, I'll do the leg work for you !! If you are curious, check the Following Walmart store near me: Pickering 905-619-9588
Lemme know :)
Note: I'll be in New York next Saturday morning and I can send by FedEx from NY *this time* if necessary, but I need to have all the legwork completed by Thursday evening.
I'm serious.
Hi Emmie, I am in the same boat with the meds not being covered. Both of my IVF cycles I bought meds from people who had left overs. If the meds cost $50 or $60 a vial you can get them for $20 a vial from people with left over, unopened, not expired meds. $20 a vial is MUCH more manageable. Not sure what your meds are, mine was Repronex. The Lupron though is much more reasonable. I bought it from my doc as a 14 day kit with needles and alcohol swabs included for $300. You should post a message on a message board asking if anyone has left overs they want to get rid of...that's what I did and ended up having more offered to me than I needed. I think this is a fairly common thing to do also. My doctor wasn't at all surprised that people "Traded" meds like that (as of course it's probably ILLEGAL to buy them from someone second hand). I got the impression from my RE that this was commonly done. Good luck!
Hi Emmie,
Try http://www.ivfmeds.com. I haven't used them but know people who have. My doctor's office, off the record, suggested them to me. They're based in England, and apparently cheaper because there's a cap on how much drugs can cost there. The products are the same but have different brand names.
Best wishes with your cycle!
Oh sweetie- I am so sorry to hear this! That absolutely STINKS.
Those meds are so awfully expensive without the insurance. I wish i had something to send you....I have an unopened bottle of lupron, but unfortunatel it expired in June. Waah!
TWo thoughts: check with your clinic to see if anyone has donated unused meds.
Sometimes you can order the meds thru Canada or overseas for a lot less.
Oh, one other thought- do you or your husband own your own business or "corporation?" If so, you can legally write off all medical expenses for the year, which does reduce medical and drug bills by about 30% overall.
I am so sorry to hear this, and I hope someone will be able to chime in with some good websites to order the meds, for reduced fee.
There is an online pharmacy ivfmeds dot com. They have pretty much anything you would need at very reasonable prices.
http://www.ivfmeds.com/
But it's in the UK and you might not get your medication in time. You could get the Lupron here, but order your FSH from them. You just sign up online and fax or email your prescription. I had a good experience with them and the meds are about half the price. Good luck!
The ones I know are in NYC; if there's one closer to you it might be worth it to use one there. Also, the clinic probably won't recommend a particular pharmacy officially, but the nurses might know which pharmacy is cheapest right now (I just got info like that today and will probably be using a different pharmacy for this cycle.)
When looking for a discount mail order pharmacy, make sure they can get the order to you fast. With Lupron, you have some lead time, but later you will need next day delivery to try to buy only what you need, and even if you can't get same day delivery, you might end up with unused meds if the clinic changes your dosage or something (this happened to me on my first cycle). Your mileage may vary, but close monitoring is what you are paying for at a good clinic and the monitoring may lead them to change the med/dosage.
Hi there - none of our meds were covered either and we didn't have the option to buy elsewhere, and I don't know where you are, but if you check out alt.infertility.primary (google it if you need to) someone there has just posted about getting cheaper meds from a pharmacy in England. Hope that helps a wee bit! The lady who posted is very knowledgeable and clued up on all this (had been a huge help to me) so it might be worth checking out?
Good luck! and best wishes.
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