So my mom was prescribed a couple of inhalers

[conuly]

and at the doctor they said that since one of them wasn't covered by our insurance, they just popped one of theirs in the bag, no charge.

Inhalers in the US are marked up at a ridiculous rate, and even with insurance coverage you can expect to pay $40 or more, which we know from Ana.

If you have asthma in the family, especially if the patient is a child or has ADHD or is otherwise prone to losing things, you're going to consider making some painful, painful decisions.

So here are my pro tips!

1. Inhalers are super pricey at the store, but your doctor gets loads and loads as samples. So do the doctors at the hospital. It's okay to say "I don't know if I can afford that, do you have any samples?" They probably do, and are happy to give them away. At any rate, it can't hurt to ask. (This most likely applies to any non-restricted drug, actually... though they'll probably balk nowadays at giving you sample packages of painkillers!)

2. Most inhalers require spacers. Your doctor may not remember to tell you this, so check the information in the inhaler's box - they'll tell you if it's not necessary. You and your child WILL lose spacers. A spacer is a little plastic doohickey that's $50 at the pharmacy and $15 off of eBay. Stock up. (In a pinch, you can also use a cut-open water bottle to serve as a makeshift spacer.)

Comments

[alatefeline]

Very good to know. Thank you.

[conuly]

Spread it around. With the rates they charge for those things, any time you can get one free is a win.

[greghousesgf]

I'm on inhalers due to this damn lung infection I've been dealing with, luckily medi-Cal covered them. the bad news is they didn't cover the scrip cough medicine I was on, which was a LOT more expensive than the over the counter kind. Good news is it's much stronger, bad news in addition to the price is I don't even get a buzz off of it.

[conuly]

Ouch! That's rough. I hope you feel better soon.

more help for asthma!

[novel_machinist]

I have had chronically bad, can kill you, asthma for my whole life. So here are some other tips.

Actual steroid inhalers are more than EXPENSIVE. Also, Albuterol is more expensive but sometimes you CANNOT use the generic. This is doubly frustrating because the major drugs that are steroid and effective are ones that insurances carry then drop as they like.

Advair can cost around 900 dollars without insurance, on average.

To offset these costs:

1) You don't NEED a spacer. It does assure you won't lose medicine, once you're used to it, doesn't matter.
2) Ask for the discount card. There usually is one, this can take the cost down a lot
3) Ask for pay reduction programs. These vary state-to-state
4) There are low-cost drug cost sites. Google them, get the coupon. Trick is you need to sometimes find a specific pharmacy if you're on a bus this could be a problem.
5) Albuterol solution requires nebulizers. You can buy cheap handheld units on ebay for 25 dollars. THESE ARE NOT AS STRONG AS MEDICAL GRADE ONES
6) Asthma is made worse by laying down. WEEEEEEEE try propping yourself up on pillows
7) Caffeine helps too! catnip tea for younger kids, a coke, and hot tea/coffee
8) Hot water, steam, and anything that thins mucus can also help

^^

Re: more help for asthma!

[conuly]

7) Caffeine helps too! catnip tea for younger kids, a coke, and hot tea/coffee

Also helps migraines which, joy of joys, are comorbid with asthma, both in the sense that "the same people are typically prone to both" and in the sense that "one of the two can often bring on the other".

Re: more help for asthma!

[fred_mouse]

8) Hot water, steam,

Adding to this --hot/steamy showers can help not just the lungs, but relax other muscles that can be contributing. I tense shoulders/neck/head muscles, and if I can get them to release (which I can usually do under hot water), everything feels better.

[thewayne]

I use two inhalers, a rescue inhaler and Dulera, the later is about $85 a month. You'd better believe I ask my immunologist for samples when I visit him! When I'm feeling well, which currently I am not, I'll do one puff at night instead of two to stretch it out a bit.

I should ask my doctor at National Institutes of Health if he could prescribe one for me as the meds there are free for me. That would save me a bit when next I'm there.

[conuly]

The price on inhalers is ridiculous. $85, ffs. (Insulin, if you can believe it, is worse.)

[thewayne]

You do not want to know how much my antibody meds are!  I've heard tell that without insurance, they can easily run $2-3k per month!  The one good thing is they're billed against my medical insurance, so I make my max out of pocket pretty early, typically in May.  This year I made it some time in April, I don't know exactly when.  So that'll be good for future visits to the chiro and any other doctor.

Asthma/albuterol inhalers used to be dirt cheap because they were out of patent and anyone could make them.  So the original patent holders went to the EPA and said 'sniff These inhalers are harmful to the ozone layer!  We have these wonderful new inhalers that aren't!  You should make the old inhalers illegal!'  So all of a sudden $5 rescue inhalers were no more and you started paying $30. Just remember: profit is good!  Especially if you own the stock that guarantees you get paid dividends.

[conuly]

They're still damn cheap outside the US, because most governments have stricter regulations on medicine pricing and different patent laws.

[thewayne]

Yes indeed.  Most countries are more sane when it comes to taking care of their citizens' health.  It's disgraceful that we - overall - have the best quality health care but amongst the poorest accestt to it.  I just fired my latest GP and dentist, and am looking at driving 90 minutes for another ENT because my local guy is booked through the end of May and can't help me!  It's that or the urgent care clinic again, and I don't know if they can do sinus/throat cultures so we can definitively know what's been hammering me for two months over three different courses of antibiotics.

[gatheringrivers]

Mom-in-law was on at least two inhalers, I think maybe 3, plus a few pills towards the end of her life with COPD. Unfortunately, as she was retired, the (crappy) medical coverage left her holding the bag - and the bill. Her pulmonary guy recommended ordering from this site, and the same site was also mentioned in one of the lung disease newsletter things she got at the time.

It looks all fancy and spammy now, I'm sure (new site design and all that) but they've been decent for us in the past, and I know mom-in-law was very happy with their service. I can get my Diclofenac gel from them, and in larger quantities for the same price as finding a doc, getting a prescription for "voltaran gel", and filling the prescription locally. (For my inflammatory pain, the voltaran topical is absolute win, so I try to keep it in stock at all times...)

[zesty_pinto]

Yeah, an albuterol inhaler over my neck of the woods is 80. I was thankful that my health plan covered all of the cost, but cripes. Makes me miss the old over-the-counter ones they sold for 25 even in NYC before they dumped them supposedly because of the environmentally unsound gases they used to propel the agent.

[conuly]

To be fair, air pollution doesn't help anybody's asthma either. The issue is our ridiculous medical patent laws.