<p>My mom went to get some ear drops from the doctor, she has a minor infection</p>
<p>$150.00 for two weeks worth, and this isn’t new medicine, we looked it up</p>
<p>she is a retired school teacher with insurance, but this isn’t covered in the policy</p>
<p>Wasn’t there a generic version that she could have gotten? My experience has been that some insurance plans will only pay for the generic type.</p>
<p>a lot of insurance plans have a Drug Forumlary, where they will only pay for a certain type of drug for an ear infection, such as good old amoxicillin, and won’t pay for the new fangled, high-tech stuff.</p>
<p>Or call the doc and ask for a different med. Oftentimes another medicine will work just as well and be covered.</p>
<p>We were about to be charged $250 for a perscription until my wife called the doctor’s office and they said, sure, generic is ok, and we paid $10 for generic!</p>
<p>Always ask the doctor’s office (before you leave) if they have any samples of the the prescription. My doctor usually offers since they know we have a $10,000 per person deductible.</p>
<p>Many plans will not allow you to get the name-brand drug if a generic version is available for 10% of the cost. Often, a pharmacist will also offer you the different price options.</p>
<p>next time I will have mom do that, she was at the pharmecists that her ear was hurting, so she didn’t think to ask</p>
<p>but, yeah, good ideas</p>
<p>And a good and ethical doctor will write you a prescription for that $10 medication, rather than the $250 drug that does the same thing, without you having to call and demand/question it. If you don’t have a doctor who does this routinely–writing you the prescription for the less expensive generic drug–then switch doctors. If everybody did that, doctors would soon get the message.</p>