Costly Cream

I went to Walgreens tonight to pick up Claire's prescription from the dermatologist. I had my credit card ready to hand over when the guy said, "That'll be $129.10" Stunned, I pulled my credit card back and asked, "Did you bill my insurance?" Momentary pause while the attendant checked. "Yes. The total was $743.89 so your insurance paid over $600." In total disbelief I asked, "For topical cream?!?!" "Yes," he responded, "it's an expensive drug." "Obviously." I replied.

I told him to hold the prescription. I needed to go home and do some research first. So I came home and vented then began my research. First I checked the effectiveness of the cream for what it's supposed to treat. There's some debate, but promising results too. Then I checked my insurance because I haven't ever paid more than $10 for a prescription on our insurance here.

It turns out the prescription was a name brand drug and I'm responsible for 25% of the cost. (And for those of you who do math in your head, no, 25% of 700 is not $129. But my insurance's "negotiated price" was in the $500s.) So I called the pharmacy and asked if they could fill it with a generic version b/c then I pay $10. Of course it turns out that there is no generic equivalent.

I'm not opposed to shelling out the money for my child if it's a legitimate cost, which it turns out to be. But also, since the treatment is optional, I think I'll call the dermatologist and see if there are other optional treatments that have a generic brand with good results. It can't hurt to ask.

And if you're wondering why it is such a costly cream it's 2 fold. First, it doesn't have a generic counterpart. That always drives costs up. Second, one of its treatments is used to treat certain skin cancer cells. It's not what Claire is using it for but in my experience, any drug that cancer patients also use is very expensive. I found that out when I took Zofran.

I think I should have gone into pharmeceuticals. 700 bucks for a tube of cream seems like a pretty good income to me!