I have private coverage through my husband's employer. Though I'm on Disability, his coverage is way better than Medicare's so we use that instead.
Prior to his current job and my approval for disability/medicare, we sold a lot of our stuff and downsized our home in order to pay medical bills, and went into debt. I got most of my meds as samples from my wonderful pdoc - sure it meant I was taking 47 pills a day in order to achieve my doses but what the heck!
I also utilized foreign pharmacies for the meds she couldn't help me with, specifically
www.canadapharmacy.com. The cost savings were enormous.