anyone else with big increases in prescription drug costs recently?

My son takes Adderal regular release 20 one time daily.

(should be twice daily for regular release but the NP is an idiot, changing to different provider ASAP-another story another time)

But anyway my point is that typically a month's supply of 30 tablets costs me $30 cash (no insurance for son). Today when I went to the pharmacy for refill the pharmacist said he would have to check to see if they had it in stock because the suppliers had "short supplies" and were going to delay shipments and cost was going to increase dramatically. Today it cost over $50 for thirty pills and he said he expected the cost to be over $100 by January.

The pharmacist said that this is Big Pharma's response to Obamacare. His words, not mine, don't chew me up about political views 'cause I'm not even going to get into my personal opinions of what's going on in Washington. He said he believes that there is no shortage, that it is just a game the providers are playing.

I said I wonder what will happen to my medicare part D and the pharmacist said you are on the chopping block next. Crap, I am already in the donut hole and could not afford to pick up all my prescriptions and have not been compliant with my medicine regime because I can't afford to buy them.

This really sucks as I have been feeling depressed for a few days and thought perhaps it is because I couldn't afford $120 for my selegiline a couple weeks ago and didn't fill it so today I asked them to fill half the selegiline so I could take half the dose I should be taking and see if that helps my mood.

Are other people seeing "shortages" in meds and big increases in cost lately?

I am really scared what the future holds and how it will impact my son's and my mental health if we cannot afford our meds.

(((((((Yoda))))))) Sending you hugs. I can't even imagine not being able to get my meds because I couldn't afford them. Whenever I read about stuff like this, it makes me frustrated. I'm sure everyone on this board would agree that if someone needs medication, they should have access to it, regardless of whether or not they can pay for it. I'm fortunate enough to get my medications for free because I'm in Canada and on disability. I take this for granted, and I shouldn't.

Although I'm not really familiar with the health care systems of places outside of Canada, I'm hoping that the health care system in the US, and elsewhere in the world, makes some positive strides ASAP! Nobody should have to go without something they need.

I am wondering the same thing. Interesting about your story with Adderall. I take that med, and last couple of times the pharmacy was "out". What is this? How can they just be out? What am I going to do when I take a med that might give me withdrawal symptoms if I stop it suddenly? The pharmacist told me that I should ask my pdoc for a script for 10 mg instead of the 20 mg I take..and double up. Well, I'm sure that will "double up" my costs as well. He said it was the manufacturer's problem..and the start of a school year with lots of kiddies going on meds. I think that is not the issue. If that were the case, the manufacturer would know to have increased supplies on hand. Maybe there is another drug coming down the pike and the drug companies are weeding out the old meds to force us to buy the new one. I still can't believe that a pharmacy can just be out of a med. Do they ever run out of diabetes meds? Or hypertension or cholesterol meds? I think someone is messing with mental health meds.
I take Saphris, a new anti-psychotic. It is outrageously expensive. Thank God for my pdoc and samples. However, it works well for me so I have to scrape up the money. I buy my meds on-line to help with the costs. Canada is a lot cheaper.

I hear your frustration. The pharmacist tried to tell me something similar and found out it was just their chain that raised their prices. I definitely would call around to price shop the scripts to see where you can find them the lowest. This saved me a bundle. It could be that particular retailer and not a nationwide issue. Check around to see if it might be cheaper elsewhere, and have the scripts transferred. It takes some time but is worth it in the end.

Neither my wife nor I have experienced any significant price increases in drugs over the past two-three years. We're both on Medicare Part D. Nor have we recently encountered any shortages, the last one being several years ago on the precursor of what is now Metaprolol, a blood pressure drug.

I really do not believe that the stories told by local pharmacists or local physicians about prices and shortages are to be believed. Not only do such people rely just as much on rumor as we do, they also have their own interests in distorting the truth.

There must be one or more blogs on the topic of prescriptions, prices and availability in the U.S. I can't image there not being such. I'll search for them and if I find any that sound credible I'll paste their links here. If any of you folks subscribe to the Consumer Reports Health Letter (I think it's a monthly), it would be appreciated if you'd pass along any drug-related wisdom it contains. Take care.

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archive...discount-card/

Yes, I saw some news coverage on what was happening with the drugs; they had the example with a guy in Georgia that needed regular chemotherapy drugs, was at the end of his series, and the major hospital pharmacy had to give him an IOU!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/...20094949.shtml

I have not had too much trouble yet. Other than insurance not covering any of the benzos. My pdoc has tried prescribing several varities and insurance won't pay for them.

I do know that at least 2 of my meds will increase in 2012 because my insurance put them on a higher tier of the formulary

I've found out today that generic Aricept (Donepezil) and generic Namenda (Memantine) can be obtained for far less than even the Medicare D discount prices if you order from Canada, which we will certainly do. This, of course, is for folks affected by Alzheimer's or similar dementia diseases.