Healthcare costs - not insurance Cost of medicines - shop around

johnfenit

Registered User
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a while ago, I was prescribed statins (20mg). I specified generic as opposed to proprietary. Generic cost €17.00 per 28 days, as opposed to €23.00 for the proprietary supplier.

recently my son got my renewal prescription and went to the nearest pharmacy ie different provider, lo & behold, the cost was €11.00 per 28 days, 50% odd saving. more recently, with Covid, getting 56 day supply per visit and the cost is €18.00 for 56 day supply.

it pays to shop around!
 
To save even more, get 6 months at a time, that way you only pay one prescription charge.
I get 6 months 20 mg statins from Pure Pharmacy for around €30.
 
I get 6 x 28 days supply of generic 40mg statins in pure pharmacy for 24 euro.
Last week I went to my local pharmacy due to lockdown and purchased 28 day supply which cost me 20 .51 cent.
Needless to say I was shocked. I queried it with my pharmacy who kindly told me that I could purchase my 6 packets for 90 euro.
The statins I got were the exact same as I get in pure pharmacy. I will be a lot wiser from now on.
 
I got 6 months supply of statins ( atorvastatin) 10mg from a leading london pharmacy chain for £8 two years ago on a ROI prescription. They dispensed 20mg by mistake. I divided tablets by half. I pointed out dispensing error so wouldnt recur. They gave me gift card equivalent to €60. Now beat that.
 
FYI

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Definitely getting 6 months supply at a time saves on the 'reading the prescription' charge. Unfortunately because of Covid it can be difficult to sometimes get a full 6 months supply. Tesco can on occasions can be even cheaper than Pure but not on the statins. The blood pressure tablets used to work out cheaper overall before Covid in Tesco but have not bought them there in a while so this may no longer be the case.
 
Definitely pays to shop around, I never questioned our local pharmacy prices until recently and there is huge savings to be made.

On our last prescription I found mckeeversdirect (Newry) to be the cheapest over all followed by chemistwarehouse (Blanchardstown no delivery) then purepharmacy and finally healthwave (seems monthly membership is required)

You can email all the above for prices as well and they should get back to you. Also don't forget to claim from your health insurance provider if covered and from Revenue too layahealthcare.ie/howtoclaim/howtoclaimfromrevenue/
 
It's been a while since I saw any Laya plans covering prescription refunds - please bump on this thread if you are aware of any.
 
Definitely pays to shop around, I never questioned our local pharmacy prices until recently and there is huge savings to be made.

On our last prescription I found mckeeversdirect (Newry) to be the cheapest over all followed by chemistwarehouse (Blanchardstown no delivery) then purepharmacy and finally healthwave (seems monthly membership is required)

You can email all the above for prices as well and they should get back to you. Also don't forget to claim from your health insurance provider if covered and from Revenue too layahealthcare.ie/howtoclaim/howtoclaimfromrevenue/
I dont think Tesco ROI do prescription medications
 
I got 6 months supply of statins ( atorvastatin) 10mg from a leading london pharmacy chain for £8 two years ago on a ROI prescription. They dispensed 20mg by mistake. I divided tablets by half. I pointed out dispensing error so wouldnt recur. They gave me gift card equivalent to €60. Now beat that.
These are film-coated tablets, labeled FC. The reason for the film-coating is so the drug operates on a time-release basis i.e. one dose or one tablet is released gradually over a period of 24 hours or in a particular part of the digestive tract. Breaking the film-coating by crushing, cutting, chewing, or dissolving the tablet in the mouth means it will not operate as intended and may be harmful.

Read the PIL enclosed in the box for all prescription medications or consult the manufacturer's website.
 
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