Back At It, With A Refund

Well, after almost two months off, we're back at it. Well, not "it" .. yet ;) But I've begun another cycle of treatment.

And as trying and expensive as this can be, I did get some good (although weird) news.

When I called the pharmacy we use (it specializes in fertility meds), to refill my two prescriptions for this cycle (ovidrel and femara), the lady took my order and gave me a total. Problem was, the total was over a hundred dollars less than it was in January. After she gave me the total, I literally said, "And that's for which one of the medicines?" She responded, "Both."

I was skeptical, and waited for my debit card to billed the correct amount.

A few days later, the meds arrived.. and to my surprise, I was only billed the quoted amount. So, then I became curious, because I KNEW I had paid so much more last time. Within a few minutes, I found my old receipt. And for the letrozole (generic femara), the cost went from $180 in January, to $40 in April?!

I called the pharmacy, hoping that I'd luck out and the first time I was overcharged. It took several phone calls to get a hold of someone with an answer. As it turns out, I was sort of a guinea pig back in January. What I didn't know, was that the letrozole had just been released and was brand new on the market. With the passing of just a couple months, even more drug companies started making it, so the price plummeted.

So, as odd a feeling as it was to know that I was one of the first to try it, it was a relief knowing that going forward, our meds would cost almost $150 less each month. That should give us a little breathing room, anyway. (Not that the whole process is suddenly cheap, but I'll take what I can get.)

Much to my surprise, a few days later, I had a voicemail from the pharmacy; stating that they saw that I had called about a price difference between my two orders, and that as a one time courtesy, they'd refund the difference...

I swore I misunderstood the voicemail. No way are they going to refund $140, when they don't really owe it to me, and I didn't even ask for it. Right?

Wrong. A few days later, it was credited to my account.

Color me impressed. :)

So, if you find yourself in a situation like mine, ask your doctor to send your scripts to Freedom Fertility Pharmacy. Customer service doesn't get much better than that!

I just started my letrozole today, and will have my ovarian ultrasound in a couple weeks, to see if it worked. *fingers crossed*

Medications & Money

So, today, since I was off work.. I had time to call the 'recommended' mail-order pharmacy to get my meds for this cycle. According to the doctor, since they are a "specialized" pharmacy, they tend to be cheaper. They're called Freedom Fertility Pharmacy.

I only needed two medications. One is the Clomid. The other is the shot I have to take if the Clomid works, called Ovidrel. No surprise, insurance won't pay for either. They gave me the generic Clomid, but apparently Ovidrel has no generic counterpart. My out-of-pocket, for those two medications (that I'll take for a total of 6 days) is...

$120.35

Bleh.

Yeah, I know it's hardly earth-shattering.. and pales in comparison to the 15k needed for IVF. But still, it's a good chunk of a paycheck; especially around the holidays. Not to mention, we'll have to pay for an ultrasound for each attempt. Fingers crossed that this works.. because my brain and my wallet may not be up for anything more drastic.