[postnihilism]

I have an immediate family member with rheumatoid arthritis who struggled to fill their prescription through Kaiser because of this as well. It caused a lot of stress in my family. If they were unable to fill their prescription and had complications as a result, they may have needed to go to the hospital, which is not something you want to in the middle of a pandemic when you have an autoimmune disease...

[tzs]

OT: Does anyone know of a good way to find out what a drug will cost at a Kaiser pharmacy on a Kaiser insurance plan?

I've got Kaiser and the pharmacy is unable (or unwilling) to tell me, given a drug, dosage, quantity, and my Kaiser ID how much it will cost unless I actually try to have the prescription filled there.

For some drugs, Kaiser is the way to go. Lipitor, e.g., is free.

For some, taking the prescription elsewhere and using a GoodRx coupon instead of insurance is better. E.g., irbesartan is $46 for 90 days mail order via Kaiser (mail order is cheaper than in-person), but only $22-31 at several other well known pharmacies with a GoodRx coupon.

I've heard that if you get a printed prescription from your Kaiser doctor, instead of having the doctor send the prescription electronically to a pharmacy, you can take the printed prescription and your Kaiser card to the Kaiser pharmacy and then they will tell you what it would cost without you having to actually have it filled to find that out, but I've not had a chance to try this to see if it is true.

[e40]

HR reports to me and my HR person is very good and uses Kaiser a lot for expensive meds. She's never found a way to do what you want, either for herself or for our employees.