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Comment by Carolyn on March 27, 2013 at 12:22pm

Jay

Thank you for the link to the Farmer's Markets.  I live right near Hemlock Hill Farm and didn't know they participated at Hudson Valley  Hospital's Market on Tuesdays. Great veggies and meats.

We order some meds from a Canadian Pharmacy that purchases even name brands from all over the world at great discounts. You need a few week lead time but they are very reliable.  As for my antirejection meds I am grateful to Medicare Part B.

Comment by Jay Lackritz on July 11, 2012 at 2:42pm

Judith,

Buying meds directly from India doesn't require a prescription.

http://www.AllDayChemist.com

The drugs are generic copies of US drugs made by Indian Pharmaceuticals. These drug companies are among the largest in the world and are very reliable. I have been buying from ADC (AllDayChemist for over 10 years, and I know dozens of people that order from them, and I have never heard one single complaint about the drugs. They only sell drugs that can't be abused, so they don't sell pain killers, anti-depressants, tranquilizers, etc. I don't know of any drugs they sell that require refrigeration. Can you buy these drugs mail order from a US pharmacy?

Buying drugs from outside the US is illegal. It is a law written by lobbyists to protect US corporations. These corporations sell meds in the US for much more money than they are sold outside the US. They claim that they are illegal for your safety, but it's really just so they can line their pockets. The FDA has ordered the customs department to allow through small quantities ordered by individuals for personal use. However, it IS possible that your order could be stopped at the border. ADC guarantees that if you don't receive your drugs, they will either refund your money or ship a duplicate order for free. For this reason, many people I know place their order 6 weeks in advance, since normal delivery time is 2-3 weeks.

Typically, generic drugs are cheaper in the US. Most people only order their generic versions of drugs that are only sold as name brand drugs in the US. In India, it is legal to make generic copies of drugs that are patented in another country. I order such things as Nexium and other common name brand drugs from ADC. Before my transplant, I ordered respiratory drugs and inhalers from there. For example, Advair or Symbicort can cost $250 here, and $15 there. Albuterol, which can be $60 here, costs $3 from there. They have a one time shipping fee of $25, but they don't charge more if you buy more drugs. So, I usually placed an annual order, so the $25 added fee was small, compared the the amount of drugs I ordered. They also sell generic Prograf there, and I discussed this with my doctor, who suggested that I can buy any drugs from their except for my immunosuppressants. So, blood pressure, reflux, cholesterol, etc. drugs are fine, but my doctor would prefer I get my Prograf and Cellcept from the local transplant pharmacy in NYC.

So.... I get my generic drugs from Target, or one of the $4 pharmacies, my name brand drugs from ADC in India, my anti-rejection drugs from the transplant pharmacy (I get them for free anyway, since Medicare paid for my transplant), and most of my vitamins and supplements from Puritan's Pride.

You might want to go to http://AllDayChemist.com and check out their prices and which drugs they have that you need, and then you might want to buy a small quantity of their drugs to compare to the ones you get here.

My only warning concerns issues of credit card fraud, which can be easily dealt with using a check, money order, or a virtual credit card, and also lately there's been fake companies calling people on the phone who have ordered meds from Canada or India, but all you have to do is hang up. If you need more details on this, I can give you more on either of these issues.

Here's their facebook page, where you can read many customer's remarks:

http://www.facebook.com/alldaychemist2

Comment by Judith on July 11, 2012 at 7:22am

My meds cost about $4,500 a month.  I have insurance buat my co-pays run around $200 a month and I pay out $600 a month for insurance.  It definitely interests me that you can just order what you need without a prescription, but worries me that they can be stopped at the border.  It is scary to think that your meds might not make it here.  It is really a catch 22 when we need our meds so desperately.  What about meds that need to be refrigerated???

Comment by Jay Lackritz on June 13, 2012 at 2:05pm

I take a ton of medications. The cost of all these meds can be staggering. My prescription meds are handled pretty well. Medicare Part B pays for my anti-rejection transplant meds, so they are free. My Medicare Part D plan, that I pay $30 a month for, offers me zero copays on generic meds, so they are also free. I get my name brand drugs such as Nexium from ADC (alldaychemist.com), so they are not all that expensive. My main problem are the non-prescription meds. I need to take many supplements - vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidents, etc. etc. The cost of these are significant and make up the bulk of my monthly medication costs. Before the recession, I was able to go to a local health food store and buy the all-natural, high end brands, but nowadays that ends up costing me too much. Even the Specialty stores like Vitamin World can be too pricey for me. So.... I get many of my supplements from Puritan's Pride (www.puritan.com), which seem to offer about the lowest prices I've found. I don't normally endorse anyplace for purchasing stuff, but I wanted to let anyone who is interested know that they are having a very nice sale which ends on Monday. They're having one of their 3 for 1 sales. Buy 1, get two free. They are also offering free shipping and a 5% off deal if you buy enough. If anyone here knows of a cheaper place to get reliable supplements (Puritan says that their supplements are all made in the USA), it would be great if you let (us) know about it.

BTW, in my area of the country, the NorthEast, all the farmers markets are now open, so you can now get your food fresh and local easily Here's a round-up of the markets in the northern NYC suburbs: http://food.lohudblogs.com/2012/06/08/2012-farmers-markets-in-westc...

Comment by Judee on February 26, 2012 at 4:02am

Astellas will  give you a card which gives you $200.00 a month toward Prograf, if you have no insurance & are not part of a government program.  I used it for awhile.  Other manufacturers sometime do similar things.  Look them up on the Internet & write to them.  My transplant doctors don't want me using foreign drugs, because they are concerned about their standards of manufacturing.   I have fought hard for me life & don't care to take the risk.  Not worth it to me.

Comment by Hostess Risé on February 21, 2012 at 3:58pm

Thank you so much Jay

I hope your wife is feeling better.

Comment by Jay Lackritz on February 20, 2012 at 7:29pm

Just a quickie about prices. My wife is under 65 and has no drug insurance.

Today she needed to fill a prescription for a pain killer:
Generic Hydrocodone/APAP 10/325 quantity 180 pills.

We went to Walgreens, and they wanted $139.
We went to Walmart, and they wanted $112.
We went to Costco and they wanted $45. Big difference. Almost $100 less than Walgreens.

New York State offers its residents (under 65) a free drug discount card, called NY Prescription Saver. When we showed the card, the $45 went down to $27.52
So... this is one very common drug, and the first place we went, Walgreens, the price was $140, yet we ended up paying $27 with no insurance.
You gotta watch these thieves every minute!

Reference: https://nyprescriptionsaver.fhsc.com/

http://www.costco.com/Pharmacy/DrugInfo.aspx?p=1&SearchTerm=hyd...

P.S. We also bought Alprazolam 0.5mg 90 pills (generic Xanax).
Costco's price was $12.36, but with the card, we only paid $6.71 for 90 pills. Don't know how much Walgreens charges, but I'll bet it's much more that $6.70 for 90 pills.

BTW, we're not Costco members. Membership is not required for prescriptions or glasses, and if you're not near one, they will ship for free.

Comment by John Dawson on December 16, 2011 at 5:25pm

I'm taking 2.5mg a day of prednisone. I use 5mg tablets and break them in half. They are scored, and easy to break. No need for a pill splitter.

Comment by Jay Lackritz on December 16, 2011 at 5:19pm

Or Target:

http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/page.jsp?title=pharmacy_generi...

I had to move my prescriptions when Walmart told me they cannot get 2.5mg prednisone tablets. I'm much happier with Target. The people at Walmart were not very helpful.

Comment by DebbieK on December 16, 2011 at 2:56pm

Check out $4 prescriptions at Wal Mart

http://www.walmart.com/cp/1078664

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