The Official Medtipster Blog

Tylar Masters

We’ve all asked that famous Halloween question, “trick or treat?” What we expect is some foil wrapped deliciousness, some sort of taste explosion in our mouths, not a $32.00 deduction from our bank account (otherwise known as “trick” in my opinion!)

I visited my doctor the week before Halloween back in 2007 because I had a terrible cough, sore throat, chest congestion and a fever. The doctor told me I had bronchitis, and wrote a prescription. On my way out, I grabbed a mini-snickers from the plastic orange pumpkin, thank goodness, because that was the only real “treat” I got out of the deal.

I told my doctor I didn’t have prescription insurance. He advised that he could call in my prescription to the pharmacy that was directly across the street from his practice and they would have the drug available for just $4.00. I was so relieved to hear this news! I drove over to the pharmacy, waited about 25 minutes for my order to be filled, while managing to steer clear of the temptation of wandering around the store buying several things I really didn’t need.

The pharmacist called my name, and I went to the counter to pay for my prescription. “Your total is $36.00,” she said. I replied, “oh, umm, I’m sure there’s a mix up, you see, my doctor told me this would be just $4.00 here.” You know, because doctors are always right, right? “No, this is the generic and it’s $36.00,” she repeated that price as if I was automatically supposed to know my total. I had no clue, and apparently neither did my doctor, that this particular pharmacy had no such drug at that price, nor any others for that matter.

You see, each pharmacy really does have its own list of generic prescriptions available on the $4.00 program. But who knows that? I sure didn’t. And my doctor clearly did not. I didn’t know there was even a way to know which pharmacies carried which drugs on their $4.00 programs. It can be very confusing to the average consumer, which is why Medtipster.com exists.

Stick with David Copperfield for your tricks and Medtipster.com for your treats!

Just for fun, the origination of Halloween’s famous question: http://tinyurl.com/yhe77e8

Tylar Masters
Manager of Marketing and Communications
Medtipster, LLC.
email: tmasters@medtipster.com
web address: www.medtipster.com