New drug formularies

Absolutely nobody is saying anything... so, what’s the verdict? How are we all feeling about these new drug formularies and the updated pharmacy policies?

Don't even sweat it—it’s all the same garbage, just in a different box!

nimblesurfer20 said:Absolutely crickets in here... nobody's saying anything? What do you guys actually think about these new drug formularies and the updated pharmacy policies?

The last update on the Medicare website I saw was from May, and they were supposed to drop two new versions at the start of September. Do you happen to have a direct link? I've been digging through their site and can't find them anywhere. Thanks!

dustyowl29 said:

Thanks. Looking at this basic list, it’s honestly unbelievable. There aren't even any brand names listed—just generics, procurement costs, and quantities. This basically means if you're someone covered by Medicare or have a waiver for copays, they're just going to hand you the absolute cheapest generic option available. And the list has been trimmed down too; the whole thing fits on just 23 pages now. Part of that might be because they aren't listing different brands of the same drug, but there's definitely more to it than that. Even the supplemental list is only about 10 pages, and frankly, it doesn't seem complete either. I was actually hunting for a specific medication they recently started prescribing for severe osteoporosis cases—it's pretty rare right now, Forsteo—and it’s nowhere to be found on this list. Does anyone here know what the catch is? Thanks again.🙂>

Take a closer look... there are protected names involved. A lot of medications that used to require a co-pay have moved to the basic coverage tier, but since it's just a supplemental change or a full waiver, people haven't really noticed the shift.
It’s true, though—there are some total absurdities, like an opioid meant for terminal patients ending up on a supplemental list, or an antibiotic specifically for kids being categorized weirdly...

Regarding that specific drug you mentioned, specialists often write prescriptions for things that aren't even covered here, or sometimes stuff that isn't even FDA-approved in the States...

Yeah, you’re totally right. Looking at page one, they completely missed everything I just listed—plus those first two-thirds are totally gone. I didn't even get a chance to go through the whole thing properly because I was rushing to get everything organized before the site crashes again. With these people, you can never be sure which page is going to vanish into thin air next. Talk soon!

Man, our healthcare system is seriously on the brink of collapse! Just imagine if they started charging us even for basic stuff like peanuts...

Piggy said:Man, our healthcare system is absolutely circling the drain! Imagine if they started charging us even for basic stuff we take for granted...

More than 80% of the budget is just being swallowed up by their salaries and those ridiculous administrative perks that eat up another 10%, leaving basically nothing for actual patients or medicine. Honestly, half of them should be kicked out of the public hospitals entirely; they should just go open their own private practices. If they did, I’d personally make sure they were capped at maybe 100 patients max, instead of the roughly 1,300 they need right now just to turn a profit on their own. You really have to dig through the pharmacy lists, though—there are plenty of generic alternatives that don't require you to pay extra out of pocket. They're almost identical to the brand names. It feels like they've been prescribing the expensive versions for years just because they could, and now suddenly those exact same drugs are hitting your wallet. I've already printed everything out, so whenever I head into an appointment, I'll have all my proof right there in black and white.😉