Rx math madness

I'm in the donut hole by more than $400 (which means I pay all the costs of certain drugs for the rest of the year) because of the math madness of American pharmacies and Medicare laws written by lobbyists for insurance companies and handed to legislators, who enact them.

For one prescription, Aetna charges $655.37, which is almost double what Aetna charged eight months ago. Worse, it is EIGHT TIMES more than the $82 that Canadian pharmacies charge for the SAME prescription.

For another prescription, Aetna charges $338.86, the same as last year (thank goodness!). But that still is FIVE TIMES more than Canadian pharmacies charge for the SAME prescription.

For a third prescription, Aetna charges $271.55 and Canadian pharmacies charge $64.50, so Aetna is more than FOUR TIMES costlier than Canadian pharmacies.

Now that I'm in the donut hole, which this year happens after $2,830 in the cost of the drugs, no matter who pays for them, I can save -- for those THREE prescriptions alone -- $2,101.54 in the next six months by buying from Canadian pharmacies instead of through Aetna.

And what happens when you get out of the donut hole for the year? Good luck with that. You have to spend $4,550 of YOUR money before that happens. Once you hit the donut hole, the calculations switch from the total cost of prescriptions to your out-of-pocket expenses, which are much lower before you hit the donut hole.

If you want to check your Aetna prescription costs, once you're in the donut hole, against the prices of Canadian pharmacies, email John Olesky at

jo4wvu@sbcglobal.net

and I'll give you the URLs for a couple of Canadian pharmacies.