Trying out the Aetna card

I used my brand new Aetna Medicare card (member since 2007) for the first time Thursday to get two drugs prescribed by my doctors.

One was Actos, a diabetic drug for which their is no generic. (real cost $226.19 in 2006)
I had to pay $20.00 for this drug.

The other was for a cholesterol drug called Zocor (real cost $172.99 in 2006) so I switched to a generic called simvastatin (real cost unknown)
I had to pay $5 for this drug.

So I paid $25 for two prescriptions whose actualy costs are $226 plus whatever the generic costs. Last year I would have paid $4 for the two drugs with total actual cost of $399,98

Actual drug costs of my prescriptions last year was $15,000 plus. I take 10 drugs each day plus 2 types of insulin which means I had 12 prescriptions to refill each month which cost me a total of $24 in co-pay. . I got two Thursday for $25.

Stay tuned for the donut hole which will roll around fast.