Cheaper prescriptions thread [No imports discussion]

paddydriver

Wife went into Healthwave when they first hit the media few months back, left copy of prescription with them and never heard a word back. She hits the €144 limit most months so any savings would have been great.

Have got her prescription up in NI a few times but there was always questions over getting the full 3 months dispensed unless it specifically said 90 tablets etc as opposed to 3 x 30 repeat. GP's don't seem to want to do this as it may allow you get all up front and diddle the HSE limit.

Anyway, told her to go to doc and tell him that she was getting all abroad and sure enough he wrote out full 6 month prescription. She is in Tenerife this week and looks like she can get 6 months for circa €80 - as opposed to €864 over next 6 months.

Moral is story is see if you can get 6 month prescription and pay for a holiday to Tenerife, and get all meds whilst out there. It is really infuriating how we get ripped off here. Just simple as putting in a Google search for pharmacies near where your staying - Yelp will come up with all the results. Ring ahead and e-mail copies of prescription to ensure they can dispense it and order in anything needed.

Hope this helps someone out there.;)

Millem

pauleoin wrote: »

Got my prescription filled by Tesco pharmacy in the Square, Tallaght, last time I travelled to Newry for a 6 X 28 day supply cost £120.00, today for 6 X 30 day supply of same medication €125.00, used to pay €49.50 in my local pharmacy for a 28 day supply.

Got a price from Healthwave for the same medication, similar price as tesco for two items and they did not have a price for another, after adding annual fee price would be higher than Tesco

Tesco pharmacy are the best and don't forget to use your club card to get your points!! The pharmacist is actually very good there too if you need to ask any questions

former legend

Millem wrote: »

Tesco pharmacy are the best and don't forget to use your club card to get your points!! The pharmacist is actually very good there too if you need to ask any questions

No, you can't.

Millem

former legend wrote: »

No, you can't.

Well I did

pauleoin

Millem wrote: »

Well I did

As did I.

former legend

Millem wrote: »

Well I did

http://www.tesco.ie/clubcard/what/

Sorry, points are not awarded on tobacco or tobacco related products, lottery, stamps, prescription medicines, infant formulae milk, Tesco Gift Cards, saving stamps, in store concessions or for purchases of some Tesco Bank products.

Millem

former legend wrote: »

http://www.tesco.ie/clubcard/what/

I can just tell you I used it and it went through! I was suprised as I don't get points on baby's formula. Maybe it's just on some perscriptions or maybe in tallaght it works? In fact the woman ahead of me used a supervalu €8 off €50 coupon!

SteM

Report in today's Indo says that HealthWave will be offering delivery from today. Up to 4 deliveries free per year with membership and if you need more it will be €5 per delivery I think it said.

Lillian123

Healthwave are now offering €5 off membership, PM for the discount code if thinking of signing up you will get it for €20!

4arc

Hi OP,

Do you still have a valid discount code please?

Soarer

4arc wrote: »

Hi OP,

Do you still have a valid discount code please?

I do if you want it.

As an aside, got my prescription filled by HealthWave yesterday when up in Dublin. My usual prescription is €144 per month (when I can afford it!), but with a mixture of branded and generic, it came in at €80.74 with HealthWave!
Contacted my local pharmacy today looking for a price for the exact same "mixed" prescription, and their price was just over €122!
So a saving of over €60 per month on my usual amount, and over €40 per month on my new local reduced rate. TBH, that's the difference between able to afford it every month and letting every other month slide.

Lillian123

4arc wrote: »

Hi OP,

Do you still have a valid discount code please?

Hey 4arc, here is a code <Snip> for €5 off healthwave membership

pa limerick

If anyone wants a code for €5 off the subscription just pm me

castle2012

Started going down the north once a month for my prescription, was €24.50 for my prescription in Drogheda . £3.95 in the north which is roughly a €5.00. Also do top up on other stuff when there like antihistamine's a 30 pack is £2.49 again converted about €3.50. 30 pk paracetamol £.69p again about €1.00

whackball

Wifes meds usually cost the €144 limit per month and thats a crazy amount over the course of the year. Even thought she sees her Consultant every 6 months and he issues a 6 monthly prescription, the pharmacy will only dispense it monthly.

What pharmacy up north do people on here use/recommend, preferably in Newry ?

Would you ring ahead to make sure they stock your meds etc ?

Thanks.

Whackball

former legend

whackball wrote: »

Wifes meds usually cost the €144 limit per month and thats a crazy amount over the course of the year. Even thought she sees her Consultant every 6 months and he issues a 6 monthly prescription, the pharmacy will only dispense it monthly.

The pharmacy can only operate within the limits of the drugs payment scheme. You can buy six months in one go but it's going to be a lot more than 6 X 144.

Have you asked your current pharmacy about generics?

castle2012

whackball wrote: »

Wifes meds usually cost the €144 limit per month and thats a crazy amount over the course of the year. Even thought she sees her Consultant every 6 months and he issues a 6 monthly prescription, the pharmacy will only dispense it monthly.

What pharmacy up north do people on here use/recommend, preferably in Newry ?

Would you ring ahead to make sure they stock your meds etc ?

Thanks.

Whackball

hi i use mckeevers in newry, seem to be very reasonable . You could ring before you go up and price the drugs im sure

leesadin

whackball wrote: »

Wifes meds usually cost the €144 limit per month and thats a crazy amount over the course of the year. Even thought she sees her Consultant every 6 months and he issues a 6 monthly prescription, the pharmacy will only dispense it monthly.

What pharmacy up north do people on here use/recommend, preferably in Newry ?

Would you ring ahead to make sure they stock your meds etc ?

Thanks.

Whackball

By any chance is your wife on high tech items?? But as the other poster said the dps will only allow one months dispensing at a time.. The government will not cough up the balance if any more than 1 months supply is provided... It seems that a lot of you are from Dublin and maybe the Dublin pharmacys haven't been passing on their discounts from the generic companies... In most rural areas the discount has been passed on to customers for ages now... And even where doctors prescribe branded a generic (where available) has always been offered to patients...

muincav

There is a new Pharmacy in Cootehill in Cavan called Markey's and they only charge half the prescription charge that others charge...i.e-if your normal prescription on medical card has 4 items it should be 10 euro but Markeys only charge 5 euro...dont know how long this will last but its better in my pocket...;)

angeldelight

muincav wrote: »

There is a new Pharmacy in Cootehill in Cavan called Markey's and they only charge half the prescription charge that others charge...i.e-if your normal prescription on medical card has 4 items it should be 10 euro but Markeys only charge 5 euro...dont know how long this will last but its better in my pocket...;)

Wouldn't have thought that will last very long as other pharmacies got into trouble before for not charging the full amount for DPS as it's a government levy

leesadin

muincav wrote: »

There is a new Pharmacy in Cootehill in Cavan called Markey's and they only charge half the prescription charge that others charge...i.e-if your normal prescription on medical card has 4 items it should be 10 euro but Markeys only charge 5 euro...dont know how long this will last but its better in my pocket...;)

If this is your pharmacy you should definitely delete this post.. It's illegal for pharmacys not to collect the government levy on medical card prescriptions and if they are found out they could get in an awful lot of trouble.. And possibly lose the pharmacy.. So for both your sake if and theirs ya should delete this..

L1011

muincav wrote: »

There is a new Pharmacy in Cootehill in Cavan called Markey's and they only charge half the prescription charge that others charge...i.e-if your normal prescription on medical card has 4 items it should be 10 euro but Markeys only charge 5 euro...dont know how long this will last but its better in my pocket...;)

It'll last until their GMS contract is removed and you can't get medical card prescriptions there - and that won't be long either by the sounds of things.

Soarer

leesadin wrote: »

If this is your pharmacy you should definitely delete this post.. It's illegal for pharmacys not to collect the government levy on medical card prescriptions and if they are found out they could get in an awful lot of trouble.. And possibly lose the pharmacy.. So for both your sake if and theirs ya should delete this..

You've quoted it now, so it doesn't matter if he deletes it or not.

Also, I assume the pharmacy in question is paying the difference, so why would the government care where it's coming from?

angeldelight

Soarer wrote: »

You've quoted it now, so it doesn't matter if he deletes it or not.

Also, I assume the pharmacy in question is paying the difference, so why would the government care where it's coming from?

They were very quick to step in when one of the chains said they would continue charging customers the old DPS threshold amount and pay the difference themselves a few years ago, so presume this will be the same

pa limerick

If anyone wants a code for 5 euro off the membership just pm me

xtradel

Bump!

I just signed up to the one in Galway & they are offering family membership for €30 instead of €60. They also offer 10% off over the counter meds as part of the membership.

My bp tabs cost around €34 in boots, €24 in Healthwave for same brand & €13 for Generics in Healthwave!

I've a refferal code which gets me €25 in store credit and gets you €10 in store credit if anybody wants to give me free money they can pm me for details

charmicat

Any referral/discount code for Healthwave (Dublin)?

RainyDay

charmicat wrote: »

Any referral/discount code for Healthwave (Dublin)?

I've sent you my referral code by PM, which will get you €5 off the membership fee, and give me €10 off my next script.

I'd be happy to send to anyone else too, of course.

Bebop

My monthly prescription was costing me about €40+ (€480 PA) these are BP meds and Zantac, but I got my Doctor to change it to generics and started going up to McKeevers in Newry, they would gave me 6 months worth for about £100 GBP but recently I started getting it at Tesco (Dublin) and the price is now less than €100,
I usually check prices before I buy, my local chemist quoted me €150 but the dearest was Boots who wanted €203, they simply multiplied the monthly cost including the prescription charge X 6 where Tesco only charged it once

The trick is to shop around, the difference in Sterling now makes Newry a dearer option, not to mention the cost of travelling there,
dont be afraid to price before you buy and give your local pharmacy a chance before you go further afield

caviardreams

Guys does anyone know if Healthwave will give you a price check on drugs without joining? I want to see if it is worth doing before joining (specifically for lyrica).

Thanks