prescription pill in Tesco cheaper than on medical card!!

brianb10

My wife was paying €6.20 for a month supply of ovranette in our local pharmacy.

Got 6 months in Tesco Pharmacy Tallaght for €9.04!

If she had a medical card she would be paying €15 over the 6 months!!!

Whiplashy

What would she pay in the local pharmacy to get all 6 months together? The pill is cheap wherever you buy it, it's the dispensing charge that makes it expensive. If you buy it by the month you pay the dispensing charge every time. If you get the 6 months together you only pay the dispensing charge once. I pay €11 in my local pharmacy for 6 months of ovranette. It definitely wouldn't be a bargain to go to Tesco for it unless you live very near.

L1011

Quite a few older medications are cheaper privately in 6 month supply than on the medical card monthly, its not just that. Same happens in England a lot; prescription fee there is £8.05 on the NHS per script (there's a 3 month cap also) meaning that for single item prescriptions its cheaper to go private.

Whiplashy

I don't actually think you can get it on prescription as contraceptive anyway. You might be able to if it's for treatment for a skin condition due to hormone levels being off. As pointed out in the first post though, even if you can it will cost you more due to the €2.50 charge per item.

brianb10

Whiplashy wrote: »

What would she pay in the local pharmacy to get all 6 months together?

€15

I pay €11 in my local pharmacy for 6 months of ovranette. It definitely wouldn't be a bargain to go to Tesco for it unless you live very near.

Thats still 18% cheaper.
not worth a trip if its Tesco is not local but if you are on more than just that 18% cheaper makes a difference

Whiplashy

brianb10 wrote: »

Thats still 18% cheaper.
not worth a trip if its Tesco is not local but if you are on more than just that 18% cheaper makes a difference

If you were making a decent saving on a few different medicines it might be worth your while alright, but if your just going for the pill €1.96 of a saving isn't going to put much petrol in the car!

former legend

Whiplashy wrote: »

I don't actually think you can get it on prescription as contraceptive anyway. You might be able to if it's for treatment for a skin condition due to hormone.

Literally every word of this is wrong.

Whiplashy

former legend wrote: »

Literally every word of this is wrong.

Well I have a medical card and my GP won't give it to me on a medical card prescription. My friends daughter is on it for a skin condition. She doesn't have a medical card so I don't know if she had would he prescribe in on that for her.

angeldelight

Whiplashy wrote: »

Well I have a medical card and my GP won't give it to me on a medical card prescription. My friends daughter is on it for a skin condition. She doesn't have a medical card so I don't know if she had would he prescribe in on that for her.

Change GP. All oral contraceptives are available on the medical card

L1011

GPs are encouraged to prescribe specific contraceptives to medical card holders which the HSE has price deals on; however I don't think its a blanket ban on others.

Whiplashy

angeldelight wrote: »

Change GP. All oral contraceptives are available on the medical card

I probably would have considered switching a few years ago if I'd thought another GP might have given it to me on the medical card, but with the €2.50 levy per item now the pill is actually cheaper without the medical card anyway.

pjproby

On a related matter does anyone know what Tesco pharmacy charge for Inspra 25mg?

Millem

I previously posted about tesco pharmacy under the healthwave thread. I get my perscription for €32 when I was paying €50 previously. They didn't give me generics. I found them to be very very similar in price to healthwave and they don't charge €25 membership. You can ring them to ask for prices if you want to shop around!

Nonoperational

brianb10 wrote: »

My wife was paying €6.20 for a month supply of ovranette in our local pharmacy.

Got 6 months in Tesco Pharmacy Tallaght for €9.04!

If she had a medical card she would be paying €15 over the 6 months!!!

The cost price for a month of Ovranette last time I checked was 84 cent per 21 tab box. Lots of pharmacies would be under €10 for 6 months.

Whiplashy wrote: »

I don't actually think you can get it on prescription as contraceptive anyway. You might be able to if it's for treatment for a skin condition due to hormone levels being off. As pointed out in the first post though, even if you can it will cost you more due to the €2.50 charge per item.

It is of course available on prescription. It's still quite common.

brianb10

Nonoperational wrote: »

Lots of pharmacies would be under €10 for 6 months.

.

We checked 6 different pharmacies and none were under €10

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Lima Golf

I never realised other versions of the pill are so cheap. I pay €17 per month for yaz... I thought they would all be the same price...that's quite a difference.

krankykitty

Its cheaper to buy 6 months supply than individual boxes everywhere

Thewife

Can you buy the pill without prescription ??

Kablamo!

Thewife wrote: »

Can you buy the pill without prescription ??

No.

Chattastrophe!

Thewife wrote: »

Can you buy the pill without prescription ??

No, but you can get an online prescription from Lloyds Pharmacy for (I think) €25, I hear it's very cheap to order the pill online from them too, I've never tried them myself but I've a few friends who do this and are very happy with it. You will need to submit a blood pressure reading, but you can get this checked in almost any pharmacy for free.

(Then again, if you have health insurance, it may be cheaper to just go to your GP and then claim back the cost - depending on what's covered on your plan.)

Millem

Chattastrophe! wrote: »

No, but you can get an online prescription from Lloyds Pharmacy for (I think) €25, I hear it's very cheap to order the pill online from them too, I've never tried them myself but I've a few friends who do this and are very happy with it. You will need to submit a blood pressure reading, but you can get this checked in almost any pharmacy for free.

(Then again, if you have health insurance, it may be cheaper to just go to your GP and then claim back the cost - depending on what's covered on your plan.)

Yes it's €25 if you have gotten blood pressure checked in last 6 months that's grand otherwise you just submit reading. It comes from a doctor in uk so you need to make sure you order maybe a week (to be on the safe side) before you need it. If you don't get perscription in time that is no problem they will fax or email it to your pharmacist

Nonoperational

brianb10 wrote: »

We checked 6 different pharmacies and none were under €10

How much were they for 6 months?

spuddy

Which Tesco stores in Dublin have a pharmacy?, their website ain't much help.

Millem

spuddy wrote: »

Which Tesco stores in Dublin have a pharmacy?, their website ain't much help.

I think it's just tallaght maybe balbriggan but only have been to tallaght one

TeletextPear

Nonoperational wrote: »

How much were they for 6 months?

Not the OP but I got 6 months of Ovranette for €11.90 the other day

gctest50

Millem wrote: »

Yes it's €25 if you have gotten blood pressure checked in last 6 months that's grand otherwise you just submit reading. It comes from a doctor in uk so you need to make sure you order maybe a week (to be on the safe side) before you need it. If you don't get perscription in time that is no problem they will fax or email it to your pharmacist

Be worth getting a meter and keeping an eye on it every month ? I know its 30euro but should last a long time ?

http://www.flemingmedical.ie/epages/FlemingMedical.sf/en_IE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/FlemingMedical/Products/OMR139_1

http://surelifehealth.ie/omronm2-p-45323.html?osCsid=ee39be8098ef433720ea9f117903858c

http://www.boots.ie/en/Electrical/Diagnostics-electrical-health/Blood-pressure-monitors/

I know Omron make tiny but important relays n stuff for cars - the ones if they fail you'll come to a stop in the fast lane n stuff

Millem

gctest50 wrote: »

Be worth getting a meter and keeping an eye on it every month ? I know its 30euro but should last a long time ?

http://www.flemingmedical.ie/epages/FlemingMedical.sf/en_IE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/FlemingMedical/Products/OMR139_1

http://surelifehealth.ie/omronm2-p-45323.html?osCsid=ee39be8098ef433720ea9f117903858c

http://www.boots.ie/en/Electrical/Diagnostics-electrical-health/Blood-pressure-monitors/

I know Omron make tiny but important relays n stuff for cars - the ones if they fail you'll come to a stop in the fast lane n stuff

No I wouldn't buy one of those. I would prefer going into pharmacy to get it measured by someone who is used to measuring it. I had a few dodging readings when student midwives took my blood pressure!

Fred Swanson

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Dravokivich

Fred Swanson wrote: »

My doctor told me that those home testers can give very inaccurate readings and to save my money.

You can always buy what they are using. Thats what my da did.

L1011

spuddy wrote: »

Which Tesco stores in Dublin have a pharmacy?, their website ain't much help.

Clarehall, Balbriggan, Square; also Naas, Newbridge and Portlaoise outside Dublin. There may be more now, those were open when I worked for one of their suppliers.

The instore pharmacy in Clearwater is a concession and not a Tesco pharmacy.

Dravokivich wrote: »

You can always buy what they are using. Thats what my da did.

Do you get it tested and calibrated like the doctor does?