Here’s a prescription drug how-to guide that you might want to file away for future reference. Let’s start with the California health insurance plan shopping and application process.

• Be mindful that things change. You’re 27 years old and you look in the mirror and the picture of good health stares back at you. In fact, other than two aspirin you took a few months back for a headache, you haven’t had to take a prescription drug in your adult life. So – naturally – when you go shopping for that affordable California health plan you go in thinking that a plan with a generic-only prescription drug benefit will be just fine. Perhaps so but a California health insurance plan is how we will pay for our health care services. What do we mean by that? Well, if you should happen to develop a serious illness at some point down the road and the treatment protocol calls for a relatively new to the market brand name drug, you will be relying on your health insurance plan to pay for the medical treatments which include your prescription drugs. If you have a generic-only drug plan, it will be your responsibility to pay for the entire cost of that brand name drug. Brand name drug costs can be frighteningly high.
• Which reminds us: Review your current California health plan annually. Make certain that your California health plan strategies are keeping pace with your changing health care needs.
• Understand the “lingo”: Just about every industry you’ll come into contact with as a consumer has its own unique language or terminology. The health insurance industry is no different. Be proactive in gaining an understanding of what a copayment means. Understand what, if any, annual deductible you might be expected to meet before your insurance plan starts to cover the cost(s) of your prescription drug purchases. Some plans do have separate medical and drug deductibles so meeting your medical deductible might not automatically qualify you for covered prescription drug purchases. You can use a reliable California health insurance website like Vitality’s, but you should also feel comfortable reaching out to us for a personal one-on-one consultation. Our careful, considerate California health insurance strategy consult is designed to inform and help create a savvy California health insurance consumer and our client services are always 100% free.
• If you already take prescription drugs and are shopping for an individual California health insurance plan be certain to verify that the health plan with corresponding prescription drug benefits has a drug formulary that contains the drug you are taking.

Our next section can apply to all patients everywhere but you’ll have to make your peace with this before putting thought into action: Many of us can be intimidated by the doctor-patient dynamic. Where some of us might be forceful, dynamic, and creative individuals in our day–to-day life, we might turn into unblinking automatons or sheep when it comes to a visit to the doctor’s office:

• Has your doctor just prescribed a prescription drug as part of a treatment protocol? Ask the doctor if that drug is generic? It’s not? Well is there a generic drug that will treat this particular ailment? Doctor; can you prescribe that generic drug instead?
• Another scenario: The doctor just prescribed you a brand name prescription drug for a chronic (think long term) ailment. You asked for and received a batch of free samples (Good for you! You did the right thing!) for that drug to get you started… After that supply of drug samples runs out, you will then be responsible for paying for the cost of a brand name prescription drug. That might mean a brand name drug deductible needs to be met and perhaps the prospect of ongoing $35 dollar copayments. Here again, it pays to think long term and politely asking the doctor about alternative (generic) drug strategies? Your doctor wants to help you. They want to make certain that the prescriptions they are writing will be filled and used by the patient. An expensive brand name drug does no good if the patient can’t or won’t fill and use the prescription. Be polite but be open and forthright with your doctor about your ability to pay for expensive brand name drugs: They will understand.

We mentioned $35 copayments above: If you’ve taken the initiative and sought out the cost advantages of a generic drug with your physician, take it one step further and acquaint yourself with the major retailers in your community (think Target) who are now offering 30-day generic drug prescriptions with copayments as low as $4! That is approximately .13 a day! That’s a health care cost every savvy California health plan consumer can love!

You may also be able to lower your prescription drug costs by buying your prescriptions through the mail. Your health plan may have lower copayments for prescription medications that you obtain through mail-order, rather than through a regular retail pharmacy.

Now if you’re a fan of the Vitality Blog you’ve probably been expecting this next section: We know that for some members of the community a private California health insurance plan isn’t viable. Well that certainly doesn’t mean that the Vitality Blog has nothing to offer these audience members! Rather, we have filled with the Vitality Blog with helpful information resources uninsured and underinsured California residents can turn to for information and assistance in their health care strategies. Access to prescription drugs is no exception! If you are uninsured or unable to pay for the prescription drugs you need, help might be available through patient assistance programs created by the drug companies themselves. These and other programs are in place and ready to serve those in need. If you are having trouble finding a viable resource – ask us: We’ll help you look for a program in your community. The California health insurance professionals at Vitality are dedicated to your wellbeing and that of your family’s.