What's a typical price to pay for a lantus vial?

Snits

Snits

Member Since 2024
Trying to get a new lantus vial as I believe mine has lost a lot of it's effectiveness. It was already expired when my vet gave it to me (it was a donation) and I don't trust it anymore. I called the vet, they told me to order it off of goodrx and I shouldn't need a prescription. I prepaid for it off of goodrx through our local pharmacy. Not needing a prescription seemed weird to me so I called the pharmacy office and they told me yes for Lantus you do need one. She asked me if it was for a pet and I said yes and she said it will run a couple of hundred dollars and to go to walmart and I told her through goodrx it was 35. She seemed skeptical and told me she hoped it worked out for me. ;/ Thanks me too LOL. I'm fine with paying more but as I already prepaid for goodrx I would prefer to go through that pharmacy. I just hope I get it today. I recalled the vet and they said they would send the prescription over so now I'm just waiting a bit before calling the pharmacy to see if they have it. I may just pay whatever price it's at if the goodrx coupon doesn't work just so I have it today. Waiting for a new script/my vet office to pick up doesn't sound fun and she's in the pink/red too often.

I hate waiting on systems to move things along.
 
We go to a local independent pharmacy for our insulin and pay around $65 for the 10mL vial. I tried the GoodRx coupon there and at a CVS and didn't have any luck. The pharmacist also told me a box of pens (5x 3mL cartridges) would be around $90 there, which is similar proportionally but with the pens you'll be able to use every drop instead of only having it for a couple months before it goes off.

Just in case you haven't seen this page: Sourcing Insulin More Economically
 
Lauren & Esse said:
We go to a local independent pharmacy for our insulin and pay around $65 for the 10mL vial. I tried the GoodRx coupon there and at a CVS and didn't have any luck. The pharmacist also told me a box of pens (5x 3mL cartridges) would be around $90 there, which is similar proportionally but with the pens you'll be able to use every drop instead of only having it for a couple months before it goes off.

Just in case you haven't seen this page: Sourcing Insulin More Economically
Click to expand...
$65 isn't bad! I've never used the pens but I would even pay 90 just to have them today. I may regret not going through walmart, but we'll see.
 
Snits said:
My pharmacist acted like she had no clue what that was over the phone.
Click to expand...
Which is kind of wild considering Lantus is probably one of the most commonly prescribed medications and GoodRx is definitely the most popular prescription discount card, lol. I think it was a CVS pharmacist who originally got me to sign up for GoodRx (when I needed it for my own medications).
 
Snits said:
That's great! I hope this works out for me. My pharmacist acted like she had no clue what that was over the phone.
Click to expand...
You need a pharmacist with some clue or willingness to help.
I always go in either the coupon printed out or on my phone.
And tell them yes it works for cats and you’re not using insurance.
You know people who use the coupons regularly.
Be firm and nice. And hope they want to help. 🥰
 
Lauren & Esse said:
Which is kind of wild considering Lantus is probably one of the most commonly prescribed medications and GoodRx is definitely the most popular prescription discount card, lol. I think it was a CVS pharmacist who originally got me to sign up for GoodRx (when I needed it for my own medications).
Click to expand...
I think she knew what goodrx was just not a coupon that would discount it that much, but yeah, today has been a massive pain!
 
I had to throw out half a vial tge two times I got them. I switched to pens and used to the last drop. A box of 5 lasted over a year. Insulin was more expensive then as there weren’t generics.
 
tiffmaxee said:
I had to throw out half a vial tge two times I got them. I switched to pens and used to the last drop. A box of 5 lasted over a year. Insulin was more expensive then as there weren’t generics.
Click to expand...
I’ll probably switch to pens at some point. Can you do half and quarter unit dosing with them? I’ve never used them.
 
You use a pen the same way as a bottle: stick the needle into the rubber end and draw out insulin.

Long ago with my first diabetic I was paying over $100 for a bottle every single month. I never could get a bottle to last. Leroy uses the pens now. The GoodRX coupon didn't work the last time I tried using it (see the end of the Sourcing Insulin thread linked above for details) so I had to pay the full price :confused: I just put the cost onto my HSA card.
 
Snits said:
Wowww the pharmacy called my vet and basically told me they didn’t want to deal with me and to use Walmart or Chewy. It’s Safeway pharmacy which is literally a big box store so that’s insane to me.
Click to expand...
That's crazy. FWIW, my experience was that everything was way more expensive at Safeway's pharmacy than Costco's - by a lot - except the insulin specifically. My Safeway took the $35 GoodRx coupon but everything else through them was literally at least triple. A box of syringes was like $75 and my Libres were $90 each. 😵‍💫 Since Lantus is the thing I buy least often out of any FD supply I just sent all the prescriptions to Costco instead and deal with one thing being more expensive every 6 months.
 
Brianna & Xander said:
That's crazy. FWIW, my experience was that everything was way more expensive at Safeway's pharmacy than Costco's - by a lot - except the insulin specifically. My Safeway took the $35 GoodRx coupon but everything else through them was literally at least triple. A box of syringes was like $75 and my Libres were $90 each. 😵‍💫 Since Lantus is the thing I buy least often out of any FD supply I just sent all the prescriptions to Costco instead and deal with one thing being more expensive every 6 months.
Click to expand...

Yeah, idk! It was insane. I guess maybe the pharmacist just assumed it wouldn't work and steered me somewhere else so i wouldn't pay hundreds, but who even knows. Finally got it sorted out through walmart. They couldn't find me because the vet clinic spelled my last name wrong (my last name is pretty common and VERY easy to spell), my cat's name wrong (I understand that one) and said it was for a dog. I've had a day. I'm just hoping tomorrow morning when I pick it up there won't be complications. My vet isn't even open tomorrow and it's a half hour drive. I think I'll end up paying 80, but I'll try goodrx there too. I'm ok with 80 if they won't take the discount.
 
Snits said:
Yeah, idk! It was insane. I guess maybe the pharmacist just assumed it wouldn't work and steered me somewhere else so i wouldn't pay hundreds, but who even knows. Finally got it sorted out through walmart. They couldn't find me because the vet spelled my last name wrong, my cat's name wrong and said it was for a dog. I've had a day. I'm just hoping tomorrow morning when I pick it up there won't be complications. My vet isn't even open tomorrow and it's a half hour drive. I think I'll end up paying 80, but I'll try goodrx there too. I'm ok with 80 if they won't take the discount.
Click to expand...
Walmart is usually good about the goodrx coupons.
 
Snits said:
Yeah, idk! It was insane. I guess maybe the pharmacist just assumed it wouldn't work and steered me somewhere else so i wouldn't pay hundreds, but who even knows. Finally got it sorted out through walmart. They couldn't find me because the vet clinic spelled my last name wrong (my last name is pretty common and VERY easy to spell), my cat's name wrong (I understand that one) and said it was for a dog. I've had a day. I'm just hoping tomorrow morning when I pick it up there won't be complications. My vet isn't even open tomorrow and it's a half hour drive. I think I'll end up paying 80, but I'll try goodrx there too. I'm ok with 80 if they won't take the discount.
Click to expand...
That really is quite a day. I'm sorry! What a mess. 😩

Crossing my fingers for you that tomorrow will go smoothly!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top