Insulin Costs

It is a total shit show. I have been put on insulin since my kidney transplant and in the last four and a half years, I cannot make any sense of the pricing. I have paid $0 for an insulin pen, but also $6, $12, or even hundreds for the same pen. Each time I switch insurance or the insurance company changes formulary, the pricing goes to hell. There are manufacturer copay coupons that seem to work once then disappear.

I am reviewing my insurance copay charges for the past month and I see a $227 charge for six Toujeo (long-acting insulin) pens. They come in a box of three and was supposed to cost me $60 for three months. Why $227 suddenly? Our company insurance changed from Optum to Costco for mail order. Why should that matter? Who knows? 🤷🏻‍♂️

What is worse, Costco called me to warn me about the high copay so I placed the order on hold to figure out what is happening. Then the order ships. I check Costco’s Rx website and it says $35. That seems like a good price. They next ship Novolog pen infills without a price and luckily it was free this time. Complete chaos, even for me with a thirty-year finance career.

So the end result was that I got my both my long-term and short-term insulin for the next three dollars for $35 total.