High price of insulin is a financial burden on some pharmacies
(CBS DETROIT) - The high cost of insulin medication continues to be a problem. However, prices are not only expensive for patients, but they are also costly for pharmacies.
Pharmacist Mary Frazier-Dunlap is the owner of M&D Pharmacy, a small independent business.
"So I carry the Novolog and Levemir. The cost last year was $600 a box. This year, it's only $157 a box," said Frazier-Dunlap.
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She said most people who go to her pharmacy have insurance, but when one of her patients did not, they had to pay that monthly cost out of pocket.
"They made it stretch longer than the days that it was supposed to last," said Dunlap about the insulin. "These pins are only a 28-day supply."
Even though the cost is cheaper than it was last year. Frazier-Dunlap said the high price is still a burden on pharmacies and patients because she said Prescription Benefit Managers Consider insulin a specialty drug. So often, she doesn't get fully reimbursed for the cost from some insurance providers.
"I just lost $210.23 on a Tresiba prescription," Frazier Dunlap explained while checking her expenses. "That's in insulin."
Frazier-Dunlap said she tries to make up for the money she loses on insulin and other medications.
"I'm paying for people to get insulin basically," said Frazier-Dunlap. "But I have an obligation to my patients, so I will have whatever they need."
But she said not all pharmacies can afford to do that.
"Notice a lot of pharmacies have closed. They're no longer functioning because it's not a good business model," said Frazier Dunlap. "Because if you're not doing state insurance or a lot of people have jobs or are on Medicare, you're not getting proper reimbursement for a lot of the medications. And so you can't, you can't sit up and lose $1,000 a week and stay in business."
Frazier-Dunlap said she will continue to keep her small pharmacy open as long as she can.