Full Timers Prescription Question

CarpeDiem-FRF

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2014
Posts
309
Location
Fern Park, FL
As we prepare to go full time we are wondering what others do to get meds filled. Do you just find a local pharmacy related to the one you ordinarily use or do you have a different plan? Also have you had any issues getting them filled?
 
Amazon offers Pill Pack, which packs daily or more often pills in packets that come in a strip. Presumably, since it's Amazon, they could ship them wherever you are.
 
As we prepare to go full time we are wondering what others do to get meds filled. Do you just find a local pharmacy related to the one you ordinarily use or do you have a different plan? Also have you had any issues getting them filled?

we're not full timers but we are on the road for nearly 5-mos straight each year. for virtually all prescriptions we use a national pharmacy chain...in our case that's Walgreen's. we're never far from a Walgreens and with a 90-day supply we limit our refills to once or twice while on the road.


you'll have to see how often your primary care doc wants to see you and have him write scripts to carry you thru from one visit to another. for certain scripts such as opioids, anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, etc. you may have to see the doc more often. I just ran across a couple here in New Mexico that just left to go to Georgia for their semi-annual doc visit. we see our doc (same doc for us both) twice a year, June and December.
 
Our medical coverage pushes us to CVS. The wife has a couple prescriptions that come out of their Specialty Pharmacy. They let her know when she’s due for a refill and then she finds a local CVS where they ship the Rx.
 
I'm hardly even a part-timer, but what I do is just get prescriptions that allow 365 days filled at a time. I do that to save money. Having Obamacare I never get reimbursed for prescriptions anyway, but even if I did have a copay it would be cheaper that way. My blood pressure medication is about $40 a year filled all at once. I'm guessing it would be $5-20 a month if I bought it that way.
 
We have found that Walmart is the best bet (and cheapest) with mail order pharmacies a close second. You can ask your mail order pharmacy to send your next order to a specific location (like an RV park or even a general delivery post office). Walmarts are simply everywhere.

If you use Walmart as your routine pharmacy, you can walk into any Walmart with your pill bottle and they can refill it. I've even had Walmarts fill my insulin prescriptions for my pump which requires some special paperwork.
 
We have been on the road almost 10 years now. Walmart and Safeway have been our pharmacies of choice, although now in Texas, HEB is filling in nicely. You just do what you do at home, have your doctor fax the order to the nearest pharmacy you want, or have it transferred pharmacy to pharmacy.

The only problem we ever faced was having a refill in NY. It seems that when we left the state, our refills on record did not travel with us, the doctor had to re-fax the order to the next location.

Also, we learned that my wife's test strips for diabetes, needs to have a new order faxed to each pharmacy, as the codes do not properly travel pharmacy to pharmacy. A little inconvient, but never slows our travels down a bit.
 
It's quite easy as long as you aren't taking any controlled substances. Those are a NIGHTMARE. So-called "regular" prescriptions such as non-narcotic pain meds, heart meds, etc. Those can be filled anywhere, but it's a tad easier if you use a national chain such as Walgreen's or CVS. Any 'scrip can be transferred, but it's a bit easier within the same company.

I take two different controlled substances. One is an opioid painkiller, the other is Testosterone (a steroid.) For those, since I haven't been away from "home" for more than about 2 months, I have my regular doc write them for 30 days instead of 28 days, then I have a trusted family member get them filled and overnight them to me via USPS. It's an extra $20 a month or so. Very few doctors are licensed in all 50 states to write 'scrips.

I still have NO idea what I'm going to do once we go full-time. I curse the DEA for their meddling. Ain't nobody getting high here.
 
We use CVS for all our prescriptions. Any branch can fill as it's a nationwide system. There's a CVS pharmacy in Target stores, too.
 
Using a national chain such as CVS , Walgreens, etc is a good idea. However you should check any requirements of your rx insurance. And if you are on any controlled substance prescriptions, you need to check the regulations of the state where you will need to have filled. States have different regulations on filling controlled ex’s and this can complicate the use of these prescriptions.
 
We full time and use CVS. We have never had a problem and CVS has always been very helpful in processing our prescriptions with no delay.
 
We are full-timers and on Medicare. We got our doctors to write 90 day scripts for us. Walgreens is everywhere and many will ship to you. There's an app and you can change stores as often as you like. While we are in SD, Walgreens is 120 miles round trip. We select that store, call and ask them to ship. No charge! Our store in North Port FL doesn't ship, so it is manager dependant. Or there's WalMart, or Sam's Club...
 

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