The real retail price in the US is actually around $40-45 (which is already inflated). The listed "retail" price of $288.99 is artificially set by drug companies as part of their pricing games with insurers. They create inflated Wholesale Acquisition Costs (WAC) as a baseline for negotiations, though insurers never pay these prices.
Ultimately, consumers lose out. Without insurance, you're told the drug costs $288.99 - but there's a "discount" program offering it for $28.89, the real price. However, many people aren’t aware of these rebates, so they overpay. Additionally, drug companies often restrict eligibility for these discount programs.
Even worse, sometimes medications cost less than your insurance copay, but phramacists aren’t allowed to tell you so your insurance company can pocket the difference (this used to be true, but may no longer be the case). Of course, if your pharmacist doesn't tell you, insurance is still happy to pocket the difference.
For sertraline? That’s absolutely ridiculous - UK reimbursement price (calculation behind this is surprisingly complicated, but it gives you a rough idea of list price which will be LESS) for 180 sertraline 100mg tablets is £7.01…
![image showing The retail price of my antidepressant before insurance [OC]](09622548-871a-5974-8a6c-e8c6d97be01f.jpg)
Virindi on April 24th, 2025 at 12:25 UTC »
The real retail price in the US is actually around $40-45 (which is already inflated). The listed "retail" price of $288.99 is artificially set by drug companies as part of their pricing games with insurers. They create inflated Wholesale Acquisition Costs (WAC) as a baseline for negotiations, though insurers never pay these prices.
Ultimately, consumers lose out. Without insurance, you're told the drug costs $288.99 - but there's a "discount" program offering it for $28.89, the real price. However, many people aren’t aware of these rebates, so they overpay. Additionally, drug companies often restrict eligibility for these discount programs.
Even worse, sometimes medications cost less than your insurance copay, but phramacists aren’t allowed to tell you so your insurance company can pocket the difference (this used to be true, but may no longer be the case). Of course, if your pharmacist doesn't tell you, insurance is still happy to pocket the difference.
Spottswoodeforgod on April 24th, 2025 at 12:31 UTC »
For sertraline? That’s absolutely ridiculous - UK reimbursement price (calculation behind this is surprisingly complicated, but it gives you a rough idea of list price which will be LESS) for 180 sertraline 100mg tablets is £7.01…
wish1977 on April 24th, 2025 at 12:36 UTC »
And every pharmacy charges a different price even though you have insurance. I go to 3 or 4 different pharmacies for this reason.