# Any Way to Get Prescription Drugs More than 90 Days At a Time Not 3rdWorld Produced?



## PeachesBackwards (Sep 8, 2015)

I would love to Stockpile on Prescription Medicines in case of TEOTWAWKI or SHTF Situations but unfortunately the US only allows one to get up to 90 days a prescription by mail order in the US. I know one can get mail order prescriptions for a year from say Canada but the problem is some of these Brand Name Prescriptions are manufactured in places like say Turkey where there are different regulations and health laws. Same with Generics which is even more scary.

Anyone have any suggestions for Brand Name Prescription Drugs or even Generic Medication as long as they're not manufactured by some 3rd World Country. I guess I could always make a trip to Canada and stock up but that would be somewhat expensive. Can one get more than a years worth of medication with a Doctor's Prescription?


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## AdmiralD7S (Dec 6, 2012)

PeachesBackwards said:


> Can one get more than a years worth of medication with a Doctor's Prescription?


Tell your doctor you'd like an extra few months of medicine on hand. There's lots of reasons you could give:

1. I'll be away from home during the transition from one pill bottle to the next.

2. I'd like more on hand in case something happens and I can't get to the pharmacy for a refill on time.

As long as you and your doctor have a good relationship, they are very likely to write another prescription (particularly if your medicine doesn't have a high street value). However, that'll likely only give you 1-3 months, and you'll have to use a second pharmacy and tell them not to bill insurance.

Thinking about it now, if you want a full year, you could go to a second doctor in addition to your regular. Probably be like a wife and a mistress - don't tell them about each other. Important thing to note is you'd have to pay for second doctor and your second prescriptions all without insurance.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

We took a more direct approach with our family practice doctor because we've been seeing her for ten years. 

We told her we have a disaster preparedness plan and a part of that plan is to have one year's worth of meds on hand at all times. We promise not to be stupid. We promise to watch the expiration dates. We go through our mail order with insurance for the 90 days and go to Wally World and fill the written prescription without any insurance. Then it's just a matter of managing inventory.

Now, this works great for inexpensive meds. For the more expensive ones, we carefully manage our mail order refills and fill them as soon as we can, which is usually somewhere around the 60 to 70 day mark. We notify our doctor when a new prescription is needed - again at the 60 day mark. 

It just doesn't take that long to build up a stash.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

You can order meds from Canada without a prescription online. I have never done it myself but have talked to others who have and so far they had no problems YMMV.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

Depending on the type of medication it isn't hard to convince your doctor to give you a second prescription for an extra 90 days. 

My endocrinologist told me at my first appointment she wanted me to keep 90 days on hand at all times. When she writes me a prescription she always makes it out for a year even if I have a blood test in 6 months. 

I currently have 9 months of my medication set back. Now we are working on getting my husband's prescription set back. Our GP is different with meds. Plus K will wait til he is 100% out of meds before getting his refills.

Also always fill every refill even if the dosage has changed. My dosage went from 130mg to 162.5mg last year and I still got all the remaining refills for the 130mg. Now my dose is 260mg. Since my pharmacy couldn't order the 260mg pills they filled the prescription with an order of 2x130mg a day. Now I am rotating the older 130mg and putting back the fresh ones.


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## PeachesBackwards (Sep 8, 2015)

Sorry, there seems to be a misunderstanding and let me clarify. My Doctor gives me a year of prescriptions at a time unless its for something that she may adjust. The problem is pharmacies in the US won't give you more than 90 days at a time.



AdmiralD7S said:


> Tell your doctor you'd like an extra few months of medicine on hand. There's lots of reasons you could give:
> 
> 1. I'll be away from home during the transition from one pill bottle to the next.
> 
> ...


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## PeachesBackwards (Sep 8, 2015)

hiwall said:


> You can order meds from Canada without a prescription online. I have never done it myself but have talked to others who have and so far they had no problems YMMV.


Nah the prescription isn't the problem. Take your example above. I looked into ordering Name Brand Propecia which is much cheaper in Canada (and isn't covered by my Insurance any way as its for hair growth and works great for me). The problem is they'll send it to you manufactured from some country like Turkey for example where they have different standards and regulations say from the US, Canada, England, Germany, Spain for example and I don't trust what I call 3rd World Countries.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

I also wanted to point out this question has been asked to death. Next time try searching the forum to see if your question has been answered before.

I know I posted something about this topic a year or so ago.

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f32/prescription-meds-26811/

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f3/unfilled-prescriptions-25510/

Here is the search I used...

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/search.php?searchid=1378558


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

PeachesBackwards said:


> Nah the prescription isn't the problem. Take your example above. I looked into ordering Name Brand Propecia which is much cheaper in Canada (and isn't covered by my Insurance any way as its for hair growth and works great for me). The problem is they'll send it to you manufactured from some country like Turkey for example where they have different standards and regulations say from the US, Canada, England, Germany, Spain for example and I don't trust what I call 3rd World Countries.


how can you know where the generic drug is made that you buy here in the USA? You usually do not get the original packaging when getting many prescriptions filled.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

PeachesBackwards said:


> Sorry, there seems to be a misunderstanding and let me clarify. My Doctor gives me a year of prescriptions at a time unless its for something that she may adjust. The problem is pharmacies in the US won't give you more than 90 days at a time.


I thought I answered it. Did I confuse you?



Country Living said:


> We took a more direct approach with our family practice doctor because we've been seeing her for ten years.
> 
> We told her we have a disaster preparedness plan and a part of that plan is to have one year's worth of meds on hand at all times. We promise not to be stupid. We promise to watch the expiration dates. We go through our mail order with insurance for the 90 days and go to Wally World and fill the written prescription without any insurance. Then it's just a matter of managing inventory.
> 
> ...


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## drfacefixer (Mar 8, 2013)

I understand your question. The answer is not that simple, other than to use a reputable pharmacy. You are correct that many drugs are manufactured in countries such as India and China.When these drugs are imported for human use a certain percentage of the lots have to be inspected per FDA regulations. They are tested for main ingredient content, inert ingredients and contamination. They are more stringent than most agencies to protect the market. A pharmacist has various wholesale pharmacies they can buy in bulk through, but to be approved for legal sale of controlled medications they have to have a long list of documentation. Most of your amoxicillin is coming out of the same place in India, the difference is that the cream of the crop will come to the U.S. Because the market pays well enough that there is still a profit after the testing and distribution costs. Poorer countries will get the less stringently controlled runs because they require less quality control to import. Nongenerics usually remain in complete control of the parent company because they the main source of revenue for years. These fakes are easier to spot because you really shouldn't be able to get a great deal on them.


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## ras1219como (Jan 15, 2013)

What a lot of people do is set back a couple pills from each refill by skipping a dose or two during the month. This is a very slow process for building a stash of meds and it only works if your health won't be significantly impacted by skipping a dose.

I'd check with your doctor to see if they will accommodate you by giving you a second script you can fill at a different pharmacy before trying the above method.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

PeachesBackwards said:


> Nah the prescription isn't the problem. Take your example above. I looked into ordering Name Brand Propecia which is much cheaper in Canada (and isn't covered by my Insurance any way as its for hair growth and works great for me). The problem is they'll send it to you manufactured from some country like Turkey for example where they have different standards and regulations say from the US, Canada, England, Germany, Spain for example and I don't trust what I call 3rd World Countries.


Unless you can go to Canada & buy it, just have it filled locally, that'll solve the problem. Propecia isn't a drug I'd worry about stockpiling for SHTF.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

ras1219como said:


> I'd check with your doctor to see if they will accommodate you by giving you a second script you can fill at a different pharmacy before trying the above method.


This shouldn't be necessary. I get my daughters thyroid med filled for a six month supply at a time. The doctor has to write the prescription specifically for it to be filled like that. Insurance will almost never pay for it like that. We get a discount from the pharmacy for filling it this way though.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

ras1219como said:


> What a lot of people do is set back a couple pills from each refill by skipping a dose or two during the month. This is a very slow process for building a stash of meds and it only works if your health won't be significantly impacted by skipping a dose.


This isn't necessary. Ask your pharmacy what date is the earliest you can refill your medicine, then refill it on that day. That will give you an extra 7-10 days of meds each time you do it. If you do that every month, you'll have 84-120 day supply put back after 12 months. Combine this with other strategies such as making sure you use up all of your refills on the old med/dosage before starting on the new one & you'll have a years worth put back before you know it.

If your meds are too expensive, talk to your *pharmacist* about cheaper medications, possible discounts available from the manufacturers, splitting higher dose pills, etc. there are often options. Also prices can vary wildly between pharmacies.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

mike_dippert said:


> This doesn't always work either, especially if you use insurance. The insurance knows your original fill date. They will only pay during a grace period shortly before your originally scheduled refill date, which is based on the original perscription. There's no way in hell they'd pay for a 30 day supply every 21 days, w/o a special circumstance. Even a 28 day rotation would turn into "your early Mr Smith" b/c you'd have 13 fills in 12 months.
> 
> If you don't use insurance and pay full cost out of pocket, I'm not sure how that works. It probably varies by applicable laws, RX policy, and medication type.


Our insurance covers our medications when we refill on time with the pharmacy. We get the call a refill is ready about 7 days before we run out. Each refill is for 30 days so the call comes at the 23 day mark.

A good way to put pills aside is to use a 7-day pill case. Put your daily dose in each compartment for the week. Once the week is up if you missed any days you can set aside those missed doses. Don't miss on purpose.

I always put 2 doses aside from each new refill. That way I have 28 days/4 weeks of meds but still have 2 for emergencies.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

mike_dippert said:


> So your insurance pays for a 30 day supply every 23 days? Or do you just pick it up every 30 days, but a week before you're out?
> 
> That was the single biggest complaint I heard as a supervisor at CVS. "I'm out of pills but the RX won't give me a refill yet." What they meant to say was "I'm out of pills but my insurance won't pay for a refill, and I'm not paying out of pocket."
> 
> I finally asked the head pharmacist and she told me they'll dispense enough pills to satisfy the prescription the doctor wrote (1 per day x 12 fills = 360 pills). More often than not, without specific instructions, insurance will only cover a one month supply. Exceptions were so rare, she knew the names of customers who came in annually or semi-annually for refills.


My insurance covers their share of the prescription every 23 days when I pick my refills up. If I went through mail order with my insurance I'd be paying more out of pocket per month. I have asked the pharmacy tech when my insurance would cover a refill and they always tell me about 7 days before I need it.

Since my thyroid meds change just about every blood test my insurance lets me fill the orders at CVS. They also wouldn't allow me to fill remaining old prescriptions through their mail order service.

I use to get my inhalers for $25 from CVS. Then my insurance said I had to get it through their mail order for $35. They also decided to refuse coverage if I refill it at the pharmacy. So I pay an extra $120 a year for my inhalers.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

tsrwivey said:


> This shouldn't be necessary. I get my daughters thyroid med filled for a six month supply at a time. The doctor has to write the prescription specifically for it to be filled like that. Insurance will almost never pay for it like that. We get a discount from the pharmacy for filling it this way though.


Agree. I take NP Thyroid which comes 100 tabs to the manufacturers container. I ask the pharmacist to keep the meds in the unopened original container and to flag the prescription label (tag it instead of fully adhere it so I can clearly see the expiration date). I get a prescription from my NP for 100 90mg tabs with three refills. I pay cash instead of going through insurance. (It was $26 at WM and $38 at CVS.)

I get the first fill and check the expiration date. Depending on how far out it is, I will get one or all of the remaining refills filled immediately. Hence, my stash of thyroid meds.

I had a long chat with the pharmacist at Acella (makers of NP Thyroid). He said if the container stays sealed from the manufacturer, you can add a year to the expiration date. Of course this timeline degrades if the temperature in the closet would ever get too hot.

My spouse takes a pretty expensive drug we get through mail order. A refill is called in every 60 days and a new prescription is faxed in 60 days after the last refill. By the end of the year there have been six fills of 90 days worth of pills. It doesn't take long to get a stash started that way.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

mike_dippert said:


> This doesn't always work either, especially if you use insurance. The insurance knows your original fill date. They will only pay during a grace period shortly before your originally scheduled refill date, which is based on the original perscription. There's no way in hell they'd pay for a 30 day supply every 21 days, w/o a special circumstance. Even a 28 day rotation would turn into "your early Mr Smith" b/c you'd have 13 fills in 12 months.


My drug insurance coverage expertise is very limited. I refill my patients meds every 21 days, they're almost all on Medicaid. I do this with some pretty expensive meds. We refill our personal meds every 6 months but they are meds on the $4 list so we don't run those through insurance (they'd charge us $10).


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## PeachesBackwards (Sep 8, 2015)

tsrwivey said:


> This isn't necessary. Ask your pharmacy what date is the earliest you can refill your medicine, then refill it on that day. That will give you an extra 7-10 days of meds each time you do it. If you do that every month, you'll have 84-120 day supply put back after 12 months. Combine this with other strategies such as making sure you use up all of your refills on the old med/dosage before starting on the new one & you'll have a years worth put back before you know it.
> 
> If your meds are too expensive, talk to your *pharmacist* about cheaper medications, possible discounts available from the manufacturers, splitting higher dose pills, etc. there are often options. Also prices can vary wildly between pharmacies.


Interesting. Thanks!


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

Also look into Good RX.

You can compare the prices of your prescriptions at nearby pharmacies before filling the order. You can also get a discount card that can help save you money.


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