My long time independent pharmacy just laughed when I showed them the card that was in Sun. paper & said, yes we take it, we just jack our prices up. It's no deal! This pharmacy is by far the cheapest 1 out in my area as I have been to many of them since my medicine was expensive. They managed to cut it by 2/3 of what I had been paying. They know me well. So the cards are a rip off!

You really might want to consider the former employer's pharmacy plan - but where I'm a bit confused... if your husband goes for the pharmacy plan for drug coverage and that proves satisfactory - why would there be a need for a switch to the Medicare Part D in 2012? He would, in effect, be dropping his creditable coverage and that creditable status doesn't carry over to a new plan (ie Medicare Part D because they don't care what you might have had), and would be subject to the forever penalty. Creditable is just comparing what you have against whatever else is out there. An actuarial firm determines that your plan offers Rx coverage that is equal to or better than Medicare Part D. Should be easy enough for him to get the boiler plate notice of "creditable" insurance for drugs from his former employer to keep in his files if he goes with what they're offering. In fact, it's a requirement that the notice be sent each year. It's an unimpressive few sheets of paper stating simply: The Society (I'm retired from the Nat'l Geographic Society) is required to issue this annual notice to participants. Then it goes on to explain Medicare Part D, why I don't need it, why I can't be covered for drugs under more than one plan, and what happens if I drop what I have for something else. I still think that the Medicare Part D penalty is imposed whenever it is not signed up for when you initially become Medicare eligible at 65. Guess I would check with the former employer - HR there should be on top of what they offer. And I'd call Medicare too - or your closest SS office. I found the people at our Social Security office really helpful - on the phone and in person.

Lisa: Around 1985, my community suffered a really bad economic situation -- biggest plant shut down. Hundreds of homes hit the market at the same time and the values dropped & no one was buying. My family was going through several problems at the time and we needed to move & couldn't sell the house at all, let alone for the amount of the mortgage. There were so many empty homes that even renting the house didn't work out for us. I went to the Bank and discussed options and explained our problem. The bank officer offered no solution whatsoever. Finally with the assistance of an attorney, we stopped making payments to get the bank's attention. The attorney negotiated the bank taking back the deed in lieu of foreclosure. We had to pay a some of money & I think it was around $4,000 (remember that this was a $27,000 mortgage secured in 1977). It was, for us, a relief to finally get out from under the stress of owning a home we couldn't sell, rent in a town we needed to leave. In hindsight, maybe we could have waited it out. But there were other problems and we needed to move ahead. Whether it hurt the credit, I have no idea. We rented homes for a few years, lived overseas for a few years & then bought property again, with no problems. So, I hope that your lender will help you -- my experience was that they would not in any way be helpful. Good luck Susan 4

Forgive me, in advance, for my lengthy post... I am never short on words. Prescription discount cards are not new and they do work. In addition to the "questionable" organizations/companies many refer to in these related forums, they're also offered by legitimate organizations, profit and non-profit alike, and even some states! I'm sure someone may have already mentioned that but I didn't read ALL the postings, most but not all. My husband is on Medicare. I am 12 years younger and have no health insurance. We carried insurance when we owned and operated a family business, but the premiums (for a 10,000.00 deductible) became ridiculously high, plus we were paying everything out of pocket. We only had the insurance for that hope-it-never-happens catastrophic illness. We dropped the insurance and decided to start our own insurance "fund". However, that's just a bit of background. I take five prescription meds, one of which is very costly. I have three discount cards on file at my pharmacy (Walgreens) and am enrolled in Walgreens' prescription program for $20.00 per year. One discount card is through our state Farm Bureau as we are members. One is through the United Methodist Church organization as we are First United Methodists. The third is the Relief card and I have to be honest, I cannot remember receiving this card, however my memory isn't what it used to be. The pharmacy is supposed to run each of my new fills and refills through each discount program in my file. They often forget to do this and I have to remind them. I have saved MANY dollars by remembering to remind them. :) Case in point... this past week I refilled my most expensive med. I get a three month supply, which usually runs over $200.00 with one of the other discount plans (not Walgreens...I actually do not save much with them and am considering dropping that plan). When I picked up my refill, the tech told me it was over $400.00. My hair stood on end. I had them run it through all of my discount plans. I ultimately paid just over $60.00 for that three month refill. I asked which plan had saved me that much and was told the Relief plan. Now, maybe I'll be sorry somewhere down the line but I'm surely happy about it now. BTW... that med is a generic. Discounts are often deeper for generics. As for jeopardizing personal information, one person suggested that Walgreens would have to give out my DL# to these companies. I never voluntarily gave my DL# or SS# to Walgreens (or SS# to ANYONE), but my DL# is on my checks for anyone to see, as is my bank's routing number and my account number. I pay for meds with Walgreens' Express Pay, which means that they have a copy of one of my CC #'s on file. Since we travel a lot, I know that this number is in the Walgreens' system for any Walgreen's pharmacy to use, anywhere in the country, as I have had Rx's filled in other states. No problems with CC theft yet. As for submitting personal information, we do it in some way many times a year. Did you not give your name, birth date and state when registering for this site?? The page where I entered my information was not encrypted. Do you really trust this site's Privacy Policy just because it's there?? And, have you actually read it verbatim?? I doubt that many people read any or all Terms and Conditions before accepting them. I also checked the BBB for ScriptRelief, the company which issues the Relief Rx cards via Health Alliance. See link (copy and paste) http://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/business-reviews/medical-dental-discount-plans/script-relief-llc-in-new-york-ny-130619 There are 22 complaints listed, 14 of which are related to advertising/sales issues. It went on to say that the BBB knows of no government actions involving this company and that all 22 complaint issues were resolved by Script Relief. If you do a search for prescription discount cards, you'll find a whole host of them. And, if you search for "how they work", you'll find MANY articles. I wanted to find unbiased information that was not supplied by any of the discount plan companies and happened upon this one... simple but good...(copy and paste link) http://www.frugalconfessions.com/save-me-money/are-prescription-drug-discount-cards-for-real.php This author states that the companies offering the free discount RX plans make money through referral fees paid by pharmacies for each RX filled using the card, i.e. they want to get and keep customers who ultimately purchase much more than meds in their stores. Her research leads her to the conclusion that it can't hurt to sign on to one (or more in my case because different cards offer different savings on the same med) of these programs. One might argue that other people, private pay and with insurance, are paying more for those of us using discount cards. To this I say, I am private pay for all other medical visits, hospital stays, diagnostics, etc., and I'm sure that I am paying a higher price for those who get assisted relief from medical costs. My clinic and most hospitals offer a 5-10% discount for private pay, if the charges are paid in full. Who do you think makes up that difference? As for insurance, everyone's premiums are affected (and increased) by other people's claims, lawsuits, etc. It's a fact of life that we ALL pay for each other in some way or another. Sadly, it's just looked at negatively unless it's charitable and tax deductible. I've been using my discount cards for at least ten years. (Our son was too until he graduated from college and got a job with health insurance.) I still have my identity, no one has come looking to collect the difference I have saved on my meds all those years, and I'll keep using them until I woefully reach the age of Medicare, if Medicare is still a viable option when I get there because that money is really not there, (refer to our national debt) but that's a whole other topic for another time. I'm not trying to convince anyone to use the discount cards; just FYI'ing. I will keep using them and if I encounter a problem, I promise to post it. :)