Bobert -

The pharmacy from which we currently get our regular prescriptions is called "Medco Home Delivery" (with variations depending on which form you got last) and all dispensing is via mail (or UPS/FedEx etc). Our real reason for using them is that's what our primary medical insurer tells us to use. (The primary is a company provided (under Union Contract) retirement policy from a former employer.

Until recently, we used "Aetna Home Delivery" (similarly variable) for the same reasons.

Comparing prices for us "old farts" is difficult, since Medicare intervenes, and Medicare is administered by each state, with different rules (sometimes vastly different) for each state. Medicare generally "negotiates" (a euphemism for "dictates") what they will allow a provider to charge for each product/service, so the state "contract" will determine what will show as the "price" of a particular medicine.

In our area at least, practitioners may demand that you sign a waiver that claims that you have been informed of anything that "might not be covered by Medicare," and if you haven't signed a waiver the doctors/pharmacies must accept the Medicare price as full payment. If your insurance (including Medicare) doesn't cover the whole "Medicare allowed" amount, you make up the difference, but you can't be charged for the difference between "list price" and "Medicare price." (The waiver forms never say what might not be covered, so sometimes even if you signed one you can argue lack of "informed consent" if the doc tries to stick you with a list price(?))

I'm not sure whether the mail order pharmacies have similar prices for individuals, since we've only used them "as specified" by our primary insurer and under contracts negotiated by the insurers. (Prices may be negotiated by the insurer, separate from the "Medicare" price lists, and the pharmacies may have contracts to buy from manufacturers at "discounts." There are no fixed prices in the business.)

There are a number of such "mail order pharmacies" that do offer somewhat lower prices to individuals, but there are also a number of such "mail order pharmacies" with less than reputable histories, so be advised ... .

Most large insurers (group insurers) have contracts with "providers," including doctors and pharmacies, to set limits on prices; but the price can vary with who you're insured with. The cost of "anything medical" - for the total to you and your insurer(s) - will generally be half or less of what's billed to an uninsured individual unless your insurance came from some guy operating out the boot in his car using throwaway cell-phones.

If this is all rather confusing, be consoled by the certain knowledge that you're much less confused than those who make all these rules - except for their understanding that "confusion = profit."

John