Hello everyone! My doctor has prescribed B12 for my PA and my insurance won't cover it. Does anyone have suggestions where to purchase online? I'm in the US. I was looking at buy-otc.com. Does anyone have any experience purchasing through them? Another helpful member suggested vitaminquick.com, but it appears they are closed and also vitaminb12online.com, but shipping to the US takes 30-50 days.
Thank you!
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KristinCC
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Thanks for the reply! I'm glad you can recommend them firsthand. It's slightly nerve wracking blindly trying to pick someplace and just hope for the best. I like that the shipping to the US seems reasonable too!
I have my methyl-B12 compounded at a local specialty pharmacy who delivers it to me in pre-filled syringes for daily SQ injection every month. I keep it in the fridge and in light proof container. But I also keep a bottle or two of Cyano-B12 as a back up stash in case of having an occasional crash. I order the cyano from biosenseclinic.com in Canada. You can order 10 or 30 ml vials. They also offer syringes and needles.
My insurance covered injections received in office but didn't have injectable b12 included on their list of covered prescriptions. So I contacted the representative at the insurance company and asked them to clarify why it wasn't covered.
Turns out they just hadn't had anyone doing their own injections before. IM injections are usually done in a doctor's office. Once I explained that I have been doing my own injections for years, and that my previous insurance covered the prescription, they added injectable b12 to the covered list.
It might seem like a lot of bother to go through, but it's worth the effort. Not only will it save you and your insurer money, it also raises awareness that some patients can administer their own injections.
The other option is to order it through a Canadian pharmacy. They are allowed to ship it to you if you have a prescription. (They are prohibited from shipping injectables to the US without a prescription.) It should be faster and cheaper than ordering from overseas.
My insurance won't cover any vitamins whether given by the doctor in office or by self injection. I've been fighting with them since January to get them to cover it. My doctor has written to them and even supplied test results with proof of a medical condition, but they still denied it. I can still get it from the pharmacy, but it's $20 for each shot. I was paying $55 for each shot while getting the 3 months of loading shots and can't get them to pay for any of those shots either. I wish my insurance company was as understanding as yours
I dont know how much is to much for you but here are a few things I came accross trying to keep my costs down.
My gp was having me get the vial from the pharmacy and bring it to the office to get the injection. Walgreens just offered me a needle when I picked up my first vial. No one seemed to have any kind of issue with me self injecting. They didn’t even ask if I knew how. I swear that first time the insurance didn’t pay anything on my b12 vial and it cost about $14 at walgreens. I think that is about what cvs said the price was without insurance. Have you tried the good rx app? They also have coupons you use without insurance that get it down to that price as well.
Minute Clinic (inside some CVS locations) will give you the b12 injection for $35 without insurance. They have the b12 in the office and it is included in the $35. That is where I was getting mine pre covid. They can get pretty backed up since they only have one NP and take walkins so look online to make an appointment.
If you have a prescription from your doctor you can just take it to your local pharmacy and have it filled. They will also give you the needles if you ask. My daughter has just started getting B-12 shots and her insurance covered very little of the cost of the shots. This out of pocket expense was killing her budget. She got a prescription from her doctor and had it filled at her local CVS. The cost was much cheaper than having a nurse do the injections. She has self injected twice and says it's no big deal.
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