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What are some things you can/should cheap out on?
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2024
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Asklemmy
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Medicine: the branded stuff is normally exactly the same but many times the price.
When I go to the pharmacy I always ask for the cheapest generic drug product of Ibuprofen or whatever I need, it's a couple of euroes cheaper.
Not that drugs are expensive in the EU compared to the US....not even relatively close!
Over the counter stuff in the EU does tend to be more expensive here than the US in my experience. Definitely here in the Netherlands but also noticed this in Spain and Germany.
One thing the US is good about is selling you a huge fucking bottle of something like Ibuprofen for basically nothing. Here in the NL they really like only selling you a 12 pack of it for the same price. It's annoying as shit.
Spain I can get the powdered Ibuprofen 400mg for about 2/3€, which I really prefer over the pill, and you get about 20 packets.
I agree with the huge US bottles, but personally the powder gets old and usually clumps up before i finish them all and I end up buying a new pack.
I had no idea one could buy powdered ibuprofen. What's the advantage? Advil's marketing suggests you need special technology to deliver the medicine to the correct point in your digestive system.
Yeah, it's actually more mild than the pill form, and acts SO much faster, most times you can feel the headache just fade away.
I used to pop aspirin and Excedrin for migraines but found out (the hard way) it's no bueno for your stomach, so I have to use these sparingly. We also have 1g Acetaminophen (Tylenol) horse size pills, but it doesn't do anything/help the pain for me anymore.
In the US you can get a bottle of 500 ibuprofen 200mg pills for about $10.
So for your case that's 8000mg for 3 euros or .0375 cents a mg
In the US that would be 100,000mg for $10 or .01 cents a mg.
So 3.75x more expensive not factoring in the Euro being higher on the dollar.
But it's not even about the price, it's the fact that it's just hard to find a large bottle of it here in the EU at all (at least the Netherlands where I am now). I've never really seen it in stores. I much prefer buying a bulk bottle that lasts a year or two easily.
Yeah I mean I get it, but still don't/can't use 500 before they expire anyway...plus since I only buy them every couple for years I'm not the expert on the price. Just an anecdote....please don't quote me.
They have an expiration date of 4-5 years, so not really an issue. I just think it's a waste of my time to go to the store to get a 10-20 pack and also a waste of space and a waste of packaging.
Small annoyance overall I know, but it's one of my gripes about over the counter medicine here.
Edit: more annoying is that more hardcore cold medicine is not sold over the counter here at all. Anything with pseudoephedrine is prescription only. Also the sort of actually effective decongestants and antihistimes are all prescription only if they're even legal at all here.
But what's funny is despite that, I can literally walk into the grocery store and buy codeine cough syrup right off the shelf without asking anybody or showing ID. It seems ridiculous to me.
I mean, sure. But store bought ibuprofen? It’s $9 for 500 count 500mg bottle off Amazon.
We only charge extra for life saving drugs, normal stuff is cheaper than dirt.
You get ibuprofen in what ? 500 pack ?! Surely there is enough to kill yourself with this amount. How do you even finish it before it expire ?
Depends on the size of the household, ages and activities of people living there. Plus depending on the product and storage, most expiration dates have some wiggle room.
As I understand it, most of them don't actually expire
Here in Sweden they always ask: "Do you want the cheapest option?" when you buy prescribed medicine. If there's a reason for a specific manufacturer then that's stated on the prescription.
I've even had them say that the drugstore I'm at is out of the cheapest option and then ask if I want them to look up which drugstore is closest that has it in stock and if they should send them a note to save what I'm looking for so there's no chance it might sell out before I get there.
And there's also high-cost protection, an annual maximum amount (about $275) you can spend on prescribed medication and anything else healthcare-related. So any medication you buy and the cost of any medical services you use are added together and if that cost reaches the maximum amount within a year everything is free until the next year. So basically you can't pay more than $275 per year for medication and any other medical services.
Always compare active ingredients for OTC stuff too