The Very Expensive World of IVF Meds

So after finding out that I had to pay almost $4K out of pocket for fertility and all other meds for this next IVF cycle, I spent all of yesterday afternoon calling around other online pharmacies that provide cash discounts on fertility drugs. I called the following companies to compare Follis.tim, Meno.pur, Ganire.lix and HCG:
  The Apothecary Shop
  CVS/Caremark Specialty
  Freedom Drug
  (Formerly) IVP Care - now Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy
  (Formerly) Schaft's - now Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy
  Fairview Specialty Pharmacy
  Triessent Pharmacy (covered by my insurance)
  Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy
  Ascend Specialty Pharmacy (I tried calling but no one answered)

After calling each of these pharmacies, and putting them all into a spreadsheet, I noticed the following.

• Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy has bought over some of the other (smaller?) pharmacies.
• Prices of drugs have gone up since the last time I checked in January/February, around 5%.
• Some companies allow a "discounted" price if you pay a $10 annual fee for Meno.pur (Walgreens and The Apothecary Shop does this); or if you register for the free program, but would need to provide your email address (Walgreens and Fairview), you could get a better price for Follis.tim.
• I was told that some companies are "preferred" distributors for certain drugs, and therefore can get a cheaper of one drug name, but not the other of a similar drug.  For example, Freedom charges a lot for Follis.tim - $427 for a 300IU cartridge, but only $260 for the same unit of Go.nal-F because they are a "preferred" distributor for Go.nal-F, but not of Follis.tim.  These 2 brands are pretty much the same drug, just different brand name.  Some companies will provide cheaper prices for Follis.tim, other for Go.nal-F.
• Of the companies looked at, Freedom Drug was the most expensive
• The Apothecary Shop was the cheapest.
• Comparing everything, Walgreens is pretty comparable to The Apothecary Shop, with prices being only pennies to a couple of dollars difference (with the exception of the HCG, about $12 difference).

After my last post about having to pay out of pocket for almost all of my drugs this next cycle, I had a couple of ladies offer to donate to me their unused Meno.pur vials, since they are now pregnant.  Yay for them!  And yay for me!  It's not much, just a couple of vials, but still, it is very generous of them.  Thank you ladies, you know who you are.  If you don't already know this, there is a wonderful group of supportive women out there!!  I'm hoping that one day, I too will have some leftover meds that I no longer need, because I would be pregnant (praying and keeping my fingers crossed!)

One of the gals also mentioned buying IVF meds from Canadian online companies.  Their drugs are much cheaper.  Have any of you bought your IVF drugs from an Canadian or European online pharmacy?

I looked at www.canadadrugs.com, but it takes 12 days to ship, with maybe 3-4 days shorter if I go with expedited shipping.  I'm don't think I can get them in time for stim start day of July 2nd, which is next week.

Just looking at canadadrugs.com, only Menopur is cheaper in Canada than what I can get here.

It's insane how expensive IVF meds are!