Eliquis.

For certain medications that are not covered ny our insurance through Medicare the pharmacy will apply a GoodRX card and while may not making medications very cheap it certainly does bring the price way down.

I assume he has Medicare plus a supplement or advantage plan. Going forward, speak to a Medicare agent asap just in case the window of time to change plans may be closing soon...may be March. Choose an independent agent rather than an agent associated with a plan so that you do not just get steered into that plan. There should be no cost to do this because the agent gets paid by the enrolment. If you cannot change plans then look again in October. All of his meds can be plugged into a search engine to find which plan provides the best drug coverage. You can do this on your own on medicare.gov but an agent may have more info.

I hadn’t heard of Eliquis, looked it up on Google and got this:
“Why was Eliquis taken off the market?: 2018: The Superior Court of Delaware received many Eliquis lawsuits, all of which alleged the same things: that the medicine caused serious or deadly bleeding issues and that the drug's manufacturer hid the fact that there was no way to reverse the drug's blood-thinning effects”.

Are you sure that you want it? Just as a matter of interest, my mother took Warfarin as a blood thinner. When she needed an operation, she was monitored (blood taken 3 times a day) for 10 days before they would operate. Otherwise she would have bled to death. So it’s a risk-balance exercise, if an operation might be urgent.

Speak to MD if the medication cannot be afforded so he can find out what equivalent has a good generic that will be covered. If income a problem do follow the directions of others below to speak with the company to get cost covered, because these new drugs are much to be preferred over coumadin which requires such frequent drug tests and can go so quickly too high/too low in thinning.

There are different classes of blood thinners so his reasons for taking it must be considered but you could ask the doctor and pharmacist if there something else more affordable that would work just as well.

If the medication is unaffordable often the drug companies have methods of helping people afford the medications that are needed.
You can ask if a generic version can be prescribed.
I know with my insurance if I bring a certain RX to the drugstore the cost to me is higher because the doctor specified the name brand. If I use mail order the cost is lower because the mail order does not have the generic so they have to send the name brand for the same cost as if it were generic (make sense?)

The other option might be to check with some supplemental insurance to see if the drug would be less expensive If it is possible with his insurance. I know with mine I can not chose a supplemental or I will lose my retirement insurance. So before you make any changes it is wise to check with the primary insurance to see what restrictions there may be.

It is also worth talking to the doctor letting them know that the medication prescribed is unaffordable and are there any other options.

If your husband has insurance, is the insurance not paying for this medication? My mother had Medicare and supplemental, so Eliquis was covered with a co pay of $20 if I recall.

Otherwise, find out which blood thinner (aside from Warfarin) IS covered and see about a switch. Our insurance would not cover Eliquis for DH but wound up covering Pradaxa. Six of one, half dozen of another. His doctor switched him over to Pradaxa which was in the formulary, and all was well.