I was lucky I had my pain-meds in my kit when I flipped over my quad and slid on my head... that would have been a bad/worse day.

I guess it turned into 4 months of recovering either way.

Your physician would have to approve of that (or should esp if pain meds involved). Otherwise you could find yourself on a drug seeker list at the pharmacy and cause yourself problems.

I second the "refill meds early" plan ...have been doing that for years and have several stashes of xtra meds (rotated of course).
Containers used vary ...and your pill requirements affect your choices too. Some pills are smaller than others and stashing 30 days worth is clearly easier with smaller pills.
I never travel without at least a 30 day supply...and have a weeks worth on my key chain and another in my desk at work.
In addition each first aid kit has a stash...and the little personal sized one I keep in my luggage has a separate stash than the one in my shaving kit.
Like reading glasses ...I tend to "salt" them around in the hopes at least one will be at hand when I need it.

Speaking of medications, I just saw this article that says a study by a major health benefits company shows that we've finally reached the point where more than half of American adults and children (actually, among insured Americans, to be accurate) are taking at least one prescription medication for a chronic condition. Wow, including children? To me, that's a frightening percentage for various reasons.

There is a field of medical/health research that has never really taken off yet, and that is finding the underlying reasons for health disparities across societies. For example, many new immigrants (even the really poor ones) arrive in America pretty healthy since they tend to be young, but once in America, quickly develop the typical scourges of Americans like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc. The offspring of these immigrants are no better off. We may have a more prosperous standard of living in the US, but is it "better"? It is hard to say sometimes, depending on how you look at it.

Anyway, back to the OP--that's a lot of Americans that should probably be thinking of medication preparedness!

Not so. Including controlled meds such as Lortab, Darvocet, etc.

In fact, were you to get an "extra" controlled prescription (Lortab, etc.) written by the doctor while you were taking the regular Lortab prescription, *that* would show up on the controlled substances database as suspicious.

The Code of Federal regulations states that 80% of the time must pass before one is allowed to refill a controlled prescription. Most insurance companies follow this allowance in the law. The safest way is to refill a 30 day supply 6 days early and make sure the insurance pays for it. It will come back as a "refill too soon" and the insurance won't pay if you attempt to get the refill before 80% of the time has elapsed. But it will pay once 80% of the time has elapsed. There are some drugs that some insurance companies exempt from this, like Prevacid and a few others. For those, you have to wait until the very day they are due. Dumb! We like to yell at those insurance plans.

Uncontrolled meds (non-narcotic) can actually be refilled as early as you want, except that the insurance won't pay for it unless it's 80% time elapsed. Just wait for that magic 80% time and save lots of money and create your own emergency supply!

Many insurance plans won't let you refill early. I have tried to help my 70 year old Mother set up some emergency plans, including a small stock pile of her meds, but her insurance company will keep track right down to the day, and will not let her refill until just in time for the new pills to arrive as the old ones are running out.

She's had a few times when the mail was late, that she actually missed meds because she ran out before the new ones arrived.

You've pointed out the big problem that I wasn't addressing...mail order!

On the retail level, we have done many nationwide and state plans (probably 25 states) There are exceptions to the rule, but they are usually a surprise and I certainly wouldn't estimate it as a significant portion of nationwide or state plans that don't follow the 80% rule. The biggest of the national pharmacy benefits managers (Caremark, MerckMedco, ExpressScripts) follow the 80% rule at retail pharmacies. However, as you've accurately pointed out, mail order has its own set of rules. They do not seem to follow the 80% rule. A 3 month supply seems to be able to be filled only a few days early. This is IMHO dangerous to the patient because of the chance of missed doses.

I can't tell you how many times seniors come to me for a two week supply because his/her mail-order outfit dropped the ball. They'll lose prescriptions and just claim that the patient never mailed it.

It's sad that many insurance plans force the patient to go mail order. If you are unlucky enough to be forced into that, it will probably make more sense to get a separate prescription and (if the insurance refuses to fill it) pay full price. Of course, look for deals at Costco, Sam's and other outlets. BTW, you don't have to be a member of Sam's or Costco to fill a prescription there. Many don't know that.