Prescriptions

How Much Do Asthma Inhalers Cost Without Insurance in 2024?

Talor Bianchini
Talor Bianchini1 Jan 2024
Reviewed and Fact Checked ✔️

Inhalers are the most common treatment for asthma, a condition that makes it difficult to breathe. The average cost of a brand-name asthma inhaler without insurance is $292.91. Factors that may affect the cost of an inhaler are the type of inhaler you need and using a brand name over a generic inhaler. 

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The Cost of Different Asthma Inhalers 

We collected data from online pharmacies about 9 common medications used to treat asthma. If you don’t have insurance, you may be worried about how much it will cost you to get treatment for your asthma. The average cost for one brand-name asthma inhaler is $292.91 without insurance. Ventolin, which contains the drug salbutamol, was the cheapest at $74.32. 

Cost of Different Asthma Inhalers Without Insurance

Type of Inhaler (medication)

Cost Without Insurance of 1 Inhaler

Advair (fluticasone/salmeterol)

$471.75

Alvesco (ciclesonide)

$138.30

Asmanex Twisthaler (mometasone)

$302.13

Flovent (fluticasone)

$271.56

Pulmicort (budesonide)

$252.40

Qvar (beclometasone)

$244.51

Serevent (salmeterol)

$522.43

Symbicort (budesonide/formoterol)

$358.75

Ventolin (salbutamol)

$74.32

These costs had increased dramatically since 2008 when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) placed a ban on ozone-depleting inhalers, which eliminated the use of inhalers with chlorofluorocarbon in them. This also reduced the number of albuterol inhalers that patients could use, resulting in these generic medications being replaced with more environmentally friendly ones. Studies have shown that this led to increased out-of-pocket costs for individuals and insurance companies for asthma inhalers. 

Many plans cover the cost of inhalers in some way, but it may only be one per month. This is often done out of cost and safety concerns, fearing that some patients may abuse their medication and use it more than they should. Both Medicaid and Medicare Part D cover most inhaler costs and other asthma-related services

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Talor Bianchini

Talor graduated from Penn State University with a B.S. in Biobehavioral Health, and minors in Spanish and Diversity & Inclusion in May of 2022. She has a passion for health equity and diversity in health. In the future, Talor hopes to work in public health policy reform to help eliminate health disparities. She enjoys reading, cooking, and listening to podcasts in her free time.

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