I went to pick up my first monthly supply of Copaxone, the new med I will be taking for MS. I knew it was going to be expensive; without insurance it is about $24,000 a year. But luckily, I have insurance.
Except for some reason, my insurance won't pay for it! When I picked it up (or went to, anyways), the pharmacy gave me a AAA member discount, but it was still $1,800!!! A month!!!! ACK!!!!!
So, I came home without the meds, freaked out, and called the insurance company. They were closed. Grrrr... Calling today to find out what is going on. Something about it being a brand name drug and me not being at a network pharmacy, I think. Of course, this is the same pharmacy I go to for all my other generic and brand name meds every month...
I just go so angry and frusterated at insurance companies. In my mind, they are helpful in one way b/c they keep you from paying astronimical fees, but sometimes, it seems like they are just in it for the money and they think it is OK to mess around with their clients prescriptions and health. Grumble, grumble...
HOW much is my prescription???
January 25th, 2008 at 11:00 am
January 25th, 2008 at 12:22 pm 1201263746
Medical insurance is just insane. We had to change companies this year. We got a notice in September that our premiums were going up 52%!!! We managed to change over from Highmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield to UPMC. We now have better coverage for quite a bit less money a month. Now I'm just waiting to see how much they raise our premiums next year.
January 25th, 2008 at 01:26 pm 1201267570
January 25th, 2008 at 02:20 pm 1201270822
January 25th, 2008 at 10:24 pm 1201299857
January 26th, 2008 at 02:37 am 1201315041
January 26th, 2008 at 03:49 am 1201319374
http://www.pbcgov.com/publicaffairs/rx/
Also some of those drug makers give you discounts as well
check out these links, hope they help:
http://www.needymeds.com/
https://www.pparx.org/Intro.php
http://www.rxoutreach.com/en/
Dont forget to check your state programs
the links above was from my library website
Good luck
January 26th, 2008 at 04:37 am 1201322258
January 26th, 2008 at 07:42 pm 1201376529
February 22nd, 2008 at 07:12 pm 1203707578
Being single and not having the luxury of a spouse's health plan, you will need to be very, very careful about always having coverage for the MS meds. So if, say, you got laid off, be sure to get COBRA.
I also take Copaxone. In 7 years they will lose their patent. In most cases, that means generics can go on the market, meaning major cost savings for us, but i read that Copaxone is such a unique drug that it might not be possible to Tea-Marion, the Israeli company that makes it, to genericize it. And by that time, too, i figure they will have come up with an oral form of Copaxone or something similar, but of course, being a new drug, those pills will be super expensive, just like Copaxone is now, so i sometimes daydream about what i would do faced with the choice of paying less for a cheaper Copaxone injectable drug (assuming it will get cheaper when the patent runs out) or paying big prices for pills instead. It would be a VERY hard decision. I think i'd have to go with the pills.