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Asacol HD Price!! OH MY!!

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 6/7/2013 7:20 PM (GMT 0)
Ok...the doc sent me home with samples of asacol hd (800mg). I am currently taking 2 pills 3x day. They called the order into the pharmacy and they denied it due to my insurance/cost.

I called the insurance company. They said the doc office can basically tell them that I have to have this drug...BUT....it will end up costing me about $400/mo!!!!

They say with UC you need to keep your stress level down!! How is this suppose to help?!?!

Does anyone know of any other meds that are basically the same thing that shouldn't cost so much?

I am new to this whole thing...and it gets a little confusing.

I was thinking about jumping the border and going to Mexico to buy them if I had to.

Thanks for your help!!
Posted 6/7/2013 7:24 PM (GMT 0)
you have insurance and it still costs you 400$ per month? F... this sh** It should cost you 0

Cost me 0. A bunch of rip off for pills that barely do anything (imo).
Posted 6/7/2013 7:27 PM (GMT 0)
I have insurance...but I guess it doesn't cover medicine. Grrr....

At least when I went to the hospital, I won't be charged a million dollars.

FRUSTRATED! I hate health insurance!!
Posted 6/7/2013 7:29 PM (GMT 0)
Insurance that doesn't cover medicine? That's some messed up chit.
Posted 6/7/2013 7:36 PM (GMT 0)
Even though I take no meds at this time,I have to pick my medicare part D drug insurance,and I am
going nuts. The cheap plans have smaller formularies and or their tiers are higher. The mid price plans can have many more drugs on them. God forbid you have to take a drug not on the formulary, there is
zero coverage even at catastrophic levels,you are not covered. I think I will pay more for a mid priced plan and hope to never need to use it,but someday of course in the future I will have to take some drugs for something. You of course can appeal but depending on the benevolence of the insurance company,you may or may not win. Don't think I want to take that chance. 

PS:They don't make this easy for old folks, many traps, pitfalls,and I still have most of my wits about me.

When I call the drug plans with questions they seem to be pushing the cheap plans,not sure why.
Old Mike

Post Edited (Old Mike) : 6/7/2013 1:39:39 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/7/2013 7:46 PM (GMT 0)

Coaches Wife said...
Does anyone know of any other meds that are basically the same thing that shouldn't cost so much?


To answer your question, I would ask your dr for as prescription for Sulfazine, instead of Asacol HD. Sulfazine has been around a long time to treat ulcerative colitis, it is available in generic form, and should cost about $100 a month, or maybe less depending on your dosage. I assume you are in the US? If so, there are currently no generic versions of oral meslamine-based medication so they are only sold under pricey brand-names like Asacol HD, Lialda, and so forth. There are some rumors that the meslamine-based patents are going to expire this september, so hopefully there will be generics soon to bring the costs down here. Currently, the only way to get generics for oral meslamine are to go through Canadian pharmacies, which some here do (do a search and they'll be recommendations for online Canadian pharmacies).
Posted 6/7/2013 8:06 PM (GMT 0)
Yes...inside the US. In Arizona...that's why I thought of jumping the boarder to go get stuff in Mexico. I have heard of friends doing this.

It is very frustrating how much drug companies charge!!!
Posted 6/7/2013 10:20 PM (GMT 0)
I'm guessing your insurance is covering some of the Asacol because the cost is much higher than $400. Every insurance policy is different. I'm sure that's not much comfort to you. Sulfazine is a very similar med and a whole lot cheaper but it does have more side effects listed than Asacol does. This may be your best option.
Posted 6/7/2013 11:43 PM (GMT 0)
I was going to say what gary said: Asacol HD costs about $860 a month. My insurance stopped covering it last summer when I hit my prescription coverage cap ($2000/policy year--because sure, that's a helpful cap).

My doctor switched me to generic Colazal, which was $60/month. I had to switch back (basically, I reacted badly to the Colazal), but I was able to switch to a better policy after a few months of paying full price for the Asacol HD. I'm still rebuilding my savings since that happened last year ...
Posted 6/7/2013 11:44 PM (GMT 0)
In reply to Coach's Wife, there are 2 drugs that have patient assist programs that are comparable to Asacol. They are Pentassa and Lialda and I'm assuming eligibility is income related. If you contact BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy they can help you with finding where meds can be acquired thru a patient assist program. There's a second agency called NORD which stands for National Organization of Rare Diseases, which helped get me on a Humira program which was also based on income. Thru my Medicare Part D plan I am purchasing Asacol HD (my dr. won't prescribe Pentassa and Lialda as long as Asacol HD is working).
I get Asacol HD samples from my dr., but if I have to buy it, thru Medicare Part D, I pay $70 for 180 pills and the total cost is close to $700, which racks up against the $2900 limit on the first stage of Part D, before I go into the donut hole!

You're right, people need a patient advocate to help us navigate the healthcare industry.
Posted 6/8/2013 3:07 AM (GMT 0)
I have heard Asacol 400mg is going generic in a month or two. I would probably order the high dose from Canada for the month and get on the 400mg after the generic is available. I paid 200 for 90 days of generic mesamine 1200mg from India. It's been working great for me. I am risky as far as these things go but I wouldn't spend $400 for one month of medication, that's ridiculous.
Posted 6/8/2013 1:00 PM (GMT 0)
OM no meds? I have been meaning to ask you what protocol have you been doing lately? It sounds like you are doing well of you dont take any meds.
Posted 6/9/2013 4:28 PM (GMT 0)
I get my prescription meds (Asacol HD) from a Canadian pharmacy. It's soooo much cheaper. I was in the same boat as you - decent insurance that refuses to pay for Asacol HD or Lialda.
Posted 6/10/2013 4:40 PM (GMT 0)
OTC (meaning cheap) options that are also probably worth giving a shot...

1) Psyllium - Ingredient in Metamucil (or generic equivalents - check labels and follow instructions) that forms a gel in the body (fully excreted) that helps many UC sufferers. For myself, it is roughly as effective as Asacol/mesalamine.

2) Melatonin - This one was a bit of a shocker to me as there is relatively little Pubmed research covering its use in UC. But, again, it helped me enough so that I was able to get off Asacol/mesalamine entirely for the first time in 13 years. Apparently, melatonin is surprisingly well distributed in the intestinal tract (for healthy people at least) and it also appears to significantly increase intestinal bicarbonate production - both/either of which may explain its efficacy.

UC tends to be a very idiosyncratic and individualized disease, but it may be worth trying one or both of the preceding since I think side effects are minor to non-existent and the products are both very cheap.
Posted 6/26/2013 3:22 AM (GMT 0)
Very interesting (about the psyllium and melatonin)
sglarta: how much of each of the above do you take?


I just got switched to Asacol HD, and my month costs $35
Posted 6/26/2013 2:09 PM (GMT 0)

notsosicklygirl said...
I have heard Asacol 400mg is going generic in a month or two. I would probably order the high dose from Canada for the month and get on the 400mg after the generic is available. I paid 200 for 90 days of generic mesamine 1200mg from India. It's been working great for me. I am risky as far as these things go but I wouldn't spend $400 for one month of medication, that's ridiculous.

You would if it meant you could live your life like a human being.  My meds cost over 1,000 due to insurance not covering it at all.  You better believe I pay for that.  I also have resorted to begging my doctor in order to help me get Uceris and thankfully she gave me the entire 2 months worth.  Otherwise I would have been sending an additional 2400 check to the pharmacy.   I'm also using coupons at the store to help make up the difference spent on medicine I didn't used to need.  You do what you gotta do to make it work...

Posted 6/26/2013 2:50 PM (GMT 0)
Talk to your Dr about different meds .. Mine told me if my insurance wont pay for the Asacol HD there is old school meds that can be used. Thankfully insurance paid with no problems. 540 Asacol HD pills cost me $13.
Posted 6/26/2013 3:40 PM (GMT 0)
I live in AZ, and when I went to Mexico asking for Asacol (this was few years back) and even showed the guy the pills and wrote out the name.....no sé was the response I got. The farmacias there would have to order it. I am on apriso and signed up for the savings card so pay $10/month and it seems to be working well. I also paid a lot for reg asacol- my insurance had $5000 deductible so..yup, I spent $5k on meds. My friends ask me why I never take vacations.......well, I take the drug holidays I guess Delzicol was $210/month and I flared badly on it so switched to apriso.
Posted 6/26/2013 9:11 PM (GMT 0)
I also live in Arizona and could not afford the $125 copay for asacol HD . I crossed the border and bought sulfasalazine manufactured by Pfizer. In Mexico the brandname is Azulfidina and it is entric coated. The generic name is Sulfasalazina. It is pretty cheap(can't remember the cost) and all Mexican drugs have the price in pesos stamped on the bottom of the box. Drugs are price controlled. The downside is crossing is a pain in the butt at most of the large crossings and each pharmacy carries only a couple boxes of 60 pills(500mg). I could find no other UC drugs in Nogales or Aqua Prieta. Asacol can be ordered but it costs MORE than in Arizonashocked I never took a road trip[ to Los Algodones which is a huge RX/dentist town by Yuma. You do not need a RX in Mexico.

I had to stop sulfasalazine because of intolerance but went on generic colazal which works great on me. Costco sells it for $33.05/100. The normal monthly dosage is 270 pills but I do fine on 120/month.

Your next choice is generic asacol in Canada.
Posted 6/27/2013 11:48 PM (GMT 0)
Geeker,

1) I take two or three doses of psyllium per day (teaspoons/tablespoons depending on the brand, mixed in a glass of water)

2) I take 4 to 5 1mg tablets of Walmart store brand melatonin (which comes with B6) at night. I take the 1mg tablets because of the B6 (higher single dosages don't have it) and I'm not sure if it is the melatonin alone or the melatonin+B6 that is helping me so noticeably.

Hope this helps.

Let me know if you have any other questions - I think the potential benefit of melatonin is under-reported.
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