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Price of Medicine?!?!

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 11/23/2013 7:23 PM (GMT 0)
I am sure this has been discussed, but my husband went to pick up my new prescription...Uceris...he had the Uceris savings card in hand to pay $25 and pharmacist says, "Her insurance doesn't cover Uceris. The cost is $1400!" Needless to say, new medicine s sitting at the pharmacy! You have to be kidding me...I had 4 samples I took before going to pick medicine up. Husband went to GI and asked for more samples..well, I got all samples they have, 8 days worth. Ugh!!! This is what is wrong with insurance..price of medications!!! Rant over.. shakehead
Posted 11/23/2013 7:40 PM (GMT 0)
That $1400 was probably only for one month and you usually take it for two months. The doctor's office should have prepared you for this and maybe not given you any samples unless they could have given you two months worth. It's kind of stupid to take just a few days of something you are supposed to take for two months. This is kind of the doctor's fault for not warning you ahead of time. This is one reason patients need to be their own advocates as much as possible so you don't get hit with surprises like this.
Posted 11/23/2013 7:46 PM (GMT 0)
All I can say is WOW.

Greg

Posted 11/23/2013 7:49 PM (GMT 0)
You are right, 1 months worth. Totally agree about me being my own advocate and feel I do pretty well with doing so. I think that is why he gave me the savings card. My insurance recently changed and I wonder if my other insurance would have covered? I refused prednisone and will continue to do so. My last flare was 4 months and I didn't go to doc. I finally got out of it without prednisone. The only reason I knew about Uceris was from here, but apparently missed the price ;) The one pharmacy in my town I sometimes use has not even heard of Uceris?!?! My GI is in a bigger town 20 miles up the road. Wow! Yep, not sure what I am going to do a week from Sunday when I am out of medicine. The doctor's office is contacting my insurance for authorization. Hopefully, fingers crossed!
Posted 11/23/2013 8:08 PM (GMT 0)
Unfortunately, I doubt your doctor will have success. Once they find out that you haven't done the dirt cheap prednisone the game will be over.
Posted 11/24/2013 12:25 PM (GMT 0)
It's not just insurance prices that are ridiculous, but BIg Pharma prices - they have some profit machine!

Maybe you should check out LDN, low dose naltrexone?
It's cheap and NOT Big Pharma, and has virtually no side effects.
It put me in remission.
Posted 11/24/2013 4:10 PM (GMT 0)
I had to pay out of pocket for Asacol too and those pills did NOTHING for me. The GI's response was to up the dose. Still nothing changed. Had to go on Prednisone to stop the flare. Your spouse may be better off without them.
Posted 11/24/2013 5:13 PM (GMT 0)
The insurance isn't the one who sets the price of the meds. It's the pharma companies. The gov't needs to step in and regulate some of these ridiculous costs, but they don't and they never will.
Posted 11/24/2013 5:21 PM (GMT 0)
I had a similar issue getting uceris.

I had the prescription sent to the Walgreens that I use for everything else and when I went to pick it up with the savings card in hand, they said it would be almost $700. They said that they couldn't apply the savings card because of some "pre-discount", but no one could ever give me a straight answer when I asked if that pre-discount was through them or my insurance. I decided to try my luck with a local pharmacy, hoping that the pre-discount was a Walgreens thing, and they were able to get it for me for only $50.

Are there any other pharmacies nearby that you could try? Can the one who has never heard of uceris not order it in for you? They should be able to see how much your insurance will cover before they order it too.
Posted 11/24/2013 6:32 PM (GMT 0)
It could be that Uceris was just approved for sale by the FDA this year and may not be on your insurance's formulary...
That is different than Humira & Simponi being approved for UC since the FDA all ready approved the meds for other medical conditions and were all ready on insurance formularies before the FDA approved them to treat UC.

Could also be your pharmacy having large margins; I recently heard a news cast where they went around to local pharmacies to buy a certain generic chemo drug without insurance, there was a 400% difference between the cheapest and most expensive pharmacy's pricing.
Posted 11/25/2013 12:50 AM (GMT 0)
Discussed before, thats the right price.

This medication got into the market few months ago (or is it already a a year?), so we will be paying through nose for another few years, until the generics show up.

IMO, not worth the price. I have not used it, but this is my GI's opinion.
Posted 11/25/2013 12:59 AM (GMT 0)
It's very frustrating when your insurance doesn't cover the medication you need. it makes you wonder why you have insurance.
Posted 11/25/2013 2:34 AM (GMT 0)
MikeSoCal, yes, I know it isn't the insurance setting price of meds...was making statement understanding why insurance is now costing big bucks to cover costs ;)

AdventureUC, it's me who has UC and believe me when I say a GI visit when flaring is my last resort.

I am seeing improvements after taking it for 6 days!! I have 6 pills left before I run out :( I am hoping to find the answer.

InSoFla, I will look in to LDN.

Limitless, I am going to call the pharmacy here in town tomorrow and discuss further about ordering and their price.

Notsosicklygirl, my thoughts exactly.. Why do I have Insurance?!?!

Thank you all! I always know I can come here to vent ;)
Posted 11/25/2013 3:39 AM (GMT 0)
I don't remember what I paid for my uceris but on the pharmacy thing I remember seeing it saying $1400. My mom was like "that's $40 a pill!" I had bad results with uceris though. Didn't do squat for me so after a week my doctor took me off it. I still have it though. Not sure if this is legal or whatever, but I could mail it to you lol.
Posted 11/25/2013 8:55 PM (GMT 0)
Same song, second verse..

Drove up to Walgreen's pharmacy window and the gal said, "That'll be $2,800, please."  We drove off laughing our butt's off without the script, of course.  Yes, the physicians should KNOW how much these drugs cost before they prescribe their wonder drugs.  The coupons are only toward an insurance co-pay.  Well, what happens when you don't have drug insurance?  You pay or drive away.

However; we were lucky though because my Partner is a Vietnam Vet and qualifies for Veteran medical care, so he signed up.  The scripts cost $9 a month - that's right, $9 for a 30 day supply of the same drugs he has been paying big time for. Before VA care, we ordered from Canada and the drugs were usually half the USA price, but still expensive.  His VA doctor spends more time, is more interested, is more helpful -- win/win all the way around.  Thank goodness for the Veteran's Administration!

Posted 11/26/2013 3:08 AM (GMT 0)
Mcfarl73, that is sweet of you..hopefully we are getting something going!

Texana, that is what stinks..I have insurance!!

I got a call later in the day today from a compounding pharmacy 69 miles away my GI had called...they apparently can produce the like of Uceris??? I am calling back tomorrow to give insurance information and see how much it will cost me. Has anyone done this before?
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