FML REceived letter from Blue Cross on VSL

I buy VSL#3 that isn't the DS without insurance or a prescription it costs $54 for 60 pills. I would buy that and take two of them to get you up to DS level. Still though nowhere close to $750, unless there is something still different with the DS but I didn't think there was.

Ugh, looks like the capsules only contain 112.5 billion bacteria, so price would be 864 $/month. Dang it.

Call your GI's office and see if they will intervene on your behalf. They might make an exception - it's worth a shot, anyway!

lemonhead-Do I recall you are in NC? Seems so but can't remember. That's me-BCBSNC.

I'll call them, like you say, worth a shot.

Well...I hadn't planned on using the same batch to make another batch...making a copy of a copy so to speak I guess.

But...I thought even from the get go the more dominant strains would overtake the lesser ones. That was my hesitancy with making the yogurt. If that is not the case, I could easily by $100 worth of plain VSL #3 over the counter and make it last a month I think.

Sorry Levi, that really blows. I would try having my Dr. fight for it...worth a shot if u have a cooperative GI. I am stuck paying for vsl (although not ds) out of pocket. I hate when we have to make medical choices based on insurance not what is best for us. Sucks. Hope u find a reasonable solution.
B

Have you called your insurance company yet? I received a script on Friday for VSL but my insurance would not cover the script. I called them and they will cover VSL-3DS but only with prior authorization and since it is not on the formulary and it will be considered Tier-3, the highest copay $50.

If I went by what the local pharmacy told me then I wouldn't be covered at all but when I called and spoke to someone at my insurance company I was able to get the information that I needed.

I also called the makers of VSL to see if they had a copay assistance program but they do not, they did say that some insurance companies will lower the copay tier if your doctor asks them to. Which would be nice since I'd be paying $5 a month instead of $50. But I doubt that I'll be that lucky.

Levi, just as a possible plan B or C... have you ever tried a probiotic called Nexibiotic? It used to be called Benebiotic.

I experimented with MANY probiotics and different things and concluded that that one actually worked better for me than VSL3-DS or any other high-end ones. The Nexibiotic is around $20 for 60 pills on Amazon.

Another probiotic is saccharomyces boulardi. I highly doubt I'm spelling that perfect, but if I remember right it has proven to help keep UC patients in remission. That also was a relatively inexpensive option off of Amazon.

I'm too far gone tonight to read through this entire thread, but just wanted to throw this info up there just so you know in case you were looking at alternatives.

Hope you and the gf/fiancee(right?) are well.

Slightly OT. I found some unexpired VSL3 powder in a drawer. It has been unrefridgerated for a month...do you think all the good stuff is dead? Any harm in taking anyway?

There is patient assistance, but it's not though VSL. It's through NORD. /www.rarediseases.org/
There is a lot of paperwork you have to fill out, but I don't pay squat for VSL. They will send as much as your doc prescribes, so if the doc prescribes 4 sachets a day, that's what they send. My wife just emails our contact when I'm running low and a few days later a new supply comes in. Pretty crazy. I'm not kidding about the paperwork though, it's quite a bit. Good luck.

I spoke with a friend this week who is a pharmacist and she can get me the VSL (assuming full strength usage for 30 days) for $545 for 30 days which is much cheaper.

She checked into it and found "The FDA is now going to require them to go back and do studies to prove efficacy. They usually give the manufacturers a few years to do this so that is a good thing because once they do this with products, the prices skyrocket so that the consumers have to pay for the trial expense. You may have never have noticed, but years ago guaifenesin (for coughs) was pennies per tablet. After the FDA gave them about 5 years to prove efficacy, only one company complied with this requirement and now a bottle of 20 tablets is about $30."

If you buy the boxes of VSL (and maybe other ways idk) there is a pamphlet in every single box detailing the studies proving efficacy. I wonder if the gov't will accept these or require new ones? You'd think if they were acceptable they would already be FDA approved though. So it looks like best case may be it will still be covered but we have to pay for lots of trials to show it works even though many of us already know it works.