Paying for drugs

[jed]

paying for drugs

So, where are you from, and whats the prices like with your meds?

I'm from australia, and down here with our public health system we have to pay very little formost medications.

sulfasalazine, mesalal, pred & immuran have only been about $33 for a couple of months supply.


something like infliximab (think thats remicade in the USA) is well over $2grand for each visit - UNLESS you hit a certain pain barrier, then it falls into a free medicine catagory.

so what do you guys and girls pay?

 

[Kev]

In Canada, despite free health coverage, drugs aren't included. If I needed to go on Remicade, I'd have to pay for it myself, about $4000 - $6000 per. Not going to happen. Right now, I'm taking LDN @ about $1 - $2 per day AND I also take 5-ASA, which if I wasn't getting for free from my doc would cost me about $400 - $600 per month. I'm trying to taper off the 5-ASA at the mo for a number of reasons... studys show it's not that effective, and I accidentally discovered taking it MAY be making some of my symptoms bit worse... and the long term goal with my doc was to wean off it someday. But one of my 'key 'reasons for wanting to get off of it is that I really 'hate' to be a 'charity' case.... pure foolish, antequated male pride, tho all too real

 

[Keara07]

Watched *sicko* two nights ago by Michael Moore - interesting payment plans for drugs in some parts of the world for too sure. I, like Kev, am in Canada, and pay for drugs but luckily we have some coverage through my hubby's drug plan - actually not bad at 20% co-pay after x number of dollars spent a year.

Kev - I am on 5-ASA pentasa maintenance for now so interested in your thinking there (At Lawton's it costs me (before submitting a bill) about $250 Cdn for a month - 4g daily dose)....but I have always questionned it's effectiveness as well - and after seeing it in a NG tube, eeyew - purely gunky (and I mean think and gross -worse than anything else that drained out) and although I can't recall where, I read an article about it actually hindering inflammatory healing as it can, in layman's terms, gunk up the inflammed area making the passageway even less passable. True or not, I am skeptical about it and what it does as well.

 

[beautiful_disaster]

Well I'm from American, and without insurance:
Sulfasalazine (Azulfidine) 500mg (60 pills) is about $17
Prednisone 10mg (45 pills) is also about $15
Pentasa (Mesalamine) 500mg (240 pills) is about $180
Immuran (Azathioprine) is about $1.30 per pill
Remicade (Infliximab) roughly $2500 for JUST the medicine which doesnt include the Dr. Visit and all that jazz.
So thats basically what you would pay just for the medicine here.

But here in America, with insurance, ROUGHLY you pay the co-pay of $20 per prescription and $20 or nothing per Dr. visit. But you are also paying so much out of pocket each week or month to keep your insurance valid. It just all depends on your Health Plan.

 

[elp888]

I'm in the Netherlands. My insurance pays for everything (don't know if remicade would included if i needed to take?).

On the box it says 120 (50 mg) azathioprine pills cost 38 euros

 

[Kev]

Well, not to hijack this thread, but the 5ASA thing was covered in another thread.. Essentially it said that the most recent studies said it had little effect on Crohns, but was more effective on colitis.. I'm assuming due to the inflamation of crohns being in separate clusters, therefore harder to target/hit effectively this way... whereas colitis is usally all bunched together. Inflamed areas are going to buildup fluid.. inflamation blocking the ozmotic (sp?) nature of healthy tissue, and as an anti-inflamatory, it will likely increase the amount of fluid pushed out... like, almost diuretic I would think (makes me void like a racehorse, anyway). I think that may be why, as I reduced my 5 ASA, my stool size increased.. Sorry for the gross talk. Another in this string of assumptions is that slowly, the LDN is making my GI tract better, so it may (big MAY) be safe for me to take less 5-ASA.

Regarding health plans here in Canada, my last one had no set co-pay. We started off with a flat fee of $2 per prescription. Then the insurance co. we were dealing with was bought out/merged with another. It's plan meant we paid the handling fee... the fee a pharmacy charges for prescriptions. It varied by pharmacy... like, Wal Mart pharm would charge less than $7 per prescription, others charge as much as $14 - $20. Needless to say sooner than later. most employees opted to use Wal Mart. Post private insurance, I was able to source my pred, my imuran at a no fee pharmacy, saved me a fair bit... drugs at cost, and no added fees for filling a prescription. But my LDN is only avail from 1 pharmacy, so I can't shop around.. And it does add up. Like, my 1st prescripton was for 12 week supply 84 pills cost me $90 But my next 2 refills (from fill-in GI) were only for 30 pills.. at $50 per refill
The difference is the damned handling fee... the more pills, the lower the cost per pill. Now, if I make it to 65, then I'm laughing. Seniors are covered by provincial health plan.. There is a co-pay, but once you max it out, the rest is free.

 

[D Bergy]

I am from Northern Minnesota in the U.S.

I take Low Dose Naltrexone. It costs about $35.00 a month and insurance picks up most of that cost. I could get it for a little less if I shopped around.

I also take Chlorine Dioxide, once a week, which is an alternative treatment method. It cost me $17.00 for a bottle that will last me over two years. Insurance will not pay for that, but who cares at that price.

Dan

 

[BWS1982]

Too many meds to name each cost, but cumulatively, I average around $200USD a month just on meds, and about the same or more on actual bills (which come about 5 or more a month, and some months it's over a $1000 in total med costs if I get hit with a string of them). I hate insurance run health care systems, also in addition to the above costs, I pay around $115/month USD just to HAVE the insurances (Health, Rx, Eye, Dental, Legal, etc...), whether I use it or not. In the end probably 1/4 of my income goes to my colon. What do I have to show for it? I missed out on getting a tax break by not too much in 2007.

 

[Guts Ache]

a months supply of Prednisone, Pentasa and Azathiprine in the UK has just set me back £21.00.

Apparently over here we can prepay per year if you have more than 2 or 3 separate ongoing prescriptions. Costs just over £100 for the year!! Bargain!

Still rather not need the pills though.

 

[BWS1982]

I'm in North Carolina. I get 1000mg of remicade every 8 weeks. The dr's office bills my insurance about $15,000 each treatment. I think the insurance pays them about 8500

Meaning you pay the remainder, or meaning that they are in network and they have a "deal" for $8500?

 

[D Bergy]

Yikes! $15,000.00 per treatment.

Certainly not an option for the uninsured. I wonder how long the insurance company is going to pay this, without a fight?

Dan

 

[katiesue1506]

In Indiana I received Remicade and it was $5000 a treatment... my insurance paid 75% of it

Then Humira was a co-pay of $40 for 3 months supply... however that just jumped to $150 for 3 months.

All of my other meds carry a 5 dollar co-pay.

 

[Creepy Lurker]

I'm from the UK and currently pay [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]£27.85 which covers all my perscriptions for a three month period.
[/FONT]

 

[Kev]

So, Creepy.. that would be about $55 - $60 US/CDN every 3 months. I think you just made a lot of crohnies living outside of the UK cry like little babies...

 

[JTKrol]

So, Creepy.. that would be about $55 - $60 US/CDN every 3 months. I think you just made a lot of crohnies living outside of the UK cry like little babies...

It depends what medications he is on, but I'm sure it's better than what most of us in the USA pay.

 

[karl]

i'm in the US, currently getting pentasa for free through their patient assistance program because i make less than $25k in my household and my insurance does not cover name brands

i'm also on pred, which is cheap, like $8 so far for a 1 month taper
also on imuran, i get the generic azathiorpine. without insurance it would be $40 a month, with my insurance it is $15 a month

i'm not sure if that will work, i may eventually go on remicade. i can't afford the $5k treatments, my insurance will not cover the cost of the drug. i found a patient assistance program for remicade, i'm not sure if i qualify. hopefully i'll never have to go on it and find out

 

[Creepy Lurker]

It depends what medications he is on, but I'm sure it's better than what most of us in the USA pay.

I pay for a 'pre-pay voucher' which anyone in the UK can get.

I can get unlimited prescriptions while it's valid.

-Moral of the story-
Move to England

 

[Buster Gut]

I pay for a 'pre-pay voucher' which anyone in the UK can get.

I can get unlimited prescriptions while it's valid.

-Moral of the story-
Move to England

Sorry for the pain this may be about to cause...

I grew up in England and 2 years ago moved to Wales to go to uni, although I still go to a Crohns clinic in Oxford. In the UK Infliximab/Remicade are free on the NHS, and in Wales prescription medications are free.

Costs a bit in petrol for frequent trips between Wales and Oxford tho. fortunately Remicade has given me enuff gas to seriously consider converting my car to run on methane :tongue:

Moral of the story - move to Wales (or Scotland or N.I who either do or will soon do free prescriptions)

 

[GI Joe]

I guess I am fortunate. Since I am in the US Army, all my medical expenses are covered. I don't have to pay for a single doctor visit or for a single medication.

The medical system in the US is a mess. We have the finest hospitals and doctors in the world but a lot of people can't afford basic health care. And to make matters worse, a lot of people that have health insurance find that the treatments they need are not covered and then have to fight their insurers every time they need a treatment. It’s a shame. Elections are coming, maybe that will help fix this mess. I doubt it because the medical community, pharmaceuticals and insurance companies will fight to ensure their profits remain high.