tavie.com

A story about drugs.

I've been on Effexor since I was 18. That's 12 years. My co-pay has varied over the years, but I've been fortunate that the drug never cost me more than $30 a month.

Last August, a "generic" version of the drug, called Venlafaxine, was released. My doctor switched me to it, and even tried to give me a coupon for it, but when I got to the pharmacy, the pharmacist told me that my copay was so low - $15! - that the coupon wouldn't apply. I happily paid $15 per month and considered myself extremely fortunate that the drug that I take every day to stay alive - and make no mistake, missing a dose brings me very close to suicide - was so cheap.

So imagine my surprise when I was hit with a $40 charge for it last time I went to fill it.

I brought this to the attention of a number of people, including my health insurance company (Meritain), my prescription insurance carrier (ScripWorld) and, of course, my employer's HR Department.

After a lot of confused back-and-forth by email between me and Meritain, during which they kept insisting that I either have been or should have been paying $75 for Venlafaxine - the generic version of a drug that I had only paid $30 for until the generic came along at $15 - I finally sent them a detailed medical costs report from my pharmacy showing exactly what I've been paying for each prescription.

Want to know the bottom line of all this? Let me quote the last email I got, which is a rep from Scripworld's email to the rep from Meritain:

Osmotica’s product was also approved with a New Drug Application (NDA) rather than the abbreviated pathway commonly used for the approval of generics. In addition, FDA generally does not assign an AB-rating to products of different formulations, such as tablets and capsules. However, the company has stated that equal doses of venlafaxine extended-release tablets are bioequivalent to Effexor XR capsules.

(Emphasis mine.)

Further, they added:

So as of now, there is not an exact generic for the Effexor XR medication. Because the Venlafaxine medication that the member is currently taking is not a generic, it has been moved to non-formulary which is why it is coming back with a $75 copay. In order for the member to have her copay reduced to the $50 she was paying previously, she will need to continue filling the brand name Effexor XR.

I guess the part where I never had to pay $75 for this medication is being ignored. They're now telling me I'm lucky to be able to switch from what is obviously a generic, sneakily patented in such a way so that they can NOT call it a generic - so that I can only pay 233% more than I used to, instead of 400% more. Oh, lucky me.

Furthermore, the $40? They explain that the pharmacy told them it was charged after the application of a coupon. The coupon the pharmacy rejected, that's right.

So, fuck you Duane Reade and fuck you ScripWorld and fuck you Meritain. (No animosity against HR, who've been as helpful as possible, I believe.) You're all a bunch of cheapskates and liars and blame-pushers bouncing me back and forth between yourselves. Very helpful. Luckily my moods are stabilized by this medication, or I'm sure I'd be able to whip up some tears about this.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 3:42 PM

1 Comments:

Anonymous said...: RIAZOR!; 4:45 PM

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