generic drugs

[Guest guest]

If the brand name is GF and the generic is not, have the Dr. write NO Generic Substitutes on the Rx and you'll get the name brand (and possibly a higher co-pay). Kerri

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[Guest guest]

>

> If the brand name is GF and the generic is not, have the Dr. write

NO Generic Substitutes on the Rx and you'll get the name brand (and

possibly a higher co-pay). Kerri

>

>

Hi. The pharmacist was able to find a GF generic for one of the

two medications. Not the other.

It's the higher copay that irks me. It's more than triple the

difference. :-(

If I weren't already stuck taking two med's that don't have generics,

I might be more good natured about it.

Oh well. I should be counting my blessings that

a - I have insurance

b - there are medications to keep me alive

c - I can afford the copays

d - I know to look for hidden glutens in medicines

e - my pharmacist and doctor are diligent.

I was just wondering if any one here had successfully lobbied an

insurer to pay for the name brand medication when there is no

suitable gluten free generic.

The newest medication had that old bugaboo " pregelatinized starch " ,

but this manufacturer was kind of enough to put " (corn) " in the

fine print. :-)

Corn is my friend.

Esther in RI

[Guest guest]

My insurance program does have a "qualifier" that says if there is no generic available you pay the generic price

From: SillyYaks [mailto:SillyYaks ] On Behalf Of esther_p210Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 4:19 PMTo: SillyYaks Subject: Re: generic drugs

>> If the brand name is GF and the generic is not, have the Dr. writeNO Generic Substitutes on the Rx and you'll get the name brand (andpossibly a higher co-pay). Kerri> > Hi. The pharmacist was able to find a GF generic for one of thetwo medications. Not the other. It's the higher copay that irks me. It's more than triple thedifference. :-( If I weren't already stuck taking two med's that don't have generics,I might be more good natured about it.Oh well. I should be counting my blessings that a - I have insuranceb - there are medications to keep me alivec - I can afford the copaysd - I know to look for hidden glutens in medicinese - my pharmacist and doctor are diligent.I was just wondering if any one here had successfully lobbied aninsurer to pay for the name brand medication when there is nosuitable gluten free generic. The newest medication had that old bugaboo "pregelatinized starch",but this manufacturer was kind of enough to put "(corn)" in thefine print. :-)Corn is my friend.Esther in RI

[Guest guest]

Check with the insurance company and let them know that this is a medical

necessity NOT

a preference. Often they will have no issue with allergens........ I have had

two different

responses from insurance companies. With one (Healthpartners), it was actually

no

problem what wo ever to get a medicine that worked better for me, but wasn't on

their

formulary. The other (Aetna) made me pay the higher copay. And my most recent

run in

has actually been with Walgreen's pharmacy. I was in need of a muscle relaxant

and the

doctor spent 40 minutes with me trying to figure out one that was non-narcotic

AND GF.

The only one we could say for sure was GF, was Soma. She even wrote on the

prescription

" Brand only-medical necessity " . I got calls for the next 3 weeks over this one.

Walgreens

called me asking if I would accept generic. Told them I had no problems with

generics, but

we cannot guarantee that they are gluten free--okay, we'll write that down. Then

they

called the doctor's office who in turn called me asking the very same thing.

This went on

for nearly two weeks. Every single call was exactly the same--if the we could

not

guarantee the generic was gluten free. Even telling them about my actual wheat

allergy

didn't work. They just could not understand that it had nothing to do with the

medicine,

but everything to do with what they mixed the medicine with and that I COULD NOT

TAKE

IT!

Hope this helps,

Cheryl in Tampa