The great scam: CoPay Cards
It never fails. Someone needs to be started on a drug like Eliquis. The insurance company wants a prior authorization. It denies the drug. The company wants you to start Xarelto, instead.
Okay, sure. Whatever… It should work just fine.
Except… the copay is $500 for 90 days. You can try and explain to the patient that the GoodRx price is a horrifying $1800 for 90 days, so the copay is still a significant discount. Unfortunately, it is still out of reach.
Yet, never fear! Those compassionate drug companies want to help! If you meet certain criteria, your copay will be zero with a special six-month copay card! Wow! What a deal!
There is just one problem. What happens after six months? Six months will be here faster than you expect and your patient will still need the drug. The unaffordable copay will resume.
The drug rep will do a lot of “blah blah blah” about programs for those who can’t afford their medicines, but rarely does this cover the person in front of you who has drug coverage.
The patient says sadly, “I guess I can’t afford the medicine.. I’ll just have to get a stroke and die.”
I sigh and say: “Well…There’s always Warfarin,” as I wonder if the patient can keep up with the frequent blood draws and dosing changes.
I am so glad I was able to retire at age 64 to get out of this rat race. Stay the heck out of primary care as it’s a race to be with the Devil.
I love how all the new outlandishly priced drugs are advertised on TV……….and the last comment from the announcer is about how this medicine is available at little or no cost to some class of “special patients”. AND THEN THEY SAY BE SURE AND ASK YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER…….so more papers for us to fill out?????
Generic Pradaxa is down to about $70/month on GoodRx
Holy cow! Thank you! How did I miss that? (Oh, that’s right. No one ever publicizes when a big drug goes generic…). Thank you for that info.