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KimT

Extremely helpful member
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Nov 18, 2014
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PALS
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08/2015
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US
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South
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The Beach
I've been taking Aciphex for 20 years. About five years ago, none of the insurance companies would pay for it and I started buying it for cash in Canada through their wonderful online pharmacy. The pharmacists there were wonderful and send me e-mail reminders when my prescription was due.

I've tried every other proton pump inhibitor as well as other meds for GERD. Mine is severe and I've aspirated when I tried to cut back on the dose. Some of the others like prilosec have landed me in the hospital. Aciphex is the ONLY PPI I can tolerate and it controls the GERD.

Today I got a call and e-mail from my Canadian pharmacy.

Their web site now says, "With regret we announce that Canada Drugs dot Com will be closing July 13, 2018 as required under the terms of a plea agreement entered into with the US Department of Justice."

This is TRUMP'S AMERICA. I called my Medicare Part D as well as others and none of the plans pay for Aciphex. One said it would cost $8,000!

I just ordered my last 100 pills. Next, I'll call the drug company to see what they have to say.
 
Kim,
Did you ask specifically about the generic form (rabeprazole sodium)? Many plans won't pay for the brand when a generic is available, which is the case here.
 
Big Pharma, working on the tax payer’s behalf (sadly, just kidding). I have been going through a parallel odyssey looking for asthma inhalers (combo steroids/ bronchodilators) covered by my Medicare part D plan. Advair was going to cost in the thousands !?!

Yes, the cost of many drugs is astonishing, and the insurance coverage remains enigmatic.
 
Kim, sadly most of these issues with drugs/nursing/insurance changes started with the ACA. That’s when issues got stupid for DH. Many things that were built into the ACA were due to sunset. So things happening today are because companies are losing the gov’t kickback. Those sunset were put into the ACA from day one, not added later. However, the idea on their part was brilliant as it make it look like the next administration, no matter who that would have been would get blamed for it.
 
Karen, have you looked into AirDuo (or maybe that's what you landed on)? It's not an automatic substitution due to device/dosage differences, but the compounds are the same. Also, GSK offers a discount program, with or without insurance.
 
Laurie,

I've been getting the generic since it went generic. Same price. This struck me as very strange. I even referred to it as Rabeprazole, not Aciphex.
 
Sue,

I don't want to make this a political discussion but when the Affordable Care Act was passed, it was a shadow of the original Bill. Many compromises had to be made to allow it to pass. The sunsets were part of the compromise.

It's time this Country started demanding universal health care. We already have Medicare in place. I know there is no perfect health care system but we can make ours better and more equitable.
 
Karen,

My sister-in-law had the same issue with her asthma med. I don't know what she takes now.
 
Laurie, I ended up with Breo. It’s playing the run-around game with the insurance and the pharmacy which is so annoying.

Kim, you may have to see if your doc can write a letter to your insurance to appeal for an exemption to cover of Aciphex (or generic equivalent). I wrote many such letters when I was in practice. Some went through, others were still denied. It’s part of the reason why I burned out and retired at the tender age of 55 (just in time to get diagnosed with ALS 1 1/2 years later — ah, but I digress :)).
 
Did you search with goodrx Kim? I just did and got low prices. I used it successfully once for riluzole and got the quoted price with their coupon. I also asked about it at another pharmacy and they said yes the prices/ coupons connected to them were real.
 
Karen,

My appeals were denied twice. Nikki, I've used goodrx but I'll take another look. Fortunately, I've hoarded some as I do with all my meds so I'm not in the panic mode yet.
 
Just printed out the coupon and will try it. When I tried it with Remeron they said they couldn't honor it because I had insurance. Now I see that the coupons are different and they specify each pharmacy. Thanks for the reminder. I'll take it to Walgreens early tomorrow and see if it flies.
 
Karen,

Advair was $399 at goodrx.
 
Try not to bring up insurance. Or say something like I don’t have insurance for this which is not a lie. Medicare recipients are not supposed to get discounts I think. Go somewhere that doesn’t have your current insurance in the computer
 
Unfortunately, the State of Florida is linked by date of birth so they will all have a record of me. I'm going to try anyway. There are some very small pharmacies that might work with me.
 
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