Note: Please click through and read this post to the end. I REALLY was flabbergasted and befuddled. :)
There I was this morning at the pharmacy with my mouth gaping open. The pharmacist had said, “You just need to sign here. There is no copay.”
What?! I didn’t owe anything? That can’t be right.
I knew that I needed to fulfill my insurance’s $100 deductible for prescription medications for this calendar year. I even had my credit card in hand ready to swipe through the card reader. Ready to pay the big bucks to bring home my precious one-month supply of Nuvigil (which I take to combat MS-related fatigue on occasion).
“Why is that? I know that I owe something,” I said.
My pharmacist pulled out a brochure which included a plastic “Nuvigil Prescription Savings Card” from the pharmaceutical company. It clearly advertises “co-pay as low as $5 on your prescription refills.” A footnote at the bottom of the front page states that this “offer [is] limited to insured patients only.” Limitations apply.
Read this post in its entirety:
Financial Incentives to Choose One Medication Over Another: The Nuvigil Copay Program
Very interesting. I've been taking Provigil for about a year and a half, and it helps a lot with the unbearable fatigue. Then in January my insurance company switched our pharmacy benefit manager to CVS/Caremark, and they abruptly took away my pre-approval for Provigil, and denied two appeals from my doctor. They said they'd cover it if I needed to stay awake to work a night shift, but being disabled with M.S.-related fatigue is not, according to them, a valid reason for being prescribed Provigil.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't known about the shenanigans with Nuvigil, although I had heard that they had been jacking up the price on Provigil to squeeze every last dollar out of people before the patent runs out. Currently, it will cost me around $1,000 for a month's prescription if I can no longer get coverage. Also, I've had so many problems with some of my meds when they've been switched to generics, that I'm not all that certain even that will help come April.
I've heard mixed opinions from patients with M.S. who've switched to Nuvigil from Provigil. Some have suggested that they had more side effects and less help with their fatigue. I'm curious to know more about your experience. Did you switch from Provigil? Thanks for yet another informative post. And I'm glad you were able to benefit, if even only for a month, from their sales strategy!