your pharmacist says "that's not so nice" when finding out the price of (abilify) it and ringing it up for you.

OK, we have to laugh at that a little, right? It's not funny but it is.

Anyone else have any horror stories?

I also had a pdoc appt today and she increased my abilify to 20mg. I already feel better? Is that weird? I feel calmer. Not so much anxiety or restlessness. I didn't think it would work this fast but it has. I hope it continues to do so.

Hoping you all are doing well,

~llama

Hi, Llama,

Glad to hear you're feeling better, and I hope it does last.

Don't you have insurance that picks up your meds? I can't imagine having to pay for psych meds, yikes.

Keep well,
Seaturtle

when you are slugged by the private bill.
Here in Australia we are lucky enough to have Medicare where the most you are charged is around $30. OK if you're on one medication, adds up if you have more. Some drugs are available in the USA are not available here yet. Lamictal is available, but at about $130 per perscription it is used only as a last resort. Some of the newer drugs are just too expensive or just not available in OZ. We lag about year or 2 from the USA in getting new medications.
Abilify here is $220 for 30 tablets!!! No wonder, I would have passed out at the pharmacy counter too!!

I'm on abilify, Lamictal, Lexapro, and seroquel, and boy are they expensive! Luckily my dad has a good job (he's a doctor) and insurance so we can afford them, I can't imagine having to pay for them from your own pocket!

I went with my mom to pick up my meds at the store and when the lady handed us our meds, I said "thanks mum." The lady at the counter looked at me with wonderment, she said she had never seen a kid thank her mom for meds before. I was like with how much these cost I better be thanking her!

I do have a question, though. I am 17 and as long as I am in school and under some age (I'm not sure what age, somewhere in your twenties) my parent's insurance pays for it. What happens when I pass that age? How will I get insurance? Won't the companies turn me down becuase they know how much of a proft loser I am? Just wondering.

--steamroll:cool:

steamroll - Once you leave your parents insurance, go right to another policy... don't ever let insurance lapse... There is a law in place that as long as you never let insurance lapse and you go from say your parents to an employers or a private insurance, they cannot hold it against you... there would be no pre-existing conditions.... Remember, no matter what, never let there be a lapse in your insurance.

Good Luck and you are a Wonderful Kid for thanking your mum. Jenn

I'm finding this really interesting. I've never heard of employers insurance, obviously it is not here in Australia. We have private insurance which means you still end up rather out of pocket. Expensive drugs get paid up to a point. I only get around $500 per year to claim on pharmacy. After that it is out of our own pocket if it is not under the pharmacy scheme. Most new Bipolar drugs aren't on our scheme because they are borrowed from epilepsy drugs or schizophrenia drugs and are not approved for bipolar. Sounds like US insurance has better coverage??

I don't know about better rider. It is expensive for the insurance and I still pay over $200 a month for a 30 day supply of abilify. I guess it depends on the person and the coverage though. I am lucky that my parents can still help me out.

And steam, yes do not let your coverage lapse. That is what my mom taught me too. I think as long as you are in college and stay full-time then you are covered until you are 25 (at least it was this way with my policy). I would still be covered but 2 years ago I could no longer be a full-time student because of this illness, so I had to drop out and then come back as part-time later (now). So now my mom pays for my coverage which is just a normal private coverage and it is not so cheap. Once I get a job and employer insurance I think it will be cheaper for me. I hope so. I hope I can still afford my meds when I get a job. I have so much loan debt though so it will be tough no doub.t

You're probably right Llama, we are probably no better. Insurance is bad here too. I think the doctors here try to prescribe on PBS system which helps a bit, many I think are reluctant to prescribe outside the system unless you have private insurance. You end up getting slugged any which way you go.

Steam--it's up to you and your parents to decide when it's time to move from their insurance to your own. I'm 20, and I'm still on my parent's plan. But, as others have stressed, do not let your coverage lapse.

My story is less about the cost of meds (way too much even on decent insurance), and more about the difficulty in obtaining a prescription.

I'm at school 4 hours away from my hometown, hence 4 hours away from my pdoc and tdoc. The three of us have a system worked out; at my last check up before leaving for school, my tdoc said that I no longer needed to make regular apportionments because 1. I was doing much better and 2. I would be living 4 hours away. My pdoc agreed to this and promised that she would do her best to call in my scripts whenever I needed a refill.

This agreement contradicts the normal office policy. The office also has a lot of turnover in the reception. Each time I call to have my scripts refilled, the new receptionists take it upon themselves to explain the normal policy; often they refuse to notify my pdoc. In these situations, I'm SOL for refills (not a good thing!)

I tried finding a new pdoc here at school. We have a great system (in theory) at our student health center--we get 10 free counseling sessions per quarter. Unfortunately, the docs are overbooked (we are a campus of about 17,000 undergrads). I tried getting a pdoc outside the school, but the only office for the tri-county area turned me down because i was not born in here. never mind that i spend 75% of the year in this area...

So for me, the price of meds is my last concern. For me, all the time and effort I put into getting the care I need is the bigger waste.

I have to pay 50$ for 126 pills of 25 mg Lamictal. Don't have any insurance other than what the government pays to keep the price down.