Infuriatig
I have 2 bottles (over 20k worth) of unopened bottles of medication that I’m not allowed to donate and can’t use.
I have a medication I take daily, while taking it I’ve had to increase the daily dose. At one point I just switched to 36mg and was given a 90 day supply by the specialty pharmacy. During the first month the doctor increased the dose again leaving me with 2 unopened bottles. There are several charities that accept unopened bottles of medication and get it to people that really need it. Considering that the cheapest you can find one bottle for is 12k on good Rx, I’m sure these would help someone significantly. When I tried to donate I was told it is illegal to donate medications that were paid for by Medicare (I’m disabled). So instead of helping to improve someone’s life, my only option is to trash tens of thousands of dollars.
Austedo (deutetrabenazine) and Austedo XR are prescription oral medications used to treat adults with tardive dyskinesia and chorea (involuntary movements) associated with Huntington's disease.
My late mother in law had Tardive dyskinesia. Shit is torture. It took a healthy normal adult woman and over time wore her muscles and mental down an insane amount. She couldn't hardly walk, her speech was incredibly hard to understand, and eventually died of her muscles and organs slowly shutting down. Hospital couldn't do anything
Fun fact. There's only one cause of tardive dyskinesia: other medications.
So you take some medication for years, eventually develop TD as a side effect, and them get prescribed a medication like this to resolve the side effect.
My husband developed TD after taking Rexulti. (crosses & uncrosses legs every waking hour of the day, pushes tongue out of mouth) His current dose of Austedo subdues the symptoms but doesn't completely stop them. I don't know how his hips have not disintegrated from the constant movement.
I have RLS and certain meds, like benadryl and famotidine, make it worse. The idea of developing an uncontrollable movement disorder like TD is a really scary thought.
It’s terrifying. I take one of these medications because it’s the only one that works and every day I wonder if this will be my future because my body hates modern medications and they don’t work. It’s a horrible catch-22.
I’m pretty sure they’re saying they want to donate but aren’t legally allowed as there are strict regulations for the state provided insurance they’re on (it’s considered a type of fraud and would likely have repercussions not only for them but also their doctor and potentially the charity)
I am on a much higher dose now so I wouldn’t use them at any point. I haven’t been able to bring myself to throw them away yet, but there isn’t anything else I can do with them. The pharmacy will not take them back either.
Are you ever going to be on a dose high enough that would equate to two of the lower mg pills? If so, you can potentially save money by taking 2 pills a day instead of one.
Is it possible to take multiple pills of the lower dose to add up to your current dosage? My doctors have told me to do this when raising my dosage. It also helps give a little buffer when insurance delays prior authorizations or issues with the pharmacy, etc.
Pharmacist in Ohio here. Our organization runs a drug repository. It is not illegal to donate medication paid for by Medicare. We accept any unexpired medication and have re-dispensed thousands of dollars worth to those in need. Please look into drug repositories in your state.
This needs to be the top comment here. The need, though understandable, to go "but American healthcare system" is burying the actual good info.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm like 99.9% sure the OP just got bad advice. It's illegal to *sell* such donated medications, not to donate them in the first place.
Absolutely if you have such a surplus of valuable meds, you can and should donate them somewhere. OP should really look into it further, they most certainly don't have to just sit on them until they expire.
Thank you, I will. I contacted the pharmacy it came from and they would not take it back. Could it be a different rule state to state? I looked into international charities and they wouldn’t take them but they are based in the us.
Google “unused drug repository/donation programs in (state).” You should be able to find info on the Board of Pharmacy website for whatever state you reside in.
The first time I did a dose increase, it cost me three thousand dollars I cried. I was able to get it down to free with my work insurance and the manufacturer coupon but now my job choices are forever tied to what their speciality drug costs are 🙃
My daughter buys her cat’s medication from New Zealand. It’s cheaper to get it there and pay for shipping all the way to Philadelphia than it is to buy it from the veterinary hospital down the street. It’s insanity.
You just get them used to you picking them up, touching their feet, brushing their teeth, etc from as early as possible so it’s just normal for them and not something you have to convince an adult cat to do.
My friend made a nebuliser box for their cat. It's a big plastic container with air holes. He has a slot for the inhaler. Cat goes in the box. Lid closes. He squirts the inhaler into the box and cat gets the medication he needs. He tried a regular cat inhaler mask but the cat hated it. He's happier in his special box. My friend is a senior ER nurse.
Cat inhalers have a bowl shaped end that fits over the cat's nose so they inhale that way instead of through their mouths. Infant inhalers are very similar.
I have a bunch of insulin from during my pregnancy due to gestational diabetes. I don’t have use for it right now. Can’t donate it legally, wish I could donate it to a homeless shelter or women’s shelter.
You’re amazing. We recently got a bottle an insulin and some needles from our vet when someone donated them. I’m already struggling to pay his insane medical bills so even that little bit was such a relief. Thank you and people like you.
Have you tried using the App GoodRx and seeing if they offer a coupon for the insulin? I was able to get my cats down to 35 or 40$ using a coupon on GoodRx.
I don’t know where you are located but see about having the prescription filled at Walmart if you can. SO much cheaper than getting it at the vet. I know it only helps so much with the actual vet bills themselves but every little bit helps. I currently only have fish after my dogs passed but for my next one I’m definitely getting pet health insurance.
YES! I have to get my cat insulin every month and while I’m able to barely afford it i guarantee others are having a hard time and animals are suffering. Insulin can be expensive but I use GoodRx and get it for like 40$ a vial
Novulin N for my cat. About $25 at Walmart. The vet said to just ask for it. Don't say it's for a cat. They require a prescription if it's for an animal but will just sell it to you if you don't say.
After you connect with them and tell them exactly what you have and how much you have, they give you the name and address of someone who needs it. They'll pay for shipping if you can't afford to, but I always paid.
If anyone sees this and has them… I’d be willing to pay shipping for Tresiba and Novolog. Also will gladly take any dexcom G6 or G7 sensors off your hands. Willing to provide proof of diabetes as well lol.
A few months ago, after I went through the drive through at my pharmacy, I noticed a sign near the parking lot exit that said “we buy diabetes supplies” with a phone number. After that I started noticing the same sign placed in other areas around town. It’s so dystopian that a black market has formed around a medical necessity.
Why is it that every time I hear a medication is worth so much money it's always an American taking it. At this point I'm pretty sure you guys are getting scammed big time for your meds
We are. I needed an Rx that my doctor told me my insurance might deny coverage on. It’s a 14 day regimen 3x a day and is around $6k for insurance to cover. He said if they deny covering it, I can request they run it again without insurance and use this coupon he provided that will make it free out of pocket.
When I was pregnant, I had a blood test done to rule out chromosomal abnormalities. Because I wasnt geriatrics or high risk, insurance denied covering it. $2,500 out of pocket. The baby reddits said call the company and have them run it without insurance, and the price drops to $200.
It’s all bullshit. Gaming the system is built into the process.
Thats why as pharm tech for a chain retail pharmacy I ALWAYS advocate for the patients. Like some peoples generic adderall can come out to be $100+ on insurance and I always offer to put it on our coupon ands it’s usually only like $20-30
Good on you! I take Lamotrigine and the generic at my local Albertson's-affiliated grocery store is $330 for their generic in a 3-month supply (with Good RX). There's a Walgreens right accross the street who has their own generic version. It has a different shape, but 3 months worth of pills costs me $42 out the door. For people who didn't realize there could be more than one option, an advocate in their corner could be a lifesaver. Cuz I know that if I hadn't dug a bit deeper and was in a different, earlier phase of my life (the broke phase), I would just go without the pills at that price. Which means there's an unmedicated Bipolar 1 with comorbities just wandering around like a time-bomb. This country is insane (US, obv).
There’s a grocery store with a pharmacy next to my drugstore pharmacy and when we are on back order or I KNOW it’ll be cheaper there I always recommend. Most people will continue to fill with us and JUST get that prescription else where so it’s not like I’m getting us less business. I’m from the US and I can even give insurance recommendations for those who can’t afford good insurance because I’ve been there before and it SUCKS
I take 25mg XR once a day ($10 a month) and 15mg IR twice a day (also $10 a month). At one point there was some insurance thing where they were going to make me wait 2 days for my instant release which would put them on a different monthly schedule.
I ended up paying out of pocket to avoid having 2 different pick up dates.
Its already annoying having ADHD and remembering to call ahead for a new script each month (which usually doesn’t line up with my dr visits).
On top of that, taking advantage of the 2 day early refill I’m often made to feel like a junkie and getting looks from the pharmacy. Meanwhile I was told to do this because of how frequently it’s out of stock and needs ordered.
So when I get the judgemental “you should still have some left, you filled them on ___”… I do have some left, only because I refill early, and now they’re out of stock so it’s good I do
My old doctor’s nurse was such a pain in the ass about the timing of my refills. Judgmental, condescending, treated me like a liar and a drug seeker every single month. I’ve been on the same prescription for over 15 years! But I’m a problem for wanting my meds two days early, because next month, I might have to wait three days to get them filled due to stocking problems.
Even more unfortunately its not even half of the population that keeps us from shit like that. It's 30% of dumbasses and then 40% of Americans that dont vote and are in turn dumbasses.
Fwiw I'm German and there are some medications that cost that much (and more!) Here. Your insurance pays of course but I get sweaty when I have to place an order for 70.000 Euro worth of meds and it's only two small packages
I just had my mom move in with me, she and her sisters all take piles of medications and some are like this, thousands of dollars a month. I'm 99% sure these prices exist and these companies entire business model is to just take hundreds of millions of dollars from Medicaid every month.
If you're in a country with universal healthcare, joke's on you! You may not have to choose between medication and food, you may not lose your job and therefore all your healthcare, you may not go into bankruptcy because of a cancer diagnosis but you pay (slightly) higher taxes
Really have egg on my face, never once having to pay out of pocket for any medical emergency or clinical treatment. Im so embarrassed right now Im going to crawl into a hole.
I'm sorry you got so screwed. I pay $350* a month for health insurance for me and my kid. My specialist appointments are only $80 and I have an appointment for a nerve block for my migraines that will only be $600. I can't imagine how much you pay in taxes, loser.
*I'm fortunate to have comparatively good and cheap insurance. My husband pays about the same or a little more for just himself.
Hahaha...all you guys are getting scammed. We pay over 1000/mo from our paychecks for our health insurance and still can't afford to use it unless we're literally at deaths door. We almost saved up enough to eat next week!
Do you know what's really freaky? Look up tax per capita spending on healthcare in USA and Canada. Americans are taxed more for health care. The higher tax thing is a myth, but as long as people think they are paying less in the USA, they won't fight back.
Honestly, I don't even think it's about how much taxes are. If we paid $5 a year people would get their nuts in a vise because some of that money may go to undesirables. Or worse: immigrants. There's so much hate here.
Meanwhile, I have a relative who screams all day in the Internet about government handouts while his entire household is supported by government programs. But they deserve them because...well I'm sure he would say they worked for them and earned them or they really need them, but we all know it's a melatin issue.
Funny thing is immigrants don’t tend to qualify for any benefits programs because they have either no identification or SSN to speak of! So they’re deathly afraid of people who more often than not, CAN’T get use out of it lmao
In another thread, OP said this medication is taken because of side effects of a different mediaction. Imagine spending thousands and thousands of dollars solving a problem that's caused by a different medication you're also paying thousands of dollars for. It's ridiculous!
This is the answer. If you have a change in doctor or the insurence changes coverage you could be in a pickle so having these as emergency back up is a smart idea.
Or when January hits and the deductible resets and the price gets to heart attack levels that extra medication might be a lifesaver
Also this is why I freaking hate 90 day supplies for new meds. I love the insurance companies that require 2 fills of a 30 day supply before paying for a 3 month. People change doses, might react badly and need a med change, or maybe discontinue entirely. It’s part of why our insurance is so expensive, there’s tons of waste
I worked in a pharmacy for awhile and we had one medication come in for someone that cost just over $30,000 for a one month supply. It was crazy! I vaguely remember them having to personally pay several thousand dollars because their insurance covered the rest but still! An average person with no insurance would never be able to afford it. It’s insane how terrible the drug prices in the US are.
my coworker takes a medication that she has to put into an IV that goes directly into her heart every 48 hours or her heart will stop. it costs $100k a month (1.2 million per year) and insurance likes to just randomly deny her. there have been several times where she has thought she couldn’t get coverage and she was preparing to die. it’s so fucked up
That's the phone number for the patient assistance program from merck ( the manufacturer of keytruda)
If you have like commercial insurance they can help you cover the copay if you're uninsured or you have like Medicare part d, you can apply for a patient assistance program where they get the medication directly to you from the manufacturer and it's free.
Thank you so much. There are so many people who don’t know about these programs. I was about 75% successful getting my
MOoP paid by Merck. When it works, it’s a lifesaver. Thankfully, I am done with Keytruda for now (unless/until I have a recurrence, and with stage IV I won’t pretend that it’s not probable).
insulin for life will take insulin and other diabetes prescriptions and find them a good home...just went through this a few months ago when an uncle died
I shipped them probably 30+ vials of lantus and 20+ boxes of novolog pens plus all sorts of misc items
Absolutely, it’s a strange sort of helpless feeling. I tried SO hard to find someone to give that to. It’s still in the back of our fridge, with the hopes that I come across someone that needs it.
I can’t help but think about the people who don’t have insurance and literally can’t afford it. But also, the dangers of them getting the doses wrong and opening yourself up to lawsuits. It’s just mind boggling that as a planet, we don’t have a way to recycle or donate to those who need it. And I’m sure the drug companies want to keep it that way, because it would cut into their bottom line.
I thought it was bad when I had a pulmonary embolism and my insurance crapped out 2 months into taking $1000 eliquis. Luckily I knew someone with an extra bottle. Medications should NOT be this expensive. Maybe maybe maybe go into a Facebook group for your condition and see if anyone’s local?
Omg I'm just about to finish my third month of that. My vascular surgeon says I have to take it for at least a year. I was already worried insurance would reject it in the new year. I better start calling now to make sure. Thanks for the heads up.
Hope you are doing well in your recovery.
The only place in the entire world where medication is this expensive is the US. The blame lies with your health insurance companies and the government who allows them to behave in the disgusting way they do. The pharmaceutical companies charge absolutely outrageous prices because the insurers will (sometimes) pay it. In Australia, almost every medication costs the patient around $25.
Are you based in America? My brain literally cannot process the thought of ever paying anything close to 20k for medication. That's beyond outrageous. Here in UK, we pay around £10 for our monthly prescription cost (or around £18 a month if we have multiple prescriptions and use a pre-payment plan) regardless of what sort of medication it is. It's a fixed cost.
Not as expensive on my end but I tried to continue some of my more important medications after losing insurance and with discounts/coupons it was still over $10k USD a month lol..
It's crazy how much people underestimate the insanity of the US medical system. This is considered "normal"...
My mother's 10day hospital stay a couple months ago was $141,000 if it wasn't covered by insurance, for example. Almost put her back in the ER seeing that shit pop up
Right?! It's absolutely insane. My son had a stroke at 17 and spent 4.5 months at Children's Hospital. The bill without insurance would have been just over $6 million.
Holy shit 😭😭. Man, fuck the US. "Greatest country in the world" and the average person gets left out to die for getting sick. Quite literally living in a developing country
I’m a doc and you have no idea how right you are. I used to think health care in the US was fucked, and then I went to med school and found out that health care in the US is BEYOND fucked.
I spend every day as a pediatrician in a half-blind rage because do you know how infuriating it is when an insurance company is saying there is a three day prior authorization period before they will pay for fucking ALBUTEROL for a CHILD? A CHILD who currently cannot fucking BREATHE. I spend way too much timing thinking of ideas for how to punish the people who made these policies, and I really miss living without constant hate in my heart.
As someone who has had chronic, debilitating asthma and has been in ambulances for it since the age of 5 (in upstate NY), I can’t agree more. Or how I was using Ipatropium-Bromide and Albuterol solution combo until the age of ~16, when they told me “oh, that’s for babies. That’s not controlling you at all. Who prescribed this?” And I’m like… “You, when I was 5. Thanks.” And it took years to get upgraded to AirSupra (which now I don’t have Medicaid anymore so I might not be able to get. Yay!)
We used to have lifetime caps on how much insurance would cover over your life. People would hit this cap before their 18th birthday and not be able to get insurance. I got told that I would never be able to see a doctor due to the lifetime cap and I need to seek alternative options. Those alternatives include leaving the country.
Yes! I feel like there was much Obama hate for the ACA, but it got rid of this limit for everyone. And kicked out the “sorry, you have a preexisting condition” stuff too. That man saved so many lives.
A few months ago when the insurance company started using AI I kept getting denials saying a medication wasn't covered unless the patient had tried and failed that medication.
For example I had several denials that said albuterol is not covered unless the patient has tried and failed Albuterol.
I was an EMT. A core memory for me (when I was new) was the day we pulled up to a car accident. A woman stumbled out of her car. Looked like she had two extra elbows with how broken her arm was.
She refused to even let us touch her, staggered over to the curb, sat/fell down, and with her good arm, fumbled with her phone asking her husband to come pick her up and take her to the hospital.
We were RIGHT THERE and she refused help because of the bill.
Yeah, I don't think the bills you see have any basis with the actual cost of care or what they're actually getting paid. I had a hospital bill for $39,000 but the negotiated insurance rates by the insurance company brought it down to $10,000. My kid has a medication for his seizures and the receipt listed the price as $600. Insurance paid $30 and I had a $10 copay.
I suspect the prices are inflated knowing that almost nobody is going to pay that bill, but it gives them the opportunity to claim is as charity care and overstate their value to the community or write it off for tax deductions if it's one of the doctor-owned practices.
Hospitals charge that much because insurance companies do their best to never pay a dime. The hospital will charge a crazy amount knowing that they are going to negotiate with the insurance company and get much less so they have to start high. That's why if you tell a medical provider that you are uninsured the price is lower, though you would still pay less out of pocket with insurance.
My Mom got a walker and the bill said Medicare was charged $800 and she got so angry and refused it. I went to Walgreens and got one for $70. I had to return the walker to the medical supply business, she said they charge $800 because they need to get $35.
They'll definitely cut some of the charges bc a bunch of them are automated anyways. Doesn't change the fact that the magnitude of the pricing is batshit crazy
For sure. My uncle with an auto immune disease takes an injection made from plasma. They pay folks “up to $600/month!” To donate plasma. Which is then developed into a medicine that my uncle needs to live, essentially. That injection costs something like $90,000 PER DOSE. Someone is winning here, and someone is getting *#!%’d.
They try to consume private insurance first. Since the medication would consume the lion’s share of that and effectively leave us without any coverage, the pharma company provides it free of charge under their compassionate care program.
So my mother is dead and it would be well past the statute of limitations anyway, but she was a doctor and she would "dispose" of people's unused meds into other people's possession.
Any chance your doctor for this condition is chill?
I see two different specialists for the condition and I didn’t even think to ask one of them, because she doesn’t give the medication. I will definitely try the other doctor, thank you!
The good ones are amazing and in terms of caring she was one of the best. She took half a day off a week to see uninsured people in our home. She just wanted people to get the care they needed and if she got paid in homemade bread that was fine.
I'm in Michigan with tens of thousands of dollars of unneeded, unexpired, sealed fertility drugs. Researched options and it seems michigan only has charities for cancer drugs. Glad cancer drugs can be donated, but the super-specific requirements aren'f helpful. F
rustrating!
Can you give them back to the clinic or your doctor? My late husband's GI doc would accept unused and unopened biologic meds to give to other patients as starting doses before their prior authorizations kicked in.
Have you talked to your doctors office? I work in an oncology office and have a "drug repository" that patients donate unopened meds; we save them for people who are in between insurances or people who need to start treatment ASAP and can't wait for the specialty pharmacy delivery.
Doctors are allowed to give medication. When I had an expensive, specialized medication, I gave it to the doctor who was treating me and she was able to give it to another patient.
I mean, the policies make sense in the aggregate, returned medications are never supposed to be redispensed, the law is pretty clear on that here in the US.
My recommendation would be to try and find someone directly to donate them to. A company won't accept the liability, but plenty of people would accept the risk, especially if they are sealed containers.
Maybe a subreddit for Huntington's? Or just search Google for support sites or something. But, regardless, I guarantee someone would appreciate it.
I struggled with asthma and COPD for years, and only got it under control in the past decade...and only recently dug myself out of the resulting crippling medical debt. I keep my prescriptions active and refill them every month, but rarely need them. I find people who have similar prescriptions but bad/no insurance and I give them away. I'd rather be arrested for saving peoples' lives than waste an opportunity to help people in need.
Just the drugs for my wife’s 9 month cancer treatment a couple of years ago were $450k. She was in a trial and we have insurance so she only paid $1500 but that’s the retail cost of the drugs. 18 total infusions.
I have a neuromuscular disease and get infusions of Vyvgart. Once a week for four weeks, then off four weeks, then repeat. It is nearly $18,000 per dose. $72,000 per month.
It’s insane. I had to apply for a medical grant in order to get it. If the grant runs out, I won’t be able to get it anymore, and it has been a positive life changer for me. It’s helped when other things haven’t. There is no way in hell it should cost that much. My husband works for a pharmaceutical company and tried to explain to me what all goes on with testing and all that, how it all has to be paid for. Yeah, thanks, I know all that. Still bullshit. Someone is sitting by their fancy pool and playing golf and taking extravagant vacations, I expect. While we little folks out here, the average person; struggles to stay alive. It’s disgusting and wrong on so many levels.
Whew, sorry, putting my soapbox away. Someone could use these meds. I had the same thing happen with a previous cat’s insulin. He passed and I had just gotten a new ($200) bottle. They couldn’t refund me even though I hadn’t even used it. I wound up just leaving it there for rescues and other people who couldn’t afford it. Good Samaritan stash, basically. I felt better that I could help someone but financially it stung.
Maybe a dumb question but how would they know it was paid for by Medicare?
Ask your husband how much these drug companies spend to put commercials on TV. It’s absolutely ridiculous that they advertise drugs to the general public. If we could march down to the pharmacy and buy them ourselves I could see the point of it.
But paying all that money just to encourage us to ask our doctor for a medication that he would prescribe if it was appropriate seems really wasteful.
Maybe they should stop doing that and they wouldn’t have to charge so much for these meds and more people would be able to use them.
My random advice: Supply chains can suddenly become fragile. If this is a med you’ll be on for a while, keep it as backup in case you can no longer source your current dose. Better to have a lower dose on hand than nothing. This happened to me with another medication.
Physician here - Ask at your doctors' offices if they can take it, to give to a patient that needs it. Office policies can vary, but in my office we would occasionally get donations of medications or equipment that patients no longer needed.
I work in Oncology at a major American medical institution. Our pharmacy takes back unopened meds for patients that can’t afford them (like if we think they’ll qualify for patient assistance but it hasn’t kicked in yet)
Hey, I used to take the exact same medication and still technically have a script for it, but I don’t have to take it anymore! I took AustedoXR off label because of a movement problem that I have (not TD, or Huntington’s). With how Austedo works you really can’t have someone go up a dose without building up first, so if someone started on 6mg and they suddenly started taking 36mg, a lot of problems could occur. With that being said, Teva does have a program for individuals who are uninsured or who’s insurance does not cover it (I was a part of that program), and for those individuals the company gives it away for free. If you can’t find an individual to give it to, you could try seeing if a neurological research lab might want it if it is unopened. It isn’t in the format researchers would normally use, but I believe it’s possible to extract it out for non-human testing. You can DM and I would be happy to help more.
You can see if there is a subredit for the condition you use this for and see if anyone there can help you figure out something to do with them.
I used to work in pharmacy and a lot of the time they have a drug take back program so you could put them there, tho that doesn't change the waste. I can say for aure that since it left the pharmacy they can't take them back due to tamper concerns, but the take back programs don't care
When my dad passed, he had 3 unopened inhalers advair for COPD that we couldn't donate because they expired in less then a year.
We gave them to a friend of a friend in need who struggled with rx costs.
It didn't solve long term problems, but at least helped for a few months because the US has wonderful healthcare /s
I looked this up and it's for tardive dyskinesia or Huntington's disease. I'd go on subreddits for those and offer to donate it. Hopefully mods don't remove it, but maybe it'll stay up long enough for someone to see it. Maybe if if word it in code enough, people with know what you mean without mods felling like they have to get involved.
You could also try Craigslist.
Or, you could hang on to it in case something happens with your insurance and your suddenly can't get meds.
Craigslist is asking for a felony, the fact they have it and can’t use it probably indicates a change in medicine. I agree that there has to be someone in America that this would be an absolute windfall for but I have no idea how to get it to them without risking taking your next dose from a jail cell.
Same here. I have Tremfya and rinvoq. Tremfya failed, it's around (avg) $15,000. I had it before I got the rinvoq. I found out I have SVT, and some calcium in my heart. Rinvoq has a black box warning for heart patients. So I've got 90 of them, they're worth (avg) $21,000. I have about $36k worth of meds I can't use, can't donate. It's illegal for me to do it. I mean I get it but I don't understand why the doctor's office can't take them if they're unopened. There's got to be under- or uninsured patients they could use them. (I paid $0 for these btw. But these meds are notoriously difficult when it comes to getting a prior auth. The time you wait for that to happen can be months. Most rheumatologists do have samples but sometimes they don't.)
Hold on to it, they may change the dose or you may need it some other time. My dr tells me this all the time even when I totally switch medications. Hold on to it for awhile.
Hoard it in good storage conditions. You never know if your other script gets lost, damaged, stolen what have you. Do not trash it, you may need it down the road or meet someone who also uses it
I’m trying to edit the post but can’t figure out how to? I want to clarify…. Medicare covered this drug and my copay was no where near the cost of this medication. I was stating the cost that others would have to pay if there insurance will not cover it (most will not) that I could save them if I could donate it. Sorry I wasn’t clearer in the post, I didn’t realize it could be interpreted in that way until I read some comments.
When my father was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic NSCLC he would’ve had a few months but due to a discovered mutation in the cancer a medication was available that could give him much more time, only it was 26k a month for the 30 pills. His oncologist assured us that no matter what he’d get us the medication even if we couldn’t afford it, even if that meant “finding some in his desk”. Thankfully I was able to get him on disability and Medicare quickly enough that was not needed. It gave him 5 more years. He got to meet and watch his first grandson for 3 of those years. I was very deligent about ordering refills and getting every fill that was covered. A few weeks after my father passed I took all the left over medication, bought a few treats I knew the doctor liked, went to the hospital and handed him the gift box. He promised it would go to good use. TLDR see if your prescribing doctor is willing to take it next appointment.
A few years ago I had a brand new bottle of Eliquis at $500 so I got on Facebook and asked if any of my friends were on it and only 1 friend responded. Needless to say they found their way to her house.
Indian here,I know it isn't right or correct to compare different currencies but 20K is around 19 lakhs in rupees. That amount is something that most people in india don't earn and it is literally equivalent to weddings,cars ,houses and legit enough to fund a entire person education and life for several years.
How is this normalised for medications,are u from america (medicare),is this like a drop in the bucket for what u guys are earning ,how much did u pay for these medications.
It is a lot of money in the US too. It is the amount a very poor person makes in a year, or a well off but not wealthy person earns in a month. It is also the price of a small wedding or inexpensive car, and is an unfathomable amount for most Americans to pay for meds.
As someone else explains below, it's just the "list" price and not at all what most users pay. The OP got it for free.
No 20k is NOT a drop in the bucket for the average American, but it is for the corporation that makes the drug. 20k is enough to buy a new car, plan a wedding or vacation, or pay for (part) of a college education, but it’s also about 50% of the average person’s yearly income, and isn’t something people have lying around. That’s why insurance is so important here, people who take expensive life saving drugs can and do just die if they suddenly lose insurance coverage, because they can’t pay for their medication. It’s unethical beyond belief.
i have friends who have to fight tooth and nail to get that med covered. its crazy.
i have around $60k of immuno therapy im not allowed to donate either. Ill eventually use it but its stupid.
Don't know what state you are located in but in Minnesota they have Roundtable Rx. They can take those medications and redistribute them to those in need
Depending on what state you’re in, you are allowed to donate unopened bottles (typically to an outpatient hospital pharmacy). This is called a repository program and helps individuals without drug coverage.
I give mine to my doctor. They then give it to those whose insurance won't cover it. Or they give it to people waiting for insurance so they can start immediately. I'm on autoimmune meds and those are stupid expensive
I am type 1 diabetic and give away insulin that’s about to expire. The way I do it is have the person I’m giving it to bring me either a current vial they are currently using(even better if they have the carton that has their name on it) to show that they are actually using it. Or if they are on a pump they can just show me their pump. And I’ll give them the small unopened box of insulin to them once they prove to me. I usually reach out to my local buy nothing group for this. Some people obviously aren’t used to doing this but I personally don’t think medication should cost an arm and a leg, if I’m throwing it away anyways I might as well give it to someone who has use for it.
This would be really helpful in Lebanon where there’s a deficit of vmat 2 inhibitors that you have for people with rabbit syndrome from antipsychotic use long term
This happened to us after my dad passed. He took chemo daily, and had multiple bottles when he passed (stopped taking it at end of life + the VA shipped it to him 90 days at a time), close to 100k in chemo pills. We brought them back to his oncologist and asked that he use the sealed bottles as “samples” while his patients got their authorizations.
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u/Hot-Percentage-2240 17h ago
You don't need to donate legally...