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DIY health care reform: Ordering cheap prescription drugs online

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personman Donating Member (959 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-28-09 09:50 PM
Original message
DIY health care reform: Ordering cheap prescription drugs online
* Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I have no formal medical training whatsoever. You use this information at your own risk. My only experience is as a patient.

Like millions of Americans, I take prescription medications. Often, these medications are extremely expensive, with no generics available due to patents owned by major pharmaceutical corporations. Also, like many Americans, (and unlike many others) I actually HAVE health insurance. However, this certainly doesn't make me immune to the high costs of prescription drugs here in the states... Many insurance companies won't cover medications for mental disorders, and even the ones that do, have a cap on prescription coverage costs for a given year.

...

One medication I take, and an excellent example, is Olanzapine, known under the brand name Zyprexa. It is a medication that is proving useful for a number of mental disorders, including Treatment Resistant Depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Bipolar disorder aka Manic Depression (That'd be me.), and more severe conditions like schizophrenia or psychotic disorders. It is also available in combination with Fluoxetine (brand name, Prozac) as Symbyax, specifically for treating both the manic AND depressive symptoms of bipolar disorder.

One of the major problems with this modern wonder of medical science though, is the cost... A one month supply can cost anywhere from $160 to over $1,000, depending on the dosage you require. I take about 5 mg, which costs over $300 a month. For about 5 months, my insurance covered it, but once I reached the $3,000 cap around July or August, I had to pay for ALL my medications out of pocket.

Unable to afford my medication, I decided to shop the internet...

http://anarchismtoday.org/Blogs/display/id=38.html">Read More at http://anarchismtoday.org/">AnarchismToday.org
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timeforpeace Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-28-09 10:03 PM
Response to Original message
1. Sounds like an advert rather than a heads up kind o' post. Reimportation is the best method.
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personman Donating Member (959 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-28-09 10:11 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. I am plugging my site and my pharmacy...
But I wrote from personal experience.

I think even re-importation would be prohibitively expensive, particularly in my case, but most options seem better than the $300 a month payout to big pharma.

I feel especially for schizophrenics who require high doses, how are they supposed to afford $1,000 a month meds? Anyway, I'm just posting a solution I've found. Maybe someone will find it useful.

-Andy
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timeforpeace Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-29-09 11:22 AM
Response to Reply #3
11. You are a pharmacist? What state are you and your pharmacy licensed in?
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personman Donating Member (959 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-29-09 11:28 AM
Response to Reply #11
12. The pharmacy I use, not own. nt
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OffWithTheirHeads Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-28-09 10:09 PM
Response to Original message
2. I know this is not what you are trying to promote
but I did the same thing with cigarettes. When the powers that be started to tax them at rates that were over the top, I started buying them online from overseas.

I don't mind paying taxes on my bad habits but when you try to balance the entire budget on my back because I have bad habits I just tell you to fuck off. I didn't mind when I had to spend a few bucks in taxes to buy Cigarettes but when the taxes on the product cost more than the product itself. apparently in an attempt to balance the budget on my back, I simply started buying my smokes else ware. I now spend about $3.00 per pack as opposed to the $7.00 my state would prefer.

Prohibition does not work! It just makes law abiding citizens into criminals.
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personman Donating Member (959 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-28-09 10:14 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. I've been rolling my own
Bought a cigarette machine, loose tobacco, and filtered tubes. I still want to quit eventually, but I understand where you are coming from.

-Andy
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OffWithTheirHeads Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-28-09 11:24 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. Yeah, I quit for two years. Gained over 50 pounds
and could barely even walk. Fuck that! I would rather be 5' 11" 235 and able to walk than 290 and barely able to move.










9
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personman Donating Member (959 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-29-09 11:04 AM
Response to Reply #5
8. I quit for 4 years and went on a health kick.
Started training mixed martial arts. I have skinny-guy genetics anyway. I'm about 5'11", 150 pounds.

Started having inflammation problems so I had to quit training, got depressed, and started smoking again. :/

I'd like to quit and start running again.

-Andy
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TheKentuckian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-28-09 11:32 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. That's my method too and "pipe" tobacco is taxed much lower
So, if you can find the right cut you can get a pound for less than $20 here but we have a low state tax. Still, even buying a tub of Stokkebye for maybe $45 (maybe a little less online if you look hard) is cheaper on a per pack basis (when compared with premade major brand cigs) than it was before the hike.
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OmmmSweetOmmm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-29-09 11:19 AM
Response to Reply #4
10. I make my own too. The tobacco I purchase is a pipe tobacco that works in my machine.
No SChip tax. Costs a little over $1 a pack.
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safeinOhio Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-28-09 11:53 PM
Response to Original message
7. I've found great deals on some of my medical supplies at
on line vet supply places. Tractor Supply Company carries some useful drugs too like de-worming medicine and antibiotics.
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personman Donating Member (959 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-29-09 11:14 AM
Response to Original message
9. If a donor could repost this in the Mental Health Support forum...
Might be helpful to some people. I'll renew my donor-ship once I'm less broke.

-Andy
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