Thanks for the thought. I don’t use it for family planning exclusively though, it helps with pain, being regular, and other things like that.

I have tried several options and the one I use now is best for me in terms of side effects. It also allows me to skip.

However, cost is a factor and my type is $980 a year – even with being “subsidized” by the school, that means $480 a year I have to spend right now since school insurance won’t give me a lower copay on BC and I don’t have any real insurance.

I have been taking one for 25 years, and another for 12 years, and I am a walking commercial about using ONLY GENERICS for getting control on ailments AND savings money.

Hope people read this and educate themselves on WHO makes your generics (at RxList.com) and then get it written from the doctor with THOSE specific generics. A bit of HW and a lot of LT savings.

Kenny

Also I do agree that the patent lives for meds are really short. One of the main reasons Rx drugs are so expensive is that the companies have to try and recoup their R&D costs in whatever time is left on the patent.

(And while this problem should be going away, it may be some time. My recollection is that birth control must be covered without a copay for plan *years* starting after August 2012. By my reckoning that means for most of us it won’t matter until sometime in 2013.)

This was when I looked into my (somewhat) local location of Planned Parenthood. I assume it’s the same for all their locations.

I agree that one should not bring drugs from home, but :
the pharmacist or doctor changing prescriptions against the patient’s express wishes violates the patient’s right of informed consent.

Patients have a right to informed consent even if it is inconvenient to the hospital.
Hospital staff may inform, and suggest what they believe is the best treatment, but they may not make decisions for a patient.

Though a simple change in medication may seem like a minor issue, informed consent must be central to care, and is critical to doctor-patient trust.

Medication is one thing I won’t spend a ton of time trying to save a few dollars on. I am willing to fund the companies spending money on new medications and indications. Don’t get me wrong, if a generic that works for me exists, I’ll try it, but there’s no way I’m going to order online from another country or violate my doctor’s orders just to save a buck or two.

The more people complain and moan about patents, the more pharmaceutical companies have to market to combat that sentiment. Pretty much everything in this country gets patented. It’s absolutely ludicrous to suggest that drug formulations are public property. Sorry to get on the soapbox there, but this has always irked me. If healthcare companies can’t make money, they won’t discover new therapies. Our options are privatization, or government-run/tax-funded research.

My takeaway from this – generics can be a GREAT way to save money, but always ASK what the difference is, and don’t be afraid to speak up if you’re having an issue with your medications.

Additionally, it is frequent that physicians need to change dosages of your home medications (if your blood pressure is running low, trust me, you won’t want the full dose of all your blood pressure medications) and having your home meds at a fixed dose makes it harder to accomplish these changes when the pharmacy can easily do such. And often you can resume these medications once you go home.

In the cases that home meds are used (we unfortunately can’t supply every medication out there… especially medications used for rare conditions), we in the pharmacy can & will identify them for use. But I can’t vouch that those medications have been stored properly (and I’ve also identified medications that are different than what they patient has stated they thought they were…)

Long story short, hospital pharmacist’s first priority (and probably every patient’s) is to have as safe a stay at the hospital as possible.

Does anyone know if this is true?

One of my preferred medications has a $45 copay, monthly dosage. When I was at KU, I could get it for $7/month. It was fantastic. I was a non-traditional student working full-time with insurance through my job. I definitely found it worthwhile to spend a few minutes on the phone to compare prices. I would encourage anyone who is either covered by their school’s pharmacy (if they have one) or who has children going to uni to investigate this possibility.

But thank you for presenting another perspective even if it isn’t what most would choose to follow.