We are fortunate to be covered by some of the best health insurance out there. Will be calling on Monday to check if AP will be covered. In the event it isn't covered would anybody be willing to give me some "ballpark figures" as to how much it will be costing us?
DH doesn't think much of the therapies being offered now either and wants what is best for me so insists money isn't the issue. RA has taken so much from me (all of us) but it can't take my man from me - Life Is Great!!!
Take Care one and all.
I haven't done the AP therapy but I sure hope that your insurance will cover the cost of the meds.
I would imagine that cost would be based on how much the actual meds are that you need to take. If you know what they are, you might want to go to like walgreens.com or maybe walmart.com where you can do a search for the meds and it gives you the cost of the med.
Hey Wolf!
Ok, first thing you should do is try to find an AP doc that will run mycoplasma tests for you. You don't have to stay with this doc - but they do have connections to specialized labs. Most major medical facilities are not set up for mycoplama tests - we're talking cutting edge here. The myco tests are notoriously faulty; the running joke is they take a vial of blood and hope the critter swims inside. The benefit here is that should you get a positive for one of the mycoplasma's, and later you want to add IV's, your insurance will cover it. If you do not test positive - don't worry, one of the buggers didn't swim in the tube, you'll still get better - but you'll have to handle the cost of the IV's.
I'm an example of this - I tested positive for strep but not for c. pneumonia - which I had numerous times in the past. I now have atypical pneumonia again. See - it just didn't go quietly into the vial. LOL
If you can, get the test NOW before starting treatment. I waited to start AP because I really wanted a label. If you really don't care about the label thing - go ahead and start.
As for the rest of the insurance thing; this is my experience. Minocin is an off patent drug. It should be cheap as Hellsinki but something is pushing the prices higher. The cost rose about 350% in the first half of 2006 alone. I think it's all the cutting edge research coming out of Vanderbilt showing the advanced protocols work on MS and Parkinsons etc. To you, it doesn't really matter - all that matters is that you learn how to use the system to get your Mino as cheap as possible.
This is what I suggest. Get the doc to prescribe the brand name. To do that make sure they write DAW on the script. Then when you get to the pharmacy - make sure that they GIVE you the brand. It should be a green pill with little green pellets inside. Tell the doc that there are studies showing better absorbtion of the drug and the brand is time-released.
Get the doc to write the script for 2 pills (100 mgs. each) daily. This is the Harvard Protocol. For RA, and for maximum bug killing, you want to pulse - which is 200 mgs. MWF and is what Dr. Brown did and is the original Antibiotic Protocol. This saves you on co-pays and gives you a small stockpile if your local pharmacy has trouble getting the brand in stock.
After about 6 months your insurance company will notice you are on antibiotics continually and will try to force you to the generic. You have a couple choices at this point. 1) Switch to the generic 2) fight the insurance company or 3) get the brand from Canada.
I am at this point right now. If I do not switch to the generic I have to pay 6 a MONTH for an off patent drug. We cannot afford that. So I chose option # 2 - we're fighting. I have documented stomach problems and am on protonix to reduce acid production. Using that diagnosis my AP doc wrote a letter to the insurance company saying there were legal/medico issues and give her the brand. If there is anything like that in you chart you should be home free. If not, but suspect gut issues - I'd start working on that right now.
There are a ton of posts on the RB about generic vs. brand and the bottom line is generic will work as well as brand - but I'm kind of ornery and was really scared at the time of diagnosis so I wanted whatever I could find that would give me an edge in starting AP. Now I'm just mad about the price increase so we're choosing to fight. If we lose the fight I'm going to order from Canada.
Hope this helps,
Pip