Comments | esb: Why I Suddenly Sympathize with Those People Who Spend All Their Time Writing Complaint Letters

esb

Why I Suddenly Sympathize with Those People Who Spend All Their Time Writing Complaint Letters

Jun 26, 2009 19:53

In Three Parts ( Read more... )

Comments 3

katzinoire June 27 2009, 03:10:42 UTC

Wow, Connecticut law is that if the patient requests Brand, they will get it-even if the script is written as generic. I get brand and Medco covers them all, weird. But they cost about $15-20 more, but I would rather take brand. And why? Cyclosplorine. Look it up, it is a "generic" for Neural. I say that in quotes because for some patients, let's say, an organ transplant patient, the generic, which is absorbed differently since it's makeup differs enough, can cause an imbalance-enough of one that over a course of a year and a half can cause the transplanted organ to reject the body. Yes, that is what ultimately occurred with Eric. All because at the time, the health insurance would not cover the Neural as they considered the "generic equivalent" a reasonable and acceptable substitute. The only good that came of this was due to my insistence on an autopsy provided enough information about this that Yale now has a program to help ensure people get the brand for Neural. :( I feel you lady.

esb June 27 2009, 05:01:21 UTC

I can't believe someone actually read all of that. That's so nice of you! And, seriously, thanks for the sympathy, especially since my difficulties with generic-brand issues are obviously petty compared to what they did to Eric. I didn't know that was what had happened. I didn't know there was that significant a difference, although I suppose in that situation the slightest difference could matter. I'm interested now, though, and I will look it up. I know my mother always gets brand, so I assume MA law is like CT law. It was kind of surprising to me that that was what "Dispense as written" meant here. I'm pretty sure that in MA there's a box that says, "May substitute generic" or something like that. At least there used to be, but who knows now.

And hats off to you, seriously, for insisting on that autopsy - who'd have thought it would make such a difference for others?

elo_sf June 28 2009, 04:34:53 UTC

what a pain!

sigh, shouldn't be that hard to get medicine