Posted by King Vultan on May 24, 2004, at 12:38:42
In reply to Re: selegiline + dopamine increase ?, posted by platinumbride on May 24, 2004, at 11:30:15
>
> I would have preferred parnate or marplan, but he just won't do it. Very worried about the high doses required, the dietary and med interaction issues and a patient who came to him fresh from the hospital with a botched suicide attempt.
>
I've posted this link on this board several times before, but perhaps it might do something to convince your doctor that the irreversible MAOIs are not so bad:http://www.currentpsychiatry.com/2002_06/06_02_maoi.asp
> I just want to say one more thing:
>
> My insurance company has some ridiculous way of deciding what drugs it will assign a low co-pay to. They SAY that it is based on their research of the best drugs available to treat conditions. Sooooo, seligeline is an "approved" drug in their book for PARKINSONS, so I just pay a nominal co-pay for it, as it is generic. Nardil and parnate have very high co-pays. To get marplan, the doc has to write a friggin' dissertation! I was pretty shocked at that one. You cant even get ambien without a song and dance from the doctor, because their modern hypnitic of choice is sonata. Same with abilify or seroquel, because they like zyprexa or risperidol.
>
> Sorry to rant, but, parnate and nardil are generics!!!!
>Actually, in the US, Parnate and Nardil are brand names, with no generics available. I assume the reason is because they are so rarely prescribed, it is not worth it for the generic companies to bother with them. In a three tier copay system, the two drugs are typically in the middle "formulary" category. On my current plan, both are a $25 copay, while true generics are $10. The cash price for a month's worth of Nardil at 6 pills/day (90 mg) is $125 at Walgreen's, so I am getting a very good deal.
However, some of the other copays my insurance company has are ridiculous and arbitrary, such as $50 for Ambien. I am going to see my GP today about another matter where I was hoping a $10 copay generic drug would work as well as the insanely priced $50 copay alternative (this for approximately $71 of medication for someone paying cash). Sadly, it looks like I am going to have to go back to the expensive stuff. Maybe I should count my blessings, though, as it is still better than not having insurance at all.
Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:349899
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040521/msgs/350152.html