I went to my doctor today with excitement in my step. I was going to finally get a perscription for the GERD medicine that works best for me. As I said in my previous post, I tried ALL the different meds available due to the generosity of my doctor and her samples. Prevacid was the winner. But there was a big BUT. United Healthcare won’t cover Prevacid. They only cover:
- Aciphex which only comes in a 20 mg version and stops working by mid-afternoon
- Zegerid which has sodium bicarbonate in it that makes my fingers swell and it makes me constipated
- Protonix which didn’t work at all. I might has well have taken a sugar pill.
- a generic form of Zegerid without the sodium bicarbonate which dulled the pain a bit but also quit working by mid-afternoon.
So, the doctors want me to take Prevacid to avoid damaging my esophagus (which can lead to cancer.) But the phone clerks who think they are doctors at United Healthcare disagree. They told me I could take it by buying it at 100% retail ($159 for a 30 day supply). Yeah, right. They say that all the drugs have the same effect. Then why didn’t the others work as well as Prevacid?
So, I’m pricing it in Canada. So far, the cheapest price is $59.95 for a 30 day supply which is about $10 more a month than I would have to pay for one of the other meds. If I can work out buying from Canada, I might be OK.
