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My 72 year old husband has been diagnosed with Parkinsons-MSA and is struggling with blood pressure instability. His neurologist wants him to take Northera droxidopa, but it costs approx. $2400 per month. We can not afford this. We do NOT have prescription drug coverage. Is there any assistance available to help with this drug therapy please?

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My husband was put on Eliquis last year. When I read what it costs, I almost passed out. Finally, as what we owe the pharmacy increased and increased, one of their agents called and said I should contact the manufacturer. It’s not a quick process. I had to fill out paper work and send it to his cardiologist. Then they have to fill it out and send it into the manufacturer. But if they pay most of the $1200 a month for the meds, it’s worth it.
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I am assuming that at age 72, your husband is on Medicare. If so, he should be able to sign up for Medicate Part D drug coverage. The 2018 base premium is $35.02/month, but since he apparently didn't sign up for it at 65, there is a monthly premium penalty. But it is pennies. It works like this. He's penalized 1% for every month beyond age 65 he didn't have coverage. So, assuming a 7 year gap is 84 months, he'd have an 84% penalty to the premium. $35.02 x .84 = $29.42. $35.02 + $29.42 = $64.44 monthly for Part D.

In 2018, catastrophic coverage starts when you have paid $5,000 out of pocket, about $7,509 in total drug costs. If your total drug costs are more than $7,509 in 2018, all the Medicare Prescription Drug Plans will cover at least 95% of your drug costs for the rest of that year.

You'll still spend some money, but not near as much as you're spending now. Check the avenues some others have posted and check my answer out. Based on what you said, you could go from $28,800 in annual cost to $8,574.....based on the Medicare formula above.

One other thing. GoodRx.Com is a great site to check drug prices. Northera at Wal-Mart is $2,415 for 90 tablets at 100mg each.

Good luck to you.
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If you are in Canada, and your husband needs something that costs this much. You can go online and check out the government health options. Ontario has a few programs you can look into, my son was covered when we applied for a section 8, which is special approval to get the drug covered. His drug costs 4000.00 every 6 weeks. Totally paid for my Ontario Drug Benefits Program. He has needed this drug since he was 14 years old.
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The manufacturers website has information on financial assistance
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Talk to the doctor and explain your situation. My hubby was on a very expensive drug, we DID have insurance, but his dr put him in as a 'trial patient'--I think that's what it was called--and he received his $1000 per week meds for the 12 weeks he was on them--made a $6 copay. I do not know who picked up the balance, but that's all we paid.

If the doctor can't help you (and some are not really interested in anything besides writing scrips for outlandishly expensive meds) maybe a SW or another Dr. I wouldn't just give up.

I am not familiar with this drug, so I don't know what kind of expectations the dr has for your hubby. Is it experimental? IF your hubby is being treated at a teaching hospital (one that is affiliated with a medical school) this gives the docs more leeway in helping patients afford the meds. Sometimes the drug companies write off a certain number of patients---I wish you luck, this is very depressing, a med that can possibly make a huge difference in hub's life and it's financially out of reach.
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