Try the patient assistance. The biggest thing you could lose is they say no. But if they don't then you're assured of the med for a year and really until it goes generic (and sometimes even longer than that). I've never done it through Novartis so I can't tell you for sure that they give exemptions but I've never had a company tell me no. I've been using programs (3) with Medicare for 3 years now and for almost 2 years before that when I was uninsured.

Insurance is idiotic about what is covered and what isn't. My plan doesn't cover any brand name AP at a level that I could ever afford. I looked into paying for a month of Latuda or a month of one or 2 other drugs and all of them would be at least $400/month. And so I continue to wait to go on the only generic I can go on (although the 2 name brands that my pdoc had any hope for had little chance of working anyway).