[robcalher]

I was living in CO where I had Medicaid. I moved to Florida in May. I find out I don't qualify for Medicaid here. I was getting Wellbutrin for $2, Clonazepam for $1, Temazepam for $1 and Vyvanse for $3. My psychiatrist sent me with three of refills and three months written prescriptions for vyvanse. So the Wellbutrin cost $95, Clonazepam $10, Temazepam $25 and vyvanse would have been $300 but got it changed to Adderall xr to save some money. Still cost $150. Also no pharmacy in FL would accept any of the refills because she was a nurse practitioner and out of state. Had to see a PCP to just to get refills. Cost $150 to see him and $108 every visit after that. What am I to do? Just stop taking all meds because I can't afford them and have lots of withdrawals? Don't know what to do. Anyone got any advise? Overwhelmed...

[Angelique67]

I wouldn't stop taking your meds. If it were me, id try to pay to keep seeing the PCP until/unless I could see someone covered by insurance.

[robcalher]

That's the problem. I have no insurance.

[Angelique67]

Originally Posted by robcalher

That's the problem. I have no insurance.

You must be just over the poverty line or something if you can't get Medicaid in FL. I wish I knew of some resources there to help you.

[robcalher]

Many states now have what's called expanded medicaid. This means adults who don't make a lot of money qualify for medicaid. That is what I had in CO. Florida does not have expanded medicaid. Meaning only households with children, disabled people, or pregnant women qualify. I am a single adult with no income but am none of the above so I don't qualify.

[robcalher]

But thanks angelique67

[Angelique67]

Originally Posted by robcalher

But thanks angelique67

I wish I could help.

[emwell]

Originally Posted by robcalher

I was living in CO where I had Medicaid. I moved to Florida in May. I find out I don't qualify for Medicaid here. I was getting Wellbutrin for $2, Clonazepam for $1, Temazepam for $1 and Vyvanse for $3. My psychiatrist sent me with three of refills and three months written prescriptions for vyvanse. So the Wellbutrin cost $95, Clonazepam $10, Temazepam $25 and vyvanse would have been $300 but got it changed to Adderall xr to save some money. Still cost $150. Also no pharmacy in FL would accept any of the refills because she was a nurse practitioner and out of state. Had to see a PCP to just to get refills. Cost $150 to see him and $108 every visit after that. What am I to do? Just stop taking all meds because I can't afford them and have lots of withdrawals? Don't know what to do. Anyone got any advise? Overwhelmed...

I'm a bit curious, was this an expected move? I would like to think I would have researched it a bit if I had time before the move.
I wish I had an answer for you.
The only med I have experience with is the Clonazepam. I stopped it abruptly without any ill effects, but it would depend on the dose I would think.
If you do end up with withdrawal the ER is your best bet.
There must be some type of community health center you'd have access to. I live in a rural area and I had 2 to choose from 1 town over.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Perna]

Don't know if any of these will help you:

Prescription Drugs | FloridaHealthFinder.gov

I went through a similar situation earlier this year in the state where I live. I had to do a lot of scrambling to try to find psych health care & to figure out how to pay for my meds.

I can tell you some of the things that I did. First, I have to ask if it wouldn't be easier to move to another state that has expanded Medicaid? I am assuming that you are 1) able to work but unemployed or 2) not able to work but either haven't filed for disability or haven't been approved for it.

Those of us who aren't "officially" disabled as determined by Social Security but live in one of the states that hasn't expanded their Medicaid program are royally scr**ed in most cases.

I imagine you know this, but I'll say it for anyone else reading who doesn't. Those terrific subsidies that let people purchase health insurance for a low monthly cost? If your income is below a certain level (somewhere around the poverty level) you don't qualify for them.

That's because the states were meant to expand Medicaid to cover those people, but Congress left it up to the states to decide whether or not they would do this and in doing so, let some people fall through a great big gap in insurance coverage.

Okay, stuff you can do:

1. Call United Way at 211 and tell them your situation. They should be able to tell you if there are city or county facilities that provide low-cost healthcare where you live. They may know if there are any psych clinics that have "emergency meds" walk-ins for people who run out of meds and can't afford to buy them and are going to get really sick. If they don't know, they should be able to refer you to someone who does know. There's an organization in my county that's a sort of "mental health clearinghouse" and they provide information and match people up with psych providers if they don't have insurance.

2. Compare prices on prescription drugs. This is tough to do. I had the best results with a site called goodrx.com, although the "best price" that they promise with their "special coupon" turned out to be totally bogus when I tried to use it. They do list prices for a medication at most major pharmacies, though. The site also lets you check things like whether it would be cheaper to have a stronger pill prescribed and break it in half (sometimes it's much cheaper, sometimes it's not).

3. I found some "discount pharmacies" that had even lower prices on medications. You have to be kind of careful with these, though, because a lot of their medications are manufactured outside the US by non-US companies and I had one med that was manufactured in a third-world country that was just no good. No quality control.

4. Patient Assistance Programs from pharmaceutical companies. These can be your best friend of all. You can check the web sites of the makers of Vyvanse and Wellbutrin to see if they offer a patient assistance program (most companies do) and find out how to get approved. You have to provide financial information to the company and your doctor has to fill out and sign a form. It took me about two months to get approved to get one of my meds this way.

It's a lot of stuff, huh? I found it tough to do all this stuff while depressed. I think knowing if I ran out of my antidepressant that I was going to go into horrible withdrawals helped me to focus some.

Most of the time I like the fact that each US state is different, but not when it comes to this kind of thing.

[shortandcute]

Here are some links to cards that might help with prescription costs.

http://www.needymeds.org/drugcard/in...FUuTfgodEzkE5g

Help With Prescription Medications through Patient Assistance Programs

Announcing the Psych Central Drug Discount Card | World of Psychology