Oracea pricing

[reaton Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close reaton]

Hello All,

I work for a large corporation and have to fill all my prescriptions
through the online pharmacy called Medco. I just refilled my 90 day
supply of Oracea and they are charging my insurance $869......my part is
20% of that. This seems like an awful lot money for an
antibiotic.....almost $10 a pill.

Is this normal pricing ? What do others pay for this ?

[DukeCity Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DukeCity]

Get the Oracea savings card from the Galderma/Oracea website, it's free and it'll save you (I think) $75 for your 3-month supply, $25 per 30-day refill off your co-pay on health insurance. So you'll pay about $98 instead of the $173. as I figure it. The outrageous price is correct, good luck.

[rbissman Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rbissman]

oracea pricing

Oracea is incredibly expensive. You could use doxcycline generic 50mg, and it is about $5, and probably would have the same effect. It seems most anti-biotics lose their effectiveness after 3-6 months.

[Melissa W Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Melissa W]

Hi reaton,

Is that your only option to go through Medco?
I am using the Oracea savings card and paying now only $15 per month for my Rx. It has gone down for some reason from last year so maybe the insurance companies are starting to realize there is no good substitute for Oracea. In any case, DukeCity is right in that either way (through Medco or another pharmacy) if you use the Savings Card you can save money.

I don't agree with rbissman that all antibiotics lose their effectiveness in 3-6 months. Oracea has worked for many people for a few years now. It is important to remember that Oracea is submicrobial and therefore doesn't affect our bacterial flora so in that respect is better than 50 mg doxy. JMO.

Best wishes,
Melissa

[college_senior Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close college_senior]

Melissa is 100% correct.

Doxycycline, along with Oracea in particular, will not create resistance. For oracea, it is time delayed release...so it doesn't indulge 40 or 50 mg all at once.

Doxy, at 20 mg, taken twice a day...once in morning and once at night...has the same effect esssentially.

[Tondar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tondar]

I feel like I post this on a regular basis here. Maybe I should stop because no one is listening...

100mg tablets of generic Doxy are very cheap. Get a pill splitter and split the tablets into quarters, taking a quarter twice a day. I paid something stupid like $16 through Medco for enough pills to last me longer than the expiration date on the pills!

Time releasing an old drug and then charging this much is down right disgusting.

[Brighteyes Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brighteyes]

Get the Oracea savings card from the Galderma/Oracea website, it's free and it'll save you (I think) $75 for your 3-month supply, $25 per 30-day refill off your co-pay on health insurance. So you'll pay about $98 instead of the $173. as I figure it. The outrageous price is correct, good luck.

Actually, the card allows you to purchase each 1 month Oracea Rx for only $25! The cards come in the little Oracea packet my derm gave me (which also included 4 Oracea tablets and literature). I know for a fact this deal runs through the end of 2010. Not sure about after that.

[Brighteyes Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brighteyes]

So basically, with the savings card, it only $25 per month. Not bad at all.

[chenoarae Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close chenoarae]

I think the previous is true only if you have insurance willing to cover the medication at all. Which most people's doesn't.

[Aklady09 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Aklady09]

So what do people do when they don't have insurance?? Suffer w/ rosacea symptoms, let it get worse until they become disfigured? So sad.

I wonder if people on public assistance are covered when it comes to skin conditions. I am thankful I have insurance but w/ co-pays on visits and meds I am still going broke trying to treat this. I could not even imagine how awful it would be to not be able to afford treatment because of lack of insurance/funds.

[Brady Barrows Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brady Barrows]

Oracea help

So what do people do when they don't have insurance?? Suffer w/ rosacea symptoms, let it get worse until they become disfigured? So sad.

I wonder if people on public assistance are covered when it comes to skin conditions. I am thankful I have insurance but w/ co-pays on visits and meds I am still going broke trying to treat this. I could not even imagine how awful it would be to not be able to afford treatment because of lack of insurance/funds.

This subject has come up before. According to tp212, "If you make under 21k or so, show proof of income with a previous tax return, have a doctor sign a form, and fax it all in" that Oracea is free. While the praises of Oracea are sung by many there are reports that it doesn't work for everyone just like all rosacea treatments. If it did, rosaceans would pay whatever is required to get relief and this forum wouldn't have all the different categories of treatments and the membership would be only singing the praises of Oracea. But the fact remains that many do indeed find Oracea works for them. What the long term effects for taking a submicrobial doxycycline are after many years will be discussed in the future when the reports come in. The safety of Oracea has only been proven for nine months. After that, you are on your own and will find out.

[bellableu Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bellableu]

"This subject has come up before. According to tp212, "If you make under 21k or so, show proof of income with a previous tax return, have a doctor sign a form, and fax it all in" that Oracea is free."

I'm still trying to find the information for this. Aside from tp212's word, can't seem to get anything off the web.

[bellableu Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bellableu]

So what do people do when they don't have insurance?? Suffer w/ rosacea symptoms, let it get worse until they become disfigured? So sad.

I wonder if people on public assistance are covered when it comes to skin conditions. I am thankful I have insurance but w/ co-pays on visits and meds I am still going broke trying to treat this. I could not even imagine how awful it would be to not be able to afford treatment because of lack of insurance/funds.

To the first question: yes, quite often. I used to work in Human Services, and watched people get sicker and sicker because they did not have access to needed medications.

To the second, it depends very much upon how the local county/municipality manages the public health care program. If some of the public health care money subsidizes a series of managed health care clinics, you may get in to see a doctor who may work with you to at least provide services that will help identify what is wrong, and prescribe meds as necessary. If you are reliant upon public health clinics operated by the county/municipality you will probably be a low priority compared to the many much sicker people who they also can't afford to treat due to budget constrictions.

No one pays for meds, though, which is the real issue here. So, in answer to that - it's nearly an impossible situation for anyone who is truly poverty-stricken. I used to be fully employed & fully insured, and got by with a copay on everything. That was nice Now, I don't have insurance, and I am *in* the public health care system, and luckily in an area with a very good managed health care type clinic program. I'm in Southern New Mexico, about an hour from the Mexican border. Right now, in order to get a prescription I have a couple of options: I can call around to see which local pharmacy has the lowest price on the generic version or I can go down to Mexico and pay even less. For those who find the border crossing option impossible, there are online overseas pharmacies (many of which are legit, but you really need to be savvy about it) ... IF they carry what you need. If someone is close to Canada, that is also an option - not as low priced as Mexico or overseas, but still less expensive than US name brand prices.

As an example, here was my experience with MetroCream: Local pharmacy, 45g name brand $250; local pharmacy, generic 45g $65; Mexican pharmacia, name brand 30g $18. It is the same medicine, from Galderma. I also use MetroGel & find the Mexican name brand is exactly the same as the US name brand in every way, same size information, roughly the same pricing.


If this was more than you wanted to know, I'm sorry!

***I am not advocating breaking the law. Generally speaking, it is legal for Americans to purchase small quantities of prescription medicines for personal use and bring them across the border provided those medicines are legal to prescribe in the US. Some fairly unclear explanations are available at the US Customs & FDA websites. BTW, I just wanted to offer an answer to a question on a topic I know a little about, and have personally experienced a few sides of - not advocating nor starting a controversy, just sharing information and perspective.

[chenoarae Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close chenoarae]

"This subject has come up before. According to tp212, "If you make under 21k or so, show proof of income with a previous tax return, have a doctor sign a form, and fax it all in" that Oracea is free."

I'm still trying to find the information for this. Aside from tp212's word, can't seem to get anything off the web.

Type this into

"galderma oracea PAP"

that should lead you to the form for galderma's patient assistance program & the form that you (& your Derm/dr) need to fill out & send in. Keep in mind though you have to fax it into galderma every time you need a refill. So try to get a photocopy of the original after your dr signs it so you don't have to bug them every month.

[bellableu Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bellableu]

Ahhh. So 'PAP' was the missing term ...