Picked up my Rayos (slow release pred) cost $9,000 month!

I found out just today how much this medicine will cost me.  I have insurance, and guess what they do not cover this drug because the manufacturer is charging such a steep price and will not give a discount. Since the manufacturer will not reduce the cost for people with insurance, it is not covered. I called the manufacturer to see about their RX copay assist card. I was told because I have insurance, I do not qualify.  Therefore I am left with the entire bill myself. I have been placed on 10 mg per night. I don't have that kind of money, I don't even make that kind of money.  Here I am, I work for a living, and I can't get the care I need because they are charging to much for drugs. We need big pharma reform. I have said from the very beginning their greed is what is causing a healthcare crisis, and costs to skyrocket. Someone who doesn't have insurance can get the drug, and I can't.  

The cost of drugs in the USA is not generally due to the greed of Big Pharma - it is due to the inefficiency of the medical care system which means each insurer is negotiating on poor terms and don't get discounts because they aren't purchasing enough. It's the same with any purchase - the more you purchase, the cheaper things become. 

You don't NEED Rayos - there are other forms of prednisone available at low cost. Your beef should be with your doctor for prescribing Rayos in the first place.

I understand what you are saying, but if I am still splitting my at less than 10 mg I am going to have a conversation with my pharmacist. And see what he says. So far the split dose seems to be working for the PMR, but raising hell with the Diabetes. Oh well you can not win them all. Thanks once again for your expertise! 😊

Well I guess I will just reduce both a little as possible, then eliminate the evening dose. Walked 7.59 miles yesterday, 2 already today feeling great. Glad you got me off my back side! 😉

The time release capsules you can buy are not the same. Rayos/Lodotra is released all at once after 4 hours - time release capsules allow the drug to release slowly over several hours which isn't useful for PMR and even less use for GCA. The best result is achieved when the dose is taken all at once and absorbed within a short time period.

It can only be due to some major flaw in the system. The same drug companies don't charge that much in Europe - because our systems say "NO!" and won't buy it if it doesn't pass the value-for money tests.

There are companies that try it - the company that produces hydrocortisone 20mg tablets in the UK was bought out last year by (I think) an Indian company and they immediately raised the cost by 12,000%. It has caused an absolute furore that a generic drug, long out of patent, should be traded thus especially when it is life-or-death drug for patients with adrenal failure. Not sure what is happening about it though.

Can you imagine how we would fit in?  I have my doubts.😏

Need to be very careful with that, Michdonn, at least for cross border internet shopping.  Some of the drugs being sold have been found to not be what claimed - like sugar pills instead of cancer drugs.  The vendor claimed he didn't know, that the supplier had supplied the faulty drug.  Also, this was on a consumer website: Many consumers think that they can sidestep any potential danger associated with ordering medications online by getting them from Canada, where the laws governing their sale are similar to those in the U.S. But our best buy drugs experts advise against that (or ordering them from any other country). Here’s why: Internet pharmacies claiming to be Canadian usually aren’t. “Most are fake storefronts selling low-quality products from Third World countries,” explains Carmen Catizone of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. 

I don't know if this is still the case, but before I retired I worked downtown (I live in Canada). The law at the time was that pharmacies would only fill Cdn doctor drug prescriptions. Many people from the US were going to a drop in clinic near where I worked to obtain the necessary prescription and then were buying the drugs here at the pharmacy.  This seems safer than some mail order company from who-knows-where. 

The US-Cdn dollar exchange rate is really in your favour so you could have an inexpensive trip in addition to getting less expensive drugs!

i also know US people who winter in the southern US and go to Mexico for their prescriptions and say they save a lot of money. 

Big Pharma is one of the industry that is ripping off the American people, they claim development cost. If that is so, why does the same pill not cost the same in the USA as it does in Canada, or the rest of the world. Much same as the drug you mentioned, the same thing takes place here. Can you say RIP-OFF!

It is the pharmaceutical company costs. They are not discounting this drug to anyone for any reason. You have to get it from one supplier. They ship it out to the pharmacy.  There is NO insurance discounts, so therefore many plans are choosing not to cover this drug, leaving the patient with the entire balance. 

I tried to get copay assist thru the manufacturer HORIZON, but they said I didn't qualify because I have insurance. Insurance won't cover, because Horizon will not cut a deal with the insurance companies and lower the price of the drug to something more reasonable. Big pharma is your issue, not the insurance company. 

As I replied to you above - it is NOT Big Pharma to blame, it is your system. Rayos costs perfectly reasonable prices in the rest of the world.

You don't NEED Rayos - other forms of prednisone are cheap. The majority of patients manage well with ordinary forms of steroid. 

Melanie, you must be here in the good old USA. Our system is so crazy no one is able to believe it. Yes, big pharma at fault, no middle men are at fault, insurance companies are at fault and last, but no least so is Congress and government agencies. Just watch 60 minutes and what has been going on for years, it is a disgrace. Believe me you can get by very well on Prednisone or go up to Canada. Think positive and try to smile. ??