prescription drugs

[Lansbury 19]

If he needs medications, you better make sure he has some kind of insurance over here. I was dreading paying for my diabetes meds, but it only works out to about $5 a month for them with insurance. Which is actually cheaper than a UK NHS prescription.

I thought diabetics got free prescriptions, or did it depend what postcode you had?

(sorry OP)

My wife got free prescriptions because of diabetes in the UK. Cost us about $110 a month here. Also no insurance company would accept her here and she had to go into the Oregon Medical Pool, and we pay about $470 a month for her medical cover though that scheme.

Could you not get her added to your insurance??? also people from the UK can use their NHS medical card as proof of prior insurance and the insurance companies will cover pre-exisiting conditions....

Kez

I pay for my own insurance.

No none of the insurance companies that cover Oregon would accept the NHS card as proof of prior insurance and none said they would accept pre existing conditions. Having said that having arranged my wife's cover through the OMIP their rules state diabetes must be covered straight away and she in fact had cover for that from day one.

Also the pharmacy we use is good and they quickly sorted out for her to use generic drugs where these were available instead of name brands. Under her cover the most she pays for each generic drug is $10. One of the name brands the doctor prescribed was something like $140 a month alone and Lipitor, Blue Cross would not even pay for so that was replaced with a just as good generic brand.

[Lansbury 19]

A tip we were given was to ask your UK GP for a prescription to cover as many months as possible and to get those drugs from the chemist before you leave. At least it gives you a cushion when you get here to get cover arranged, and if you cannot get cover for pre-existing conditions helps with the cost of those first six months.

[featherB 1]

If he needs medications, you better make sure he has some kind of insurance over here. I was dreading paying for my diabetes meds, but it only works out to about $5 a month for them with insurance. Which is actually cheaper than a UK NHS prescription.

I thought diabetics got free prescriptions, or did it depend what postcode you had?

(sorry OP)

Clara, as everyone has stated, it's a no no for prescriptions once he's left the UK. He should perhaps go to his GP and let them know of his intentions, and perhaps try to pick up a copy of his records (or at least a list of his meds), so when he gets treatment in the US it may make it all a bit easier to explain.

Yep diabetics got free meds, I was just comparing the price over here to the NHS prescriptions for other drugs.

I knew what you meant there, 'cos it's exactly what I tell myself about the thyroxine I'll need to be paying for as soon as my stockpile runs out: that at least the cost here will be less than the UK prescription charge, even if I never actually had to pay that prescription charge, what with having an exemption certificate thingy and all.

(Luckily the stockpile won't be running out for a while yet - I managed to save a few packs up, as did my mother (who handily takes the exact same dosage), and then my lovely GP wrote me a last-minute prescription the week before I left the UK. I know I wasn't meant to bring quite that many months' supply over with me, but... meh. As the Lovely GP said, "it's not like it's methadone or something". )

[Captain Oates 911]

I didn't even think about him bringing prescriptions here with him. It might work for awhile since your fiance will still be a UKC, but like Kez said, he wouldn't be living there. You should probably have him talk to someone in charge, but I doubt he'd be able to.

Slight pedantic correction.... no such thing as a UKC

only UKS

We are all SUBJECTS of the Queen - no citizens as it isnt a republic yet

All propery in the UK is owned by the crown and freeholders hold their houses as tenants but 'free' of rent to the crown..

nobody owns anything except LIZ who owns it all

She used to own everything in the USA too....

[featherB 1]

I didn't even think about him bringing prescriptions here with him. It might work for awhile since your fiance will still be a UKC, but like Kez said, he wouldn't be living there. You should probably have him talk to someone in charge, but I doubt he'd be able to.

Slight pedantic correction.... no such thing as a UKC

only UKS

We are all SUBJECTS of the Queen - no citizens as it isnt a republic yet

All propery in the UK is owned by the crown and freeholders hold their houses as tenants but 'free' of rent to the crown..

nobody owns anything except LIZ who owns it all

She used to own everything in the USA too....

I'd hazard a guess that you're a British Citizen, not a 'UK Subject'.

(And Queen Elizabeth II used to own everything in the USA? Blimey.)

Edited July 24, 2007 by featherB

[Lou Lou 1]

(And Queen Elizabeth II used to own everything in the USA? Blimey.)

[ktun 0]

Just a quick note if anyone is worried about paying for Levothyroxine over here in the States. You can get it really cheaply at Wal-mart for $4 a month without insurance with their $4 generic program. I know I was worried when I first came here, but prescription costs for many common generic drugs are generally not as bad as you think.

Edited July 27, 2007 by ktun

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Reading a slight tangent to it: if the medication is prescription in US but not in the country where obtained, then it is OK to bring it in (so long as it's not also banned in US) for personal usage.