Got a call from a lady today whose doctor had to change her from Diovan 160mg to Benicar for insurance reasons. Prescriber started her on Benicar 20mg, which I thought was pretty reasonable. She was concerned that it wasn't equivalent. We discussed the situation for a while, and I thought she got it, until she said, "So I need to take eight of these for it to work the same as my Diovan?"
OK, let's go over this again...
On the upside, at least the lady can multiply...
Oh gawd yes, the old "different drug, different milligram dose" talk. It's a tough one. The only one tougher is when they have a totally different insurance plan and can't comprehend why the copay has changed.....
ReplyDeletecompletely agree frantic, lets see last year you had blue cross this year you have caremark, they don't charge the same. That reply is almost always followed with, "but its always been 5 dollars." Or when its part D and they switch then get mad at us that its costing them more out of pocket.
ReplyDeleteAlso had one the other day with albuterol neb solution. Lady came back in with the box and label and says, "I am supposed to get 75 bottles not 25." I look it up and say you did get 75 mLs which is how it is measured, its not measured in "bottles" but in amount of solution. Her remark was, you measure in pills that have drugs in them so this should be measured by the bottles that have drug in it. Gotta love the logic.
Had a man who didn't want to get an rx filled for Valium 5mg #1 prior to procedure because he counted and he had 20 of the 0.25mg tabs at home.
ReplyDeleteTime for the old apples and oranges speech...