Comments on: Yet More Healthcare

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:07:15 +0000

Andy - yeah Symbicort is the winner. It’s also the one that makes up $250 of the pre-insurance $300, so clearly everyone involved recognises they’re on to a winner with it…

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:45:58 +0000

in England, you can buy a certificate for the year that entitles you to as many prescriptions as required, so the most you pay annually for your prescriptions should be £104 (although you need to know that you are going to need that many prescriptions in advance, so it’s best geared to long term conditions)

By: Andy Mulhearn

Andy Mulhearn — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:57:46 +0000

Like you I’m asthmatic, symbicort has changed my life and I use ventolin once a year at most, and one of the things that would worry me immensely about leaving the UK would be the price of medication. I suppose part of that is growing up with the NHS and only ever having to pay prescription charges but that does sound an awful lot to treat a chronic and life-threatening illness.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:34:07 +0000

Nora, the registration fee, to be fair, they clearly present as unusual - they offer a bunch of services that I gather are non-standard and it’s to cover them. They came highly recommended, so I decided to suck it up. Thanks for the tip, by the way.

And Gert, yes, at my UK GP they have a set-up with the local pharmacy too, so I can just call the surgery and ask for a repeat, and they send it direct to the chemist, where I can pick it up, as long as I’m inside the review period for the prescription. But I know that’s not universal, so I went for the basic model. So yes, in some cases it is indeed easier (and more like the US model) to get ongoing prescribed meds in the UK.

By: Gert

Gert — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:26:49 +0000

Actually, for repeat prescriptions, I get a slip of paper that I keep and can take into either the doctor’s or the pharmacy for a refill. I am only allowed one refill of one drug (Tramadol) before seeing the doctor again, because it’s so strong, and I assume I couldn’t go on indefinitely with the other, lesser, drug.

I’m not sure I could drop off a repeat prescription at any pharmacy eg near work, but my doctors’ practice has a relationship with 3 local pharmacies.

By: norasake

norasake — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:07:23 +0000

And every insurance company and every company’s contract with their respective insurance company(ies) is different.

One tip - find out if your meds are generic or brand name and what meds are on your insurance’s formulary. You can save money on generic and formulary.

Registration fee? What the hell?