PLAVIX Choice Program, pay no more than $37month for BRAND with sign up and eligibility

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS AND TERMS OF USE
Eligibility: Patients are not eligible if their prescriptions are paid in part or in full by any state or federally funded programs, including but not
limited to Medicare or Medicaid, Medigap, VA, DOD or TRICARE. Offer not valid in Massachusetts or where prohibited by law, taxed or restricted. Offer good only in the USA and Puerto Rico.

Terms of Use: Eligible (commercially-insured or cash-paying) patients whose out-of-pocket expense for 30 Plavix(clopidogrel bisulfate) tablets is more than $37 can receive up to $176.50 in savings. Savings not applicable to monthly out-of-pocket expense of $37 or less. This card is valid toward out-of-pocket expense only, excluding applicable taxes. This offer is only valid when your card is activated and accompanied by a prescription from your doctor for brand name PLAVIX. Void where prohibited by law. Offer valid between 5/17/2012 and 12/31/2012. Card expires on 12/31/2012. The Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership retains the right to rescind, revoke or amend this offer at any time, without notice. The PLAVIX Choice Card is not an insurance program. If you have prescription drug insurance, your acceptance of this offer confirms that this is consistent with your insurance and that you will report the value received as may be required by your insurance provider.

http://www.plavix.com/Index.aspx

Thanks MISTERCHEAP. Great deal for people who need it. Without insurance it cost ~$200 for 1 month supply. $37 is even cheaper than mail-in canadian pharmacies.

MISTERCHEAP said:   nightman said:   Thanks MISTERCHEAP. Great deal for people who need it. Without insurance it cost ~$200 for 1 month supply. $37 is even cheaper than mail-in canadian pharmacies.

Plavix went generic last week. However, this is one drug that staying on the brand might be wise. not sure how much the generic is selling for right now, but it is available in US pharmacies.

Generic is identical to the brand, as all prescription generics are, and perfectly safe. In NY it is actually a requirement that generics are always substituted for brand names unless a true medical necessity. This is a great deal for uninsured people, but most with insurance already had copays around $30 and for many the co-pay for the generic is $10 or less. Always worth a shot of course.

Some pearls on this:
1) DO buy generics whenever possible. You are welcome to waste your money, as the dude in the post above. Don't fool yourself that the name-brand is any better or worse quality--you will never have a capacity to answer this question anyway, and generics could just as easily be better quality control than name brand for all you know.
2) If you hit your head hard, please, for the love of god, stop taking aspirin or plavix immediately and talk to somebody who knows something about this
3) If you are taking monotherapy plavix instead of plain old aspirin, start to ask why
4) If you still take aspirin for pain control only, please stop!
5) Refer to point #2

Most generics behave exactly the same as the brand; however, there have been a few notable exceptions where, early on, there were problems with the generics (cyclosporine immediately comes to mind...there are a few others that I can't recall right now.) If you have the choice (i.e. $$$,) the safest approach is probably to "lay low" for a little while and see if there are any issues with the new generic. However, if you don't have the luxury of extra $$$, the odds are heavily in your favor that you will have no problems if you "gamble" on the new generic.

Regardless, $37 a month is likely very competitive with the generic pricing anyway (seriously doubt this will go to $4 generic for a while,) so you can get the best of both worlds.

FWIW - these sorts of discounts on name-brand drugs are designed to extract more money from your health insurance provider and ultimately drive up your premiums. Note the fine print about how the discount only applies to "out of pocket" expenses, that's becase your insurance company still has to pay the full load on their part.

For example, assume your insurance covers 60% of the total cost and you are on the hook for 40%. Let's also assume that the generic version has a total cost of $100 while the name-brand is $200. That puts your out-of-pocket expense at $40 for generic and $37 for name-brand, which looks like a $3 savings up front. But behind the scenes your insurance company would only pay $60 for the generic but now has to pay $120 so you can save $3 on the name-brand, That extra $60 has to come from somewhere - your premiums.

It is a very clever scam, most people don't even realize what's going on, and plenty of people who do grasp it don't care anyway because they can only see the $3 savings up front and not the cumulative effect of hundreds of thousands of patients doing the same thing raising costs for everyone. Note also the fine print about not working in Mass or for government insurance plans because they've made the scam illegal.

Anyone who wants to hear more about this game should listen to "Act One. One Pill Two Pill, Red Pill Blue Pill" of This American Life Episode 392 - "Someone Else's Money"