If you live with your fiance, you can probably do a domestic partnership to bridge you until your wedding.

Wait, what? no thyroid? How's her blood calcium levels going to stay even then?

Why would you not have a thyroid before getting married? Piss poor planning is not an excuse to game the insu... wait. Wrong article. I agree--go to WalMart/Target. They are doing what the government can't and won't do.

@missdona: That's actually highly unlikely. Insurance companies won't do it unless you live in certain states (Texas is one) And even then you have to get a certificate from the state to even apply.

I don't personally take thyroid medication, but a co-worker does, and she says that generics are actually different formulations, despite having nominally the same active ingredient. This doesn't usually make any difference when you're taking "acetaminophen w/hydrocodone" instead of Vicodin, say... but the body is more sensitive to formulation differences when the thyroid hormones are involved. Thyroid medication users frequently have to try several formulations before finding the right one, and then it's not uncommon for them to need to switch formulations from time to time.

What I'm saying is that it's not enough to blithely wave your hand in the air and say, "Take the generic, babe."

BSBC...thankfully we have not had an issue with them yet, but I've read the horror stories. :P

Go get your drugs from Wal-mart. 10 bucks for 3 months is a steal!

Marriage is a business transaction. Go for it. If you're into the headache of a formal wedding, reception, blahblahblah, just do that when you have the time/money.

FYI...I have a hypothyroid and when I was in the hospital recently haven given birth I had a conversation with one of the maternity nurses who had the same condition.

She told me that she was mistakenly given a generic version of Synthroid and had a sever negative reaction. Her doctor told her that sometimes the generics are wonky (of course he could be on the drug companies pay roll).

But either way please be careful if you do change over just in case it happens to you.

@The Great Aussie Evil: I'm going to guess through medication

@speedwell: You beat me to it!

My family is dealing with the exact same issue. Recently my wife's Synthroid co-pay went up. I'm glad to see this posted here.

The funny thing is that this story is a good reflection of one of the many things that is wrong with health care in the United States. Consumers (like this woman and myself) aren't price-shopping when it comes to medications... it doesn't matter, we only pay attention to the co-pay amount.

Now, if we were paying full price for the meds I would have found a place selling the $10 prescriptions a LONG time ago.

Throwing money away on a brand name drug is yet another reason insurance premiums continue to increase. You've got drug reps essentially bribing doctors and doctors prescribing things that cost the insurance companies a fortune... which they gladly hand down to the insurance subscribers.

If at the point of purchase the consumer says "Hey, this is costing me a fortune!!" the cycle has a chance to stop.

@The Great Aussie Evil:

thats what the meds are for, and as stated above some people CANNOT take the generic. Generics are not identical, just rather close.

@SaveMeJeebus: I laughed out loud. Best Consumerist chuckle in a long time!

@speedwell: I'm not an expert on thyroid medicines or anything, but a generic for a given drug must, by law and enforced by the FDA, have the exact same amount of the exact same active ingredient released in the exact same manner as the name-brand drug. The only thing that can be different are the fillers. Meaning that, while different brands can and will have different formulations, anything that claims to be a "generic for Levoxyl" will have to have the exact same formulation as Levoxyl. Any differences in effectiveness can be pretty much chalked up to the placebo effect.

You're paying $120 a month, but not getting that much back? Um, that's how insurance is supposed to work.

Man, I hope most months I pay my insurance premiums for "nothing".

Insurance is intended to be there for catastrophic occurences.

The OP would be much better served to go through a prescription discount plan or to Wal Mart, but honestly, she's really not paying that much for her meds.

Everyone who expects to get drugs and such basically for free through insurance is part of the reason health care costs are so high.

I'm insured in an individual plan, and as a healthy 30 year old I'm paying $180 for a plan with a $2000 deductible. It's hard to feel the OP's pain about an extra $10 a month for her medications.

The insurance is not "useless to you", they'd have to pay hundreds of thousands if not more if you had a serious illness or an accident; that's why you're paying $120 a month for insurance.

I know many people will disagree, but it's like the folks who carry a $100 deductible on their car insurance, get scratches and dings repaired under claims, and then wonder why their rates go up or when the company gives them a hard time when they have a real claim.

Mary, BCBS increased their co-pay because they're not making any money on you. It's that simple. I know such a thing is tantamount to evil on the consumerist, but insurance companies are not non-profit organizations or charities.

Until the government does something about universal healthcare, that's what we'll have to deal with.

Try Walmart or Costco for their $4 drug prescription.

Some people can't take the generic versions of the brand name thyroid medications. They do actually have a different formula to them so some people are unable to properly absorb the generic drug.

She could try disputing the BCBS change. Most BCBS plans still consider synthroid to be a lower tier medication so the copay is cheap. Sometimes a doctor's note stating that the patient can not take the generic alternative is enough to get an exception to the increase thus putting the drug back to the lower tier pricing.

@HeartBurnKid: "Fillers" apparently do matter, Kid. Think about it... do you even know what the "fillers" are? They aren't necessarily inert materials. The quality control of the cheaper generic may also vary.

What if you were a doctor and your patient was, for example, allergic to one "filler" but not another? What if they couldn't stabilize their hormone levels adequately because the generic was made with looser tolerances? Would you tell them it was just a "placebo effect?"

@tcp100: Thank you for nicely summing up why healthcare should not be a for-profit enterprise in this country. Everybody wants to just leave things up to the insurers, but the insurers are in place to make a profit, not to ensure your well-being.

I do think you're wrong on your point regarding her medications, though. The entire point of health insurance is that it's supposed to pay for your treatment if you should get sick. Said treatment often includes the use of prescription medications. A company changing its co-payment in the middle of said treatment, thus altering the terms of the agreement ex-post-facto, does indeed make them useless.

To put it another way, suppose you have car insurance with a $500 deductible. The day after you get into an accident, the insurance company decides to raise it up to $1000 because "they're not making any money off of you." And, since they haven't cut the check for you yet, this new rate affects your accident. Would you not be angry?

So why do we put up with this treatment from our health insurers, when we wouldn't from our car insurers?

@speedwell: Oh, I know fillers matter; my own grandmother was allergic to a filler that was used in generic insulin, and so was forced to use the name brand. But allergies are a very specific and very different thing from what you're claiming, that the generic is somehow less or differently effective just because it's generic.

You have no idea how strict the FDA is on prescription drug companies. Generics are not made with "looser tolerances" than brand-name drugs. They can't be, or else fines start getting handed out, and, in extreme cases, people go to jail.

@speedwell: @

Mary is freaking out because BCBS of Maryland just doubled the copay on her thyroid meds.

@speedwell:

sorry, donno why what i wrote didn't enter my last post.

"Sugar".

my bride was put on a medication tha,in some states is prescription,and others it's over the counter....the prescription plan would only say it was over the counter, even tho here it's prescription....

@HeartBurnKid: I agree, however I wouldn't say car insurers don't do that. They just do it after the fact.

Even if you get in an accident that's not your fault, in many instances, you can count on your premiums going up - and being in a higher "risk group" even if you move to another insurer.

I'm healthy, but my individual plan was tiered up from $150 to $180 because I went to the ER due to a cut I got when slipping on ice.

I guess they figure I'm accident prone, and therefore a risk.

Insurance companies will use ANY excuse to raise premiums, and in many cases, it's legal - and "switching companies" is not an easy option.

@The Great Aussie Evil:

When they get rid of your thyroid (usually via radioactive iodine) it preserves your parathyroids, which regulate blood calcium.

And as for everyone else saying generic = the same, speedwell is correct, fillers do matter. It took several different tries of cox2 inhibitors before I found one that didn't make me sick. Active ingredients and mechanisms of action for the different drugs were basically the same, the real difference was the fillers. Sometimes the other ingredients in pills also make a difference in how the active drug is absorbed or initially metabolized.

For some people the generic (at least with thyroid meds) really does not work right. Target accidentally gave me 90 days worth of generic Synthroid. Since it was at the same time I had the dosage increased I didn't realize they gave me generics. I was miserable for those three months, having no clue why I felt like crap. Next refill they got the correct brand name and the symptoms went away.
I always thought the "brand name is better" in relation to thyroid medications was BS and just used to make money. I take generics for everything else. The claim that thyroid meds are different in brand vs. generic is an accurate one.

@speedwell: Synthroid actually caused me to have hallucinations and increased heat sensitivity a few years back. It was horrible.

Sharon Stone just called and said something about "karma"

I wonder how much she pays for TV each month...

I was wondering what sort of lame-ass contract the OP's employer has with BCBS (assuming they have one at all) that allows BCBS to change the terms at will.

At my place of employment the insurance policy is contracted annually, i.e: premiums, co-insurance, deductibles, and co-pays can't change until the contract is renewed. Of course, in the good ol' days we used to be able to get a two or three year contract. Now we get to go through the whole insurance shopping song and dance every single year and the insurer gets to raise their prices two or three times as often as they used to.

I think one of the most effective insurance reforms that can be made, short of universal coverage, is community rating. That means everyone in the same market pays the same price and the insurer can't refuse coverage to anyone. That way, individuals and small businesses don't get shafted on rates and everyone at least has the chance to buy a policy.

@JiminyChristmas:

Who said they changed it at will? Maybe this WAS part of a negotiated contract.

@bohemian:
@Tracy Ham and Eggs:
Several patients that I have seen (I'm a med student) have said the same thing regarding the generic thyroid hormone. I don't know what the difference is, but the people even had blood tests that indicated the generic version just wasn't working, so it certainly wasn't a placebo effect in this case.

Some benefit plans also don't let you drop your coverage for a set period of time. One employer I had, had a fine print rule that once you signed up for health insurance you could not drop it or switch between the two offered plans for 2 years. About three months after I signed up for their health insurance they announced a 30% increase on all employees health insurance deduction. I couldn't drop the insurance for 2 years. I was stuck paying for it at a 30% higher rate.

@Zyzzyva100: Yeah, I was 19 or so and never heard the stories until afterwards. . (To be fair, I havent ever reacted well to the name brand either, though not that bad, and am not taking any, much to my detriment Im sure).

@Zyzzyva100:

Yep, and if you are milk allergic or gluten intolerant it can really play hob with the system.

Quite frankly, of the 4 people I know who take thyroid, 3 find the natural pig product to be the most effective and reliable. Primarily because it contains all the various thyroid byproducts and derivatives the body makes in the thyroid, not just T4.

Stuff is practically free, being a byproduct of making pork products. I kid you not, my wife's bottle has the cheery Armour (as in hot dogs) brand label on it.

It presents a problem for the vegans, and practicing Jewish/Muslim populations, but it does work very well.

@HeartBurnKid: Actually, it's NOT necessarily the exact same dose. The FDA still considers generics "bioequivalent" if the levels in the body are within a certain tolerance level of the brand-name drug. Add this onto the fact that a certain dosage difference is legally tolerated between different pills already (to account for manufacturing imperfection) and you may see a slight difference. For most drugs this isn't an issue at all, but it can make a difference, in particular for hormonal drugs where the dose is only a few micrograms. For example, sometimes generic and name-brand birth control pills will have slightly different levels of side effects because even a tiny difference in the hormone levels can greatly affect this. Add to that the fact that the generic makers may be erring on the upper side of the legal hormone range (for birth control pills, since they would rather people have more side effects than unintended pregnancies) and you may get a detectable difference.

What she should do is ask the insurance company what their plan's "prefered" drug is, have her doctor issue her a 2 week prescription, and try it. If it works ok for her change to that drug.

Synthroid sucks and it's over priced. The best thyroid medication is Armour Thyroid. It's cheap, been around forever and is way more effective on regulating your thyroid hormones and alleviating all thyroid related symptoms.

The problem is that most docs are married to Synthroid for some stupid reason!

@MitchV: You seem like a smart fellow. Have you read "Crisis of Abundance"?

I don't think we're looking at a changed co-pay here. What we are really looking at here is a formulary issue. A formulary is a list of drugs that an insurer will cover, and they will vary between insurers. In nearly every insurance contract, the insurer reserves the right to change the formulary as often as once per quarter (and this is most likely in your received paperwork somewhere - in really fine print). This allows them to change their terms when a drug goes generic, or even over-the-counter. An example of this is Zyrtec, which recently went generic and then a month later went OTC. First our insurance would charge you the 3rd tier rate for the brand name, then they wouldn't cover it at all, since it was OTC. All of this is made possible by their formulary.

Apparently BCBS has decided that your medication is available in a cheaper form, and that they will still allow you to have the more expensive form, but you will pay for that privilege. They call this a "generic push", since they're trying to push you to using generics by the best incentive of all - money. In my experience, it is basically impossible to get the insurer to override the formulary. They're in business to make money, and as long as they will pay something toward your drugs, they think it's up to you whether to choose brand or formulary. While that's sometimes true, it doesn't always work this way.

I pay $4/mo at Target for my levoxythrine. Worth looking to see if they offer your levels (mine are 150 mcg) in their $4/mo program. It's cheaper than my copay.

Yeah, I was able to argue my doc down from synthroid (this was before a generic was available), and didn't experience much of a difference either way. I've got maybe a quarter of a gland following surgery, but have never been that sensitive to the different types. While I'm not saying that no-one will be, it's worth trying the generic. More annoying is that it's really easy to find cheap thyroid hormone, but calcitriol/rocaltrol, the parathyroid booster, is much less commonly found in cheap drug offers. Still, not complaining.

@tcp100:
Not that much for her meds? Do you have a thyroid problem or a medical condition that requires you to take medicine every day for the REST OF YOUR LIFE?

I am 24 years old, have been taking thyroid medicine everyday cine I was 15 and I will continue to take it every single day of my life until I die. $60 a month x 60 years is quite a lot of money.

@Carabell: I work in NY, but every company I've worked for has provided benefits if you certify with an affidavit. It depends on his corporate policies.

@thegirls To say that Synthroid sucks because you perfer Armour doesn't take into account individual's reactions to either drug.

When I first went on thyroid hormone replacement theraphy, Armour was the first one I tried, and it didn't offer the consistency in hormone levels that Synthroid (later levoxythrine) offered me.

What works for one person may not work for another. But the good thing about either drug is that they've been around for quite some time and are proven quite effective when administered correctly. Fewer things are as simple as such a hormone replacement theraphy.

When my employer renewed our CIGNA coverage this year, CIGNA gave us the exact same coverage--except that no, maintenance prescriptions would not count towards the copayment. Previously, when you reached your copayment limit, CIGNA paid the entire cost of the prescription. A good deal if you or a family member needed a specific brand drug that cost a lot. One covered employee was on anti-HIV drugs that were covered. He went from paying $3000 a year to over $12000 a year for prescriptions.

Probably the best thing to do is to go to your doctor with their list of 3rd tier medications and see what generic options there are. I'd assume that it's through some big vendor like Caremark, which should be able to provide you with a pamphlet with the listing you need.

BCBS won't be able to do much for you since they are within their rights to up specific medications to the higher tier. If the drug plan is administered by a 3rd party, then BCBS might not be to blame at all, but rather the policy of the 3rd party such as Caremark.

I recall that my friend who moved from Canada to the USA indicated that her thyroid medication jumped from costing almost nothing, to a copayment of like $30.

Though I don't really condone using those internet retailers for medications. You just never know where they're coming from! It's worth it if you can physically go to Canada though. Since you'll be getting your medications from a real pharmacy, and the drug standards in Canada are just as high as in America.

On a totally unrelated note! A doctor I know says that his older patients are always requesting perscriptions for Viagra. They take these back to Asia as gifts, since counterfeit drugs in Asia is extremely rampant even at chain pharmacies, and counterfeit Viagra is extremely common. Just a weird way of how drugs move around the world.