Today's word is "formulary"

[redbird]

Which is current insurance jargon for "we won't pay for the medicine you've been taking, you have to change to something cheaper."

So the friendly pharmacist called my doctor, and instead of Celexa I have something called Lexapro, which is supposed to be as good. I hope so. It will certainly be less convenient: the instructions read that I am to take "1/2 to 1 pill daily".

Comments

Formulary

[webbob.livejournal.com]

More seriously, "formulary" means "on the list of drugs we've agreed can be supplied at a particular co-payment because they're cheap enough to meet our business plan requirements."

In this case, you should definitely speak to the prescribing doctor because Lexapro/escitalopram (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a603005.html) is chemically different from Celexa/citalopram (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a699001.html) and not a simple generic substitution like the ones elisem mentions. That definitely is a potential basis for a waiver, if the prescribing doctor has a rational distrust of the alternative substance, which is probably a follow-up drug intended to replace Celexa when its patent expires. In fact, as carbonel notes, it's an odd substitution for an insurance company to make, with Celexa dropping in price in the near future.

(Don't know if those links will work, they're references to the drug information database (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html) at the NIH MedlinePlus site.)

Re: Formulary

[redbird]

I think that Lexapro may be the one he was considering switching me to on my last visit, before I said "let's hold off until I sort out the insurance". I'll be starting the Lexapro tomorrow, and I'll see how it works.