GCORNETTO1122

How do I get help for a suboxone prescription. The cost for a visit and the script is $1000 a month and unfortunately I am not a millionaire. What should I do? Is there any assistance out there?

SLD

I wish I had specific advise for you. All I know is that if you pay cash for everything, it can be very expensive indeed, and this is a crying shame.

There must be some financial assistance available. I assume you've done all the standard Google searches and the like? Often there are sponsored programs in different areas that can assist.

Best of luck to you, I hope you find a solution.

db622

The manufacturer of Suboxone has a patient assistance program that you can apply for. It is for patients that have little or no income and no health insurance. Your provider will have to call the program and have them fax the application to him. He can fax it back once he/she fills it out. Sometimes it will take up to a month to be approved but there is also a coupon that will cover $50 of your prescription. The coupon is on their website, you can print it out and use it once a month towards your prescription. Each provider can have up to 3 patients on the program at a time.
I know it's hard and this medication is so expensive. The generic Subutex is much cheaper but in most states you can't get it unless you are pregnant. Here is the phone number for the program and you can call them if you have any questions. 1-888-898-4818
Good luck to ya, I hope this helps

dragonfire613

Ditto to what db said.

24hrsatatime

I wish I had more to share, but unfortunately I think they've covered most everything. The only thing I can suggest is maybe checking out naabt.com, it is the site for the National Association of Adovocates for Buprenorphine Treatment and they may be able to provide you with more specific information for your state. I hope that you are able to continue with your treatment at least long enough to taper off. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

albeitslowly

Most doctors in my area charge between $300-$500 a month for the visits.
I found a harm reduction program, and although it has a wait list, the doctors visits are only $100. They are also a non-profit organization.

It took some really hard searching to find them, and WEEKS of calling every morning until a slot opened up. Because I called every single day, I kept getting bumped up the wait list and I eventually got my spot.

There may be programs like this in your area. You might try contacting methadone treatment clinics and rehabilitation/detox centers in the area you live in, and just outside it as well. They can sometimes refer you to little-known treatment clinics like mine, which are low cost.

As for the prescription, subutex is much cheaper and there are ways to get discounted prescriptions. For instance, with a $100 annual Sam's Club membership, you get 40% off all generic medications in the Sam's Club pharmacy. That means my 60 tablet buprenorphine prescription is $120. It's still not CHEAP, but it's BETTER. This is only one of many different ways to get more affordable treatment, and the best bet is what was mentioned above: the patient assistance program through the pharmaceutical company which manufactures suboxone, as you would (if you qualify and are approved) get free treatment for an entire 12 months. They send you a card that you have scanned at the pharmacy and your prescription is paid for. I'm currently waiting, on almost my 3rd week of waiting actually, to hear back and find out if I was approve for the program.

If you can find an affordable enough physician, in conjunction with the assistance program, the price of treatment can become much more manageable. I'm sorry there isn't better news, unfortunately for us suboxone is not very affordable to gain access to in most circumstances but I wish you the best of luck.

Please let us know if you find something. Good luck!

SLD

WOW, $300 to $500 a MONTH just for the office visit? That is just... nuts. I can see $300 or more for the induction, but follow-up visits should be MUCH cheaper, IMO.

My wonderful sub Doc charges $75 for the regular follow-up visits. I think I got very, very lucky meeting her.

I know it is different, in different areas of the USA. And in some places, it's hard to find even one who can take another patient. Anyone reading this, all I can suggest is do like Albeit did, just call like crazy and find a doctor or clinic who will work with you for a recovery that works FOR YOU.

The USA price of name brand Suboxone does bother me, I have to say. I understand they deserve to make some $$, but the medicine seems overpriced, compared to generic buprenorphine.

dragonfire613

Holy crap! $75 is the cheapest I've ever heard of... indeed that was a good find. My doc was $120 per visit (not including medication), he is the cheapest I've heard of in my area.. When we had a difference of opinion once, I called around to every other clinic in the area, and the cheapest was like $400/month not including the cost of meds. Safe to say, my difference of opinion was not worth $280/month.

So yeah, if you can find an affordable doctor, do what you have to do to get in and follow the rules and stay there. They seem to be few & far between. Ditto on the price of Suboxone here in the USA. My doc would not prescribe subutex due to the so-called "abuse potential".

SLD

Isn't that annoying? I understand the position of the doctors. They've seen it all in terms of drug-seeking behavior and patients who are actually there to score in some fashion, although "scoring" buprenorphine seems ridiculous to anyone who used full-up agonists as a DOC. All bupe does for most of us is simply prevent WD, but sadly in opiate naive folk it apparently creates a high.

I do feel blessed to have found my doctor. I have read many suboxone stories where a heavy-handed doctor treats suboxone like a methadone clinic, trickling out two or three pills at a time and forcing a huge number of office visits. And underdosing, trying to wean a heavy H user using 2mg tabs. That ain't going to work well, and the patient curses the very notion of suboxone as a treatment because obviously, it doesn't work.

The whole concept of suboxone was to allow patients to have a scrip to take home and (oh my) live their lives as close to normally as possible after a proper induction period.