do patients have to pay for Tecfridera? Picking up my first prescription and asked to pay at pharmacy.
i didn’t have to pay for rebif
As far as I know Tecfidera is usually delivered (in England) to your home address through Alcura. There is no charge for this to the patient.
I am on Tecfidera and as Lenney said it is delivered to me and there is no charge.I would question with your MS nurse about this.
Jamie.
I picked up from Queen’s Square this morning, and questioned it and the pharmacist said it was like a normal prescription.
Its bizarre, strictly speaking it should be like a normal prescription but for some reason it’s not usually treated that way. I don’t pay for prescriptions (medical exemption because of underactive thyroid, don’t get me started on why that makes me exempt but MS doesn’t!) and some companies ask to see a copy of the exemption card. Unusually Alcura didn’t. Neither did Scripteasy who deliver my catheters, whilst Charter Healthcare did. And years ago when I had Avonex delivered, I had to show the card, but when I changed to copaxone it was a different delivery company and they didn’t ask for proof of exemption. So if you get drugs that you collect from a pharmacy rather than have them delivered by Alcura, you are likely to be asked to pay for the prescription. It’s not right or fair, but I don’t know who you’d complain to. The people who have their Tecfidera delivered by Alcura wouldn’t thank you for making them pay!!
Sue
I spoke to MS Nurses afterwards and was told it is treated like a normal prescription. So i think paying just under £9 is better then injection myself 3 times a week (i hate injections)
I get mine delivered for free by Alcura too. I don’t understand why you’re having to pay for it : / Do you know why you have to collect it rather than it being delivered?
Is this likely to be a funding thing in your healthcare region do you think?
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The other thing I’ve mentioned before is there are help with NHS healthcare costs HC1 and HC2 certificates patients can apply for for free prescriptions etc or pay partial costs.
For people on certain benefits and also those who are lower waged/have lower savings can apply.
You could phone Alcura perhaps and ask them about delivery. They have a patient services team.
I pay several grand a year for mine, even though i pay my governmental health care tax and a private insurance premium.
But that’s what Canada considers to be ‘social health care system’.
I try not to complain. Apparently its market value is at least $56k per annum!
We love to complain about the NHS, even though it does provide a better system of healthcare than much of the world. And our prescription charge is still only £8.20 per prescription item and we can opt to pay rate of £29.10 for all quarterly prescriptions. So while your Tecfidera costs you several grand a year, ours is about £120 for all prescriptions.
Sue
As Sue mentions above, if you do not qualify to free prescriptions on the NHS because of your medical condition (and MS does not count on its own ) or because of level of disability or certain low income criteria or your age you can still save money if you need a lot of separate (regular) prescriptions by paying for a pre-payment certificate.
The certificate either covers you for 3 months (costs £29.10) or for 12 months (costs £104.00).
Remember that you are charged £8.20 per individual item on a prescription not per prescription so if you are prescribed items regularly it is definitely worth getting.
Details here Save money with a prescription prepayment certificate (PPC) - NHS
Alternatively, you could always move to Scotland or Wales - we don’t have prescription charges for anyone (at the moment )
I’m becoming a little nervous now…because my ESA’s been stopped, and I’m having to go back on JSA, am I likely to start being charged for my treatment then? I’ve been on ESA all the time that I’ve been on treatment.
No, your position is still the same as it was before. If your Tecfidera is delivered by Alcura, they’ve not been asking anyone to pay for their prescriptions, it’s got nothing to do with what benefits you’re receiving.
Sue
Phew, that’s a relief, thanks Sue!
I didn’t realise some people were paying for their DMD in the UK! I was on Tec delivered by Alcura but have now started Gilenya/ Fingolimod which will be delivered by someone else, so I’m assuming it’s the same set up and no payment? Not a problem if so as I have a prepayment prescription card but just curious.
It’s pretty shocking, isn’t it. I really can’t understand it, why is anyone having to pay when the majority of us don’t.
I collect my Tecfidera from my hospital pharmacy and have to pay the normal presciption charge. The neuro prescribes 3 months supply at a time so I pay one prescription charge for 3 boxes. At the moment the hospital doesn’t have a contract with a delivery company hence why we have to collect ourselves and pay the prescription.
Previously I was on Rebif and then copaxone and the hospital used healthcare at home to deliver these to me and HAH paid the prescription charge. To be honest I prefer collecting myself and paying the prescription charge- saves the stress of wondering if HAH would mess up the delivery which they did do plus having to be unavailable for work to wait in for the delivery.
Cathy
My next prescription will be for 6 months, so not bad if charge one price.
As said by Cat 66, I think it boils down to whether you collect drug from pharmacy or whether it is delivered. I was on rebif and used to pay when I collected it but this stopped when it was delivered. TBH, I’m so delighted qualify for treatment I’d be happy to pay charge anyway 