#paxlovid

When the public health emergency around covid-19 ended, vaccines and treatments became commercial products, meaning companies could charge for them as they do other pharmaceuticals. Paxlovid, the highly effective antiviral pill that can prevent covid from becoming severe, now has a list price of nearly $1,400 for a five-day treatment course.

Thanks to an innovative agreement between the Biden administration and the drug’s manufacturer, Pfizer, Americans can still access the medication free or at very low cost through a program called Paxcess. The problem is that too few people — including pharmacists — are aware of it.

I learned of Paxcess only after readers wrote that pharmacies were charging them hundreds of dollars — or even the full list price — to fill their Paxlovid prescription. This shouldn’t be happening. A representative from Pfizer, which runs the program, explained to me that patients on Medicare and Medicaid or who are uninsured should get free Paxlovid. They need to sign up by going to paxlovid.iassist.com or by calling 877-219-7225. “We wanted to make enrollment as easy and as quick as possible,” the representative said.

Indeed, the process is straightforward. I clicked through the web form myself, and there are only three sets of information required. Patients first enter their name, date of birth and address. They then input their prescriber’s name and address and select their insurance type.

Also preserved in our archive

If you live in the United States, and have Medicare, Medicaid or no insurance you can get Paxlovid easily and for free for as many times as you need it. There is a new program called Pax Access

Even if you have health care insurance that will charge you a copay, you can use this program as well

All you need is a prescription. No proof of a positive COVID test, no health questionnaire and once you sign up you can take the coupon to your pharmacy immediately

Gift article, no paywall

https://wapo.st/49z3ocf

transcript:

"So I'm just getting over my first covid infection, and this is a PSA to fucking get paxlovid. I managed to get it within the first 24 hours of having symptoms, and I went from feeling like I got hit by a truck to practically having no symptoms within four days. Since nobody fucking masks anymore, but you should, I think it's important to have a plan for what you will do when you inevitably get covid, and try to reduce the impact that will have on you and your health.

Paxlovid not only reduces the symptoms that you have from covid, but also reduces the chance of developing long-covid after infection.

If you don't have a plan for how you will get paxlovid if you get infected with covid, send your doctor a message right now and ask "What would be the quickest and most effective way for me to get paxlovid if I get a covid infection."

It does have a lot of medications that it can't be taken with, so keep an eye out for that, you might not be able to take it. But cases are up significantly right now, and it's important to have a plan of what you will do to take care of yourself, if you get infected.

Also, take care of yourself and your community by masking, please." [end transcript]

❗️please read❗️ i should mention its still regulated to just be prescribed for “high risk” patients, but in the words of my doctor “thats stupid, everyone should have it”. So just keep that in mind when trying to get it. My doctor asked if ive ever had anxiety or depression, i said yes, and that was enough to get it. It was $6 with my insurance, but that will of course vary person to person. Repeat infections lead to higher chances of long covid, so having tools to resuce that chance is crurial to navigating this mass disabling event. Also take it with food, or the taste it leaves in your mouth will be even worse.

For U.S. residents who are on Medicare, Medicaid, or are uninsured, and who have been prescribed the antiviral Paxlovid (used to reduce the severity of COVID19), the medication is free through Pfizer's patient assistance program. People who have private insurance might also be able to use the link reduce their co-pay.

(Or if you prefer the phone to a website, you can call 877-219-7225 to sign up.)

The list price for Paxlovid is $1400 for the five-day course, and now that the federal government is no longer providing the medication for free, some people are being told by pharmacies that they have to pay list price (because they are uninsured, or because the medicine is not covered on their insurance). If that's you -- or if your co-pay is steeper than you can afford -- please check out the patient assistance program above!

Licking a hot metal slide on a humid August morning

The results of an hourlong makeout session with Optimus Prime, wherein he has the alien robot equivalent of morning breath

Taking the water and coins out of an old fountain at an abandoned mall, and boiling it into a tea.

In the hopes of not getting a dirty martini, purposely ordering a “clean martini” only for the bartender to wildly misunderstand and add a sizeable squirt of grapefruit-scented dishwashing detergent to your glass, and then drinking it all at once.

The burps you'd get from really pounding a frying pan-flavored LaCroix

That urban legend about how you can dissolve a spoon in a cup of cola, but then you drank the spoon and only the spoon

RAMQ to the rescue

I mumbled something about Paxlovid and my girlfriend grabbed me by the ear and marched me to the pharmacy on a Sunday night. Turns out the head guy was working due to staff shortage and the combination of looking at me in my sorry-ass state and getting the full effects of my g/f's charm, after 20 minutes of bureaucracy and paper shuffling I had a five-day course of the stuff --marked down from $1400 to 0. Sweet.