Opinion Here’s how to get free Paxlovid as many times as you need it
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.
All this should take less than five minutes and can be done at home or at the pharmacy. A physician or pharmacist can fill it out on behalf of the patient, too. Importantly, this form does not ask for medical history, proof of a positive coronavirus test, income verification, citizenship status or other potentially sensitive and time-consuming information.
But there is one key requirement people need to be aware of: Patients must have a prescription for Paxlovid to start the enrollment process. It is not possible to pre-enroll. (Though, in a sense, people on Medicare or Medicaid are already pre-enrolled.)
Once the questionnaire is complete, the website generates a voucher within seconds. People can print it or email it themselves, and then they can exchange it for a free course of Paxlovid at most pharmacies.
Pfizer’s representative tells me that more than 57,000 pharmacies are contracted to participate in this program, including major chain drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens and large retail chains such as Walmart, Kroger and Costco. For those unable to go in person, a mail-order option is available, too.
The program works a little differently for patients with commercial insurance. Some insurance plans already cover Paxlovid without a co-pay. Anyone who is told there will be a charge should sign up for Paxcess, which would further bring down their co-pay and might even cover the entire cost.
Several readers have attested that Paxcess’s process was fast and seamless. I was also glad to learn that there is basically no limit to the number of times someone could use it. A person who contracts the coronavirus three times in a year could access Paxlovid free or at low cost each time.
Unfortunately, readers informed me of one major glitch: Though the Paxcess voucher is honored when presented, some pharmacies are not offering the program proactively. As a result, many patients are still being charged high co-pays even if they could have gotten the medication at no cost.
This is incredibly frustrating. However, after interviewing multiple people involved in the process, including representatives of major pharmacy chains and Biden administration officials, I believe everyone is sincere in trying to make things right. As we saw in the early days of the coronavirus vaccine rollout, it’s hard to get a new program off the ground. Policies that look good on paper run into multiple barriers during implementation.
Those involved are actively identifying and addressing these problems. For instance, a Walgreens representative explained to me that in addition to educating pharmacists and pharmacy techs about the program, the company learned it also had to make system changes to account for a different workflow. Normally, when pharmacists process a prescription, they inform patients of the co-pay and dispense the medication. But with Paxlovid, the system needs to stop them if there is a co-pay, so they can prompt patients to sign up for Paxcess.
Here is where patients and consumers must take a proactive role. That might not feel fair; after all, if someone is ill, people expect that the system will work to help them. But that’s not our reality. While pharmacies work to fix their system glitches, patients need to be their own best advocates. That means signing up for Paxcess as soon as they receive a Paxlovid prescription and helping spread the word so that others can get the antiviral at little or no cost, too.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
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
"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!
(Hat tip to Dr. Leana S. Wen at the Washington Post, who talked about the program in her latest column.)
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
I’ve decided the taste of paxlovid is the taste of 🔥🔥VIRUS DYING🔥🔥 which means THIS IS THE BLOOD OF MY ENEMIES UPON MY TONGUE AS THEY FALL BEFORE MY DEFENSES
Things the anti-Covid medicine Paxlovid makes the inside of your mouth perpetually taste like, a not-exhaustive list
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
The transcendent relief that your Covid isn't worse...but also you kind of put your whole mouth around a parking meter?
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.
I still feel like crap but I know I have the state of the art medicine coursing through my veins.