If you’ve never experienced a migraine, it’s difficult to understand how a headache can be so devastating. A recent conversation with Kelly, an Rx Savings Solutions member from Oklahoma, helped to open our eyes.
For Kelly, a migraine usually brings 3 days of closing hers to avoid all light sources. Intense pain extends from the cranium to the entire body, and nausea sets in. “You feel like you’re literally going to die,” she said.
Imagine feeling that way several times per month for 22 years. For most of those years, Kelly just suffered through the migraines before finding a medication that helped. The only problem: Without prescription drug coverage, her cost for a box of six RELPAX¨ tablets was an astounding $800.
“After you pay $800 for a box of those, from that day forward you treat them like gold,” she said. “I would string them out because they were so expensive.” Which often meant enduring 2 days of agony—so she could make sure it was a “real” migraine—before taking a RELPAX or skipping treatment altogether.
Help on the Way
Kelly’s husband landed a job at a company whose health plan covered a different migraine drug (eletriptan hydrobromide) at 100%. She went from paying $800 to $0—for 1 year, anyway. Without full understanding of the plan design, the couple chose a lower-premium/higher-deductible option for 2021. That pushed her out-of-pocket cost back up to $150 per fill.
Once again, when she felt a migraine coming on, Kelly hesitated to treat it. “I just couldn’t justify spending $150 on medication,” she said. “That’s a lot of gas money.”
They didn’t know her husband’s employer provides Rx Savings Solutions as part of its benefits package—until an engagement email arrived one day. He activated his account and urged Kelly to do the same. Not long afterward, she got her first savings notification. A different migraine drug (sumatriptan) would only cost her $4.59.
“The app sent me a message, which was so stinkin’ cool,” Kelly said. “I pushed the button that said contact my doctor. I didn’t have to do anything. I didn’t have to do the research to find a cheaper product. I didn’t have to call my doctor. I didn’t have to call the pharmacy. It was just done. It was amazing.”
How many Kellys are out there suffering from migraines or any health condition because the cost of relief is either out of reach or too expensive to justify? Today there is one less, thanks to Rx Savings Solutions. “Now that (the medication) is only $5,” she said, “Heck yeah, I’ll actually take it instead of lying in bed, crying.”
With her permission, we’re sharing Kelly’s story in her own voice and pictures in the video below:
