Thank you all once again for following my PrEP experience
with Let’s Talk About PrEP. Today is not a good day for me as far as it
concerns my PrEP journey. But I wanted to share this whole thing with you all
good and bad. Now let me start by saying that physically I am great. There have
been absolutely zero side effects since I started taking Truvada as PrEP.
However I just found out that I no longer qualify for the medication assistance
program provided through Gilead. This is a MAJOR bump in my road.
I received a letter last week that said that my eligibility
period for the PrEP medical assistance program had expired. I was confused
because I had given the paper work to my doctor weeks before making sure he was
able to fill them out and get them faxed in before my eligibility ran out. So I
called Gilead this morning to figure out what was going on. I was informed that
after checking with Anthem about my health insurance they found out I now have
discounted medication coverage with my plan… news to me. Because of the
discounted plan I no longer qualified for the assistance program.
So ok. I don’t qualify for assistance but now the medication
is discounted so I should be good right? WRONG! Even with my insurance’s help,
my copay for Truvada would end up being $524. Clearly this in not something I
can afford. Or even come close to affording. Gilead does have a copay
assistance program, however that would only cover $200 a month. This will not
cover my lack of ability to pay. While I appreciate the effort, I can’t pay
more than $300 a month for anything right now.
So it appears that for the time being I have hit a roadblock
in my journey. I took my last pill last night and it doesn’t look like I am
going to be able to get a refill anytime soon. This does not mean I have given
up on PrEP. In fact as soon as I either find a new source of money, a new
insurance plan, or a way around this, I plan to get that prescription filled
and to start again. In reality I am lucky since my partner is undetectable, so
I am really still in a low risk situation as far as transmission goes. But I am
going to miss that extra layer of protection, as so is he. I hate that the
tools are out there for my protection… I just can’t afford to get them.
I will continue to keep you all updated on my journey, and
as always please feel free to comment on this or ask any questions I might be
able to help you with. Thanks for joining me on this PrEP journey. This is not
the end, I just have to take a detour.
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