So Lucky...$35 for All Oral Travel Meds

As a healthcare worker, I am definitely fortunate to have one of the best healthcare plans. The benefits will truly be missed when I have to give it up for my trip, but not before I take full advantage of it! The Travel Immunization Clinic we consulted with, wrote out all the recommended scripts for malaria, altitude sickness, and traveler's diarrhea. However, for insurance to cover the meds, they have to be prescribed by an approved provider, so I made an appointment with my primary care doc and she sent all those in to the pharmacy.

All my worries about the total cost was unfounded when it came out to $35! That includes the co-pay for almost 100 pills of the generic form of the malaria drug, Malarone, which usually costs ~$500 for even the generic version (just recently became generic in October, lucky us.). The other scripts included Cipro, Diamox, azythromycin (those pesky bugs in Thailand are resistant to Cipro), and a topical prescription strength ointment for bug bites (I get major welts from the most innocent of bug bites).

We are nearly done with our immunizations. We just have our Japanese Encephalitis vaccines left and Mike has to complete his Hepatitis A & B series. You can find a very detailed write-up in a previous blog entry regarding all the ins-and-outs of travel vaccinations: 9 Steps to Knowing the Required and Recommended Travel Immunizations and Pills.