Tracym

LOL

That's not a reasonable assumption at all. There are various reasons a person could potentially "not tolerate" a generic brand. I do understand the topic - have had a lot of discussions about it in fact. Kinda snide comment from you there there, I'll refrain from responding in kind...

The Canadian drugs I could see a problem with - as they are not actual equivalents, apparently. Thought that came to my mind though - if they tested the US versions of the drugs in the same fashion (brand name and generic), I wonder if they would get the same variability.

Rete

No, you do not understand what I am trying to explain, Tracy and no, I was not being snide. If two drugs are the very same (generic vs name brand), then their tolerance by the same user should be identical. This is not always true so unless we know the complete breakdown of ingredients in one and the other, IMHO it is because there is an additional and/or missing ingredient in one.

Tracym

Well they should have the same ingredients, certainly. But there can be several other possibilities for an real or perceived intolerance:

adverse reaction to Incative ingredients (unlikely, but possible)
Patient perception - also happens at times
Bad manufacturer - not actually equivalent

For some examples - there is a yellow dye, that cannot be taken by some asthmatics. So, one brand of medication might be fine, while a generic might not, simply because of the dye. Or even the reverse - the generic is fine, but not the name brand.

I have an older lady friend, that is convinced all generics are junk, and she wants "the best first rate stuff". So whenever she takes one, she has all sorts of "intolerances". Until she fails to notice one is generic - in which case she is just fine. Or until the name brand actually costs her more, and she suddenly tolerates it then also.

I'm sure there are even more reasons I'm not thinking of at the moment.

But GENERALLY, generics have the same active ingredients, and are generally equivalent, safe, and cost-effective.

don4

k this is scary stuff as looking to move and my daughter realieys on taking regular antibiotics to keep her infection free ,never thought about haveing to contribute to her drugs,time to question my future others half insurance company and find out just how much would need to contribute are certain drugs free in the us like in uk for diabetics etc.
o
As for generic drugs often the same make up of the drug but as been said before is often the base thats differnt which is a inactivite ingrediant ie the colouring etc ran into this problem afew times way round it is to research the drug and often email drug companies asking if they use any dyes inactive extras

Tracym

I would not generally expect any drugs to be free.

However, it is quite possible that they would be mostly paid for by the insurance company (or even totally paid for, but I doubt that).

The other thing I wonder - is will the insurance company cover pre-existing conditions? They probably will, but might not - that's something to be certain of. In theory they chould consider the NHS creditable coverage, and be required to cover pre-existing conditions, but some people have had trouble getting that to work.

Duncan Roberts

I went to the medco site but couldn't find anything about signing up. The furthest I got was to a signup form that asked for a medco membership number which I don't have.

jumping doris

I don't think you will get any of the drugs free. I know children don't or didn't pay a prescription charge in the UK but here you will have a copay for the medicine.

I have just been to the pharmacy to pick up my daughter's acne medicine (I can hear her now...thank you, mother, for putting that on the internet)

She has two items and I paid $10 for each. If you do a very basic pounds for dollars conversion then it works out cheaper than a UK prescription .....although she wouldn't have paid in the first place in the UK.

Duncan Roberts

Just to give you an example for diabetes, unless you have good health insurance there are no free drugs for it. You may get some samples for free but that's about it. Some generic versions of old drugs are on most $4 prescription lists at some pharmacies like Target but the newer ones can be expensive. Example retail cost price of 90 pills (3 month supply) of 45mg Actos is about $675. Depending on your insurance it may or may not pick up some or most of that cost. I'm lucky with my plan that all diabetic drugs are covered at either a 30% or 20% copay, some people this drug is not covered at all so you would foot the whole cost. Most other branded diabetic drugs (pills) are in the $60-100 per month, some of the newer injections and very new pills like Byetta and Januvia are a lot more

snowbunny

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/555489
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...?dopt=Abstract

There are certain drugs with a very narrow therapeutic index: over and under that range can cause the original condition to resurface, or for serious adverse side effects. This is especially true of anticonvulsant, psychiatric, and thyroid replacement drugs, to name a few.

Georgia law specifically names these: b) The list compiled pursuant to subsection (a) of this
2-24 Code section shall include, at a minimum, carbabmazepine,
2-25 digoxin, levothyroxine, phenytoin, valproic acid, and
2-26 warfarin.

which are anti-psychotics, anticonvulsants, anti-arrhythmia, anticoagulant, and thyroid replacement drugs. Many anti-cancer drugs also fall into this category.

frrussre

So the drugs in UK or Canada, or Europe or, are of a lesser quality? Now I know, you are winding us up. Funny, you got me. Good one.

don4

hmm ok if I do move me thinks make sure hold on uk citzenship and plan plenty of holidays back in good old uk and stock up on prescribed meds here.Or least children have option of returning to uk when older if means it becomes to diffcult to cover costs of insurance for selves when becomes older

frrussre

When we lived in NYC, my wifes Insurance plan covered FOC all meds, the cost of the plan was ZERO, for her & family. Our only out of pocket, was $10co-pay, for seeing the quack. No referrals. No ER charges. Wish we had that plan in FL.
Reg. Frank R.

Elvira

You will not be entitled to use the NHS once you leave, other than for genuine emergencies - nor will your children.

It is residency, not citizenship, that entitled people to use the NHS.

Tracym

There were lots of problems with thyroid drugs as I remember. Interestingly, I believe the actual name brand, Synthroid, has some of the major problems with variability per tablet. If I'm remembering right.

I have a sneaking suspicion that if the various name brands were tested along with generics, there might be a lot of variability in quite a few of them.

I do stand by my statement though, that USUALLY generics are fine and cost-effective.

Duncan Roberts

I agree. One type of generic that can cause problems though are the extended release versions of drugs. Sometimes the coating of the generic versions doesn't work as well as other generics or the brand and you end up with a bad release or no release at all. I know people who have had the generic manufacturer of a drug switched on them and end up shitting out the whole pill completely in tact. Of course this isn't a generic vs brand thing, it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.