Genital Herpes Treatments

Genital Herpes Topics

Seeking Herpes Treatment Without Health Insurance

Genital herpes, a sexually transmitted disease (STD), is an infection caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV). Genital herpes may not be deadly, but it can be physically painful and emotionally debilitating. Those who have it may suffer from painful sores as well as feelings of shame, regret, isolation, and undesirability. And it is on the rise.

For many people finding treatment without insurance can be as debilitating as the illness. There is help and ways to help. If you've ever had to pay out of pocket for your genital herpes medications, you may have been shocked. Often these drugs can run well over $100 for a single prescription. For many, that's simply not in the budget.

Help Groups and Options for Herpes Treatment without Insurance

Your herpes medication does not have to be a budget breaker if you know where to look and who to ask.

Talk to your doctor. Doctors get samples of expensive brand name drugs and can help patients by giving them some or all of their prescription. We also get coupons that can often drop the price of a drug to around 10-20 dollars.

Go online. Many pharmaceutical companies, including GSK - the maker of Valtrex - has a patient assistance program for people who qualify. Also check out these websites:

Partnership for Prescription Assistance http://www.pparx.org/, RxAssist: Accessing Pharmaceutical Patient Assistance Programs http://www.rxassist.org/ and RxHope: The Heart of the Pharmaceutical Industry http://www.rxhope.com/, which keeps lists of patient or drug assistance programs.

There are help groups supported by the American Social Health Association in every major city, and it's a great place for patients to seek advice, counsel and help. So find those phone numbers if you can.

Some pharmaceutical companies offer discounts. Others have a discount club that patients pay a small amount to join and then can get the medications they need to treat the herpes infection at a discount. One such program is the Daily Advantage Program.

Although there is no cure for herpes, there are medications that significantly reduce the frequency and duration of outbreaks. These medications have few side effects in most people.

Many cities offer public health offices. Due to restricted budgets you can seek help there but are not guaranteed free prescriptions. Many public health offices can refer you to a center where free or reduced medications can be obtained but you generally have to fall in a certain income bracket to qualify.

- Shop around. A recent study showed that the cost of a single drug can vary by 60% or even 70% based on the pharmacy you shop at. In general, the bricks and mortar chain pharmacies are A LOT more expensive than Wal-Mart, Target or the warehouse clubs such as Sams or Costco. For example: the cholesterol lowering statin drug Zocor was found to be $90 at Walgreens, $80 at CVS, $12 at Costco and $6 at Sam's Club. And don't worry about being a member of the warehouse club. In many states, membership isn't mandatory to use the pharmacy.

- Work with your healthcare provider for samples, for coupons and for help from the pharmaceutical companies. There are websites where you can download printable coupons such as www.VALTREX.com.

- Buy generic. The most popular genital herpes drugs have only been available as brand name drugs, but that's about to change. In late August, the FDA cleared the way for a Teva Pharmaceutical Industries to produce a generic version of Famvir. In early September, Teva announced that they began shipment of their generic equivalent called famciclovir to pharmacies.

- Generic drugs, by definition, contain the same ingredients as their brand name counterparts and are assumed to be identical in dose, strength, safety, efficacy, and intended use. A drug is eligible to become generic (it loses its patent) twenty years after development - which is often 10 to 12 years after it's on the market (assuming that the rest of the time they are being studied in clinical trials).

- One important caveat: insurance companies also love generics. If you are a user of Valtrex, don't be surprised if they make you switch to generic Famvir.

Over-the-counter medications: currently, there is no over-the-counter medication shown to be effective. The most frequently discussed OTC is L-lysine. Some people report favorable results but studies don't support L-lysine to be effective in preventing or shortening herpes outbreaks. If you do feel it helps, remember, you still have an obligation to protect your partner. L-lysine has not been shown to be protective for your partner. For now, you will need prescription medication to protect your partner.