Major Changes to Express Scripts Formulary Will Affect Many Asthma and Allergy Patients
I just received notice that as of January 1, 2014, the Express Scripts formulary will be removing a number of medications from its repertoire of covered drugs. This means that patients under the Express Scripts plan will have NO COVERAGE for these prescriptions, and will be required to pay full price at the pharmacy. The list is long, and heavy on medications commonly used by patients with asthma and allergies: Asthma medications: Advair diskus Advair HFA Alvesco HFA Flovent Diskus Flovent HFA Maxair Autohaler Proventil HFA Xopenex HFA Allergy medications: Auvi-Q Beconase AQ Omnaris Rhinocort Aqua Veramyst Zetonna As insurers continue to seek ways to cut costs and boost the bottom line, they will negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to obtain lower pricing. Those companies that play ball get to keep their drugs on the formulary. Those that don't, get dropped. The losers are the patients who will be required to switch from medications they have been taking