A week and a half ago, I came down with bronchitis/asthma flare up and had to refill my albuterol inhaler for the first time in a long time (because it had expired, not because I had used it up - I go through one every couple of years, if that). Cost: $40 insurance copay because there is no generic, almost $70 without insurance.
My previous inhaler was purchased in Panama, where it is OTC and cost around $8.
Currently we are visiting the in laws in Cyprus, and I wish I’d been able to wait a week for the refill, because here they are also OTC and in the 5 - 6 euro range. I have friends asking me to bring home extras for them and their kids.
Non-US Dopers, what do albuterol/salbutamol inhalers cost where you live, and do you need a prescription? What about other drugs that are prescription-only in the U.S., like codeine?
And what on Earth is the rationale for making albuterol a prescription drug in the U.S. when it isn’t in other places? I don’t read of hordes of Cypriots or Panamanians keeling over from albuterol abuse…seems like making it OTC in the U.S. would save lives.
The US seems very nannyish compared to other developed nations when it comes to things like this. We can’t have Primatene Mist anymore - much too dangerous to treat asthma OTC. We couldn’t even have nasal steroids OTC until long after they became over the counter in Canada because the powers that be worried there might be the potential for abuse.
In Australia they can be bought over the counter so long as a pharmacist is the one handing it over. I have never been offered more than two at a time and they often come with a lecture. They cost about $6-$9 each that way. Doctors usually prescribe them in pairs and they come out cheaper, especially for those entitled to concessions. I am on high doses and am prescribed 4 a month, I pay $5.30 for the lot.
It is. You used to be able to get one OTC by taking your old, empty inhaler and signing a form listing your GP’s name and contact details, but I don’t think you can anymore.
All prescription medicines cost the same in the UK - £8.60 (c. $11) per prescription. Doctors will usually give you two inhalers per prescription, so you pay $5.50 per inhaler.
OP, just to blow your mind on price, should you ever find yourself in need of an inhalor in Wales, you can get prescription inhalers (in fact, ALL prescriptions) on the NHS for free. Not a single penny.
It was a slightly different conversation the last time. And perhaps part of the answer is that there is universal health care in Cyprus, and medication of pretty much any kind is significantly cheaper, so cost is a much smaller barrier to appropriate diagnosis and treatment. And it still pisses me off that such a basic medicine costs an order of magnitude more in the U.S., especially when it was quite cheap until just a few years ago. Maybe if maintenance meds for asthma didn’t cost hundreds of dollars a month in some cases, and everyone had consistent access to appropriate primary care so that they understood which drugs to take when, Americans could have nice things.
I don’t overuse bronchiodilators, so why should I have to pay $70 for the same damn thing that cost a tenth that much in living memory? It’s bonkers, but perhaps that’s a different thread.
(And yes, here it’s OTC, but you need to get it from the pharmacist. Pharmacists here have different training than in the U.S. And can sell many things that are prescription only in the U.S. On a previous trip the pharmacist diagnosed me with ringworm and gave me an ointment for it - my doctor agreed with the diagnosis when I got home and refilled the same thing. Except the 7 € tube of ointment was a $20 tube of antifungal and a steroid cream for which the generic cost a mind-boggling $300. )
The question of why prescription and not otc was really the exact same question.
Indeed you as one individual would not abuse it. And you might not abuse morphine either but would use it very responsibly. Funny enough the decisions are not made with only you in mind.