KATHY LAM 黑山

Opinion Here’s how to get free Paxlovid as many times as you need it

When the public health emergency around covid-19 ended, vaccines and treatments became commercial products, meaning companies could charge for them as they do other pharmaceuticals. Paxlovid, the highly effective antiviral pill that can prevent covid from becoming severe, now has a list price of nearly $1,400 for a five-day treatment course.

Thanks to an innovative agreement between the Biden administration and the drug’s manufacturer, Pfizer, Americans can still access the medication free or at very low cost through a program called Paxcess. The problem is that too few people — including pharmacists — are aware of it.

I learned of Paxcess only after readers wrote that pharmacies were charging them hundreds of dollars — or even the full list price — to fill their Paxlovid prescription. This shouldn’t be happening. A representative from Pfizer, which runs the program, explained to me that patients on Medicare and Medicaid or who are uninsured should get free Paxlovid. They need to sign up by going to paxlovid.iassist.com or by calling 877-219-7225. “We wanted to make enrollment as easy and as quick as possible,” the representative said.

Indeed, the process is straightforward. I clicked through the web form myself, and there are only three sets of information required. Patients first enter their name, date of birth and address. They then input their prescriber’s name and address and select their insurance type.

All this should take less than five minutes and can be done at home or at the pharmacy. A physician or pharmacist can fill it out on behalf of the patient, too. Importantly, this form does not ask for medical history, proof of a positive coronavirus test, income verification, citizenship status or other potentially sensitive and time-consuming information.

But there is one key requirement people need to be aware of: Patients must have a prescription for Paxlovid to start the enrollment process. It is not possible to pre-enroll. (Though, in a sense, people on Medicare or Medicaid are already pre-enrolled.)

Once the questionnaire is complete, the website generates a voucher within seconds. People can print it or email it themselves, and then they can exchange it for a free course of Paxlovid at most pharmacies.

Pfizer’s representative tells me that more than 57,000 pharmacies are contracted to participate in this program, including major chain drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens and large retail chains such as Walmart, Kroger and Costco. For those unable to go in person, a mail-order option is available, too.

The program works a little differently for patients with commercial insurance. Some insurance plans already cover Paxlovid without a co-pay. Anyone who is told there will be a charge should sign up for Paxcess, which would further bring down their co-pay and might even cover the entire cost.

Several readers have attested that Paxcess’s process was fast and seamless. I was also glad to learn that there is basically no limit to the number of times someone could use it. A person who contracts the coronavirus three times in a year could access Paxlovid free or at low cost each time.

Unfortunately, readers informed me of one major glitch: Though the Paxcess voucher is honored when presented, some pharmacies are not offering the program proactively. As a result, many patients are still being charged high co-pays even if they could have gotten the medication at no cost.

This is incredibly frustrating. However, after interviewing multiple people involved in the process, including representatives of major pharmacy chains and Biden administration officials, I believe everyone is sincere in trying to make things right. As we saw in the early days of the coronavirus vaccine rollout, it’s hard to get a new program off the ground. Policies that look good on paper run into multiple barriers during implementation.

Those involved are actively identifying and addressing these problems. For instance, a Walgreens representative explained to me that in addition to educating pharmacists and pharmacy techs about the program, the company learned it also had to make system changes to account for a different workflow. Normally, when pharmacists process a prescription, they inform patients of the co-pay and dispense the medication. But with Paxlovid, the system needs to stop them if there is a co-pay, so they can prompt patients to sign up for Paxcess.

Here is where patients and consumers must take a proactive role. That might not feel fair; after all, if someone is ill, people expect that the system will work to help them. But that’s not our reality. While pharmacies work to fix their system glitches, patients need to be their own best advocates. That means signing up for Paxcess as soon as they receive a Paxlovid prescription and helping spread the word so that others can get the antiviral at little or no cost, too.

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Finishing off the year with an idea I've wanted to paint for a while, a cat in the clouds ☁️

late christmas drawing ,, was really torn between reposting this or not !! i feel like ive lost my edge n all but i liked how the faces turned out 🥲 its unrendered and unfinished in some places but my awesome moots convinced me 2 post it here !! so u have them to thank for … hehehej… i love them alot and have been writing sm drabbles of ambereve ..;

Petitions - UK Government and Parliament

Petition: Do not stop transgender people from receiving care in mainstream hospital wards

The previous government proposed changes to the NHS constitution which would mean transgender hospital patients in England may not be treate

Well fucks? Get to it!

Barium Aspiration

This bronchogram resulted from massive barium aspiration. The arrow highlights tree-in-bud appearance in vivid detail.

Source: NEJM

Alternitive Universe Eve I think she'd be the paralyzed eve from S2, but she rebuild herself when mark was visiting and used his body to gain viltrumite powers. Might also brainwash him to use against omniman later (mark can heal from losing half his body weight right?)

She isn't evil she's just crashing out cuz mark destroyed her world, killed most of her friends and then paralyzed her so she just has to sit there and watch it happen everyday - which yeah made her a little unhinged but that's understandable

It broke her to the point that her mental blocks give out - letting her use her powers to the fullest extent, fighting mark and winning. She almost dies too but uses marks body to rebuild herself (she eats all his limbs😔)

Some sympathizing doctors hide her and Mark - cuz of course he can't just die and leave her alone - and the doctors couldn't kill him. But Eve, realizing she'll probably need help to stop Omniman wants to try to brainwash Mark the way she did in her backstory

Mark wakes up later, still fucked up completely, wanting to kill eve, but bro got no limbs so thats not going to work lol. She tries to erase his memories and put in mental blocks like she had so he can't kill (or disobey her). It doesn't work at first,

But cuz this mark is... Insanely obsessed with her he eventually gives in. So he gets put in a tube to regenerate. 

Eve stats a rebellion - probably with the help of dinosaurus - assembling all heroes who are still alive to kill nolan

It goes as well as you'd expect - nolan is almost impossible to kill, so they use the "the son you thought died because of your incompetence is actually alive and he's brainwashed to hate you :3" mental nuke to get him unstable enough and beaten down enough for eve to control him

So with both evil graysons now under control they start rebuilding. Alan shows up, Eve gets him to help her rebuild earth. They fight Thragg, find out mark is the fucking emperor (cuz OF COURSE he is), the viltrumites execute Thragg (eve isn't taking any chances)

I also think it would be an interesting position for eve to be in - even though SHE saved earth, SHE went up against the viltrume empire, SHE is the good guy Mark still gets to be the main character SOMEHOW. 

And that motherfucker is still weirdly obsessed with her😭😭😭

Also i think she'd get together with Rex - they lead the rebellion together (kind of. He was her emotional support) And Mark is very jealous. 

Maybe Eve could get an heir from Mark - a child she can raise to be the new emperor, and who will be a good one. Just to add to the drama

Mark also regains his memories at some point - he even changes for the better, but he's still a weird non-human freak with little empathy. He's also weaker cuz all his limbs are not fully viltrumite.

The robot parts are there to keep her body from shifting too much - since the mental blocks are gone. But she can basically shapeshift and heal immediately - as long as she's not worn out or insta-killed she's practically unstoppable.

I also think she can’t immediately kill viltrumites cuz their body is so dense it's like moving mountains. But she's strong enough to fuck them up.  Thinking too much about her becoming Evevincible and saving the universe and all that

You are not superior to the person who is nonverbal. You are not superior to the person who needs a carer. You are not superior to the person who wears diapers. You are not superior to the person who can't manage a job or an education. You are not superior to the person who is intellectually and/or cognitively disabled. You are not superior to the people in psych wards and group homes. You are not superior to the person in the wheelchair. You are not superior to the person on disability benefits. You are not inherently superior to any of these people just by virtue of being more capable in comparison. Leave your ableism at the door or don't enter