medicare not paying need altenative

[jojohess]

My son has been taking tranxene 7.5 miligrams for 24 years.The new medicare plan is not going to pay for them anymore.He has cerebral palsy and can not work and he can`t afford to pay for them.I am looking for a alternative drug to replace the traxene.something that medicare will help with.The medicine has to be on there formulary list.Valium is not on thier list either.Can anyone suggest what to do?

[pharmd06]

jojo-

the important question (if i may ask) is why does your son take the tranxene? does he take it for the disease itself, like spasticity? is it for seizures secondary to the disease?

i don't know much about the disease itself but i do know this:

baclofen (a muscle relaxer) is the most commonly used drug

benzodiazepines (a class of drugs which include tranxene)are second most common but these are all no longer covered

some other options include
tizanidine (zanaflex) - a muscle relaxant
clonidine (catapress) - muscle relaxer(used for a lot of other things)

talk to his physician for options, if he seems controlled the doc may not want to change his meds. explain the situation and go from there.

[zippysgoddess]

Now, as to what your Medicare might cover, while people here can make recommendations for alternative meds, we have no way of knowing what your son's plan might cover, even though the different plans are all listed under Medicare, the coverage type you have and what drugs they will cover varies from plan to plan. My husband is on the Aetna plan, it was the best available for his meds, they cover almost all of them, where some other plans would have made him switch almost all of them.

So you will have to look over his plan info, or maybe ask at your pharmacy and see what they will cover that might work for him. Also, you do not have to stay with the current plan he has, if it just isn't working and covering the meds he needs. He can switch and while he would still be needing to something for a month or two, until the changes take effect, you might be able to find a plan more reasonable for him that will cover that med.



My information is not guaranteed correct. I do not get them right all the time, but I do enjoy the hunt~