Mosquitoes Don't Suck Your Blood...It's Money

I dropped by Costco's yesterday to pick up the prescriptions the travel doctor recommended.

"Can you tell me how much these would cost?" I asked, rather innocently.

There were four prescriptions in all, two for Kinsey and two for me. The prescriptions were for Malarone, the current drug of choice for malaria, and Zithromax, an antibiotic for severe cases of traveller's diarrhea--what you use if Imodium doesn't work. The doctor and I had agreed on a three-week regimen of Malarone. You take it the day before you enter an infected area, swallow one pill per day, and then continue treatment for one week after you leave. The prescription called for 29 pills each. Malarone is apparently a huge improvement over the previous malarial drug of choice, which could cause depression and hallucinations. The other drug currently in use, Doxycycline, can cause extreme sun-sensitivity, not a real plus for the beaches of Thailand.

The clerk disappeared for a moment and returned with pen in hand.

"This one," she said, pointing to the Malarone, "is $184. For each prescription. The Zithromax is $34.75 per prescription."

My mouth fell open. "I think I'll shop around and compare prices," I said finally.

The clerk handed the prescriptions back to me. "Call your insurance," she said.

So I did. Today, I had to call two different companies, because Kinsey and I are covered by two different programs. Luckily, I was able to get Malarone from my insurance (Empire) with only a $50 deductible, and Kinsey, who has Oxford, had only a $25 deductible. The Zithromax (or the generic azithromycin) would cost somewhere near $10. For some reason, the insurance would not cover drugs bought online, but I did a little web research, and if you do not have insurance, you should be able to get a better price online.

The travel doctor did mention that prices for these drugs varied pretty widely, so I also dropped by Wal-Mart, just to see if their regular prices were any better. Alas, Wal-Mart was even higher with the Malarone coming in at $208.

So before you buy your tickets to a foreign tropical country, check to see if it's a malarial region, check your insurance, and increase your budget.