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seonsengnimble
Joined: 02 Jun 2009
Location: taking a ride on the magic English bus
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 Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:49 pm Post subject: Health insurance and smoking |
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I went to the doctor today and got a three month prescription for an SSRI(oops not an ssri, zyban) because I am going to quit smoking in a month. To my surprise, it cost me nearly 300K. The nurse explained that the national health insurance doesn't cover medication for quitting smoking, they only cover it if it's for depression.
I have so far been pretty happy with medical costs here. If I'm sick, I spend five thousand at the doctor and pay 5,000 at the pharmacy. This strikes me as odd, though. One would think that smoking cessation would be covered, especially since it could prevent much higher costs in the future.
Does anyone know the reason for this odd policy? |
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Forever
Joined: 12 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:11 am Post subject: |
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Bupropion (Wellbutrin, Zyban, Amfebutamone) is a medication used for depression, smoking cessation, sexual dysfunction, obesity or ADD.
You should have told your doctor that you were depressed and that the anti-depressant medication your doctor used to give you in your home country (which worked well) was Zyban.
Then the doctor could have given you Zyban and as it is an anti-depressant - it would have been covered by the Health Insurance.
It is the 4-most prescribed anti-depressant in the USA for depression.
If you ask for it as a medication to cease smoking, the Korean government will not have the Health insurance cover it, as many people take the drug then fail to quit smoking, then try again and again and again, costing the health coverage too much money.
Go to that Quack at International hospital in Itaewon and have him prescribe it for you as an anti-depressant.
He does anything you want - (he gave me Finated ((to prevent baldness)) and wrote it off on health insurance as for "prostrate problems - just so I could get it cheaper). |
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andrewchon
Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Location: Back in Oz. Living in ISIS Aust.
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| Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:23 am Post subject: |
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I wonder about the same as well.
In Australia, nicotine gum price was around the price of cigarettes.
Nicotine patch price higher than a pack of ciggies (for my rate of smoking).
1 pack cigs of 25's around $12-14
1 box of 30 gums $15
4 week program of patches ( patch a day ) $450 |
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nycbabyblue67
Joined: 24 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 9:06 am Post subject: |
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| Doesn't everyone in Korea smoke? |
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seonsengnimble
Joined: 02 Jun 2009
Location: taking a ride on the magic English bus
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| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Forever wrote: |
If you ask for it as a medication to cease smoking, the Korean government will not have the Health insurance cover it, as many people take the drug then fail to quit smoking, then try again and again and again, costing the health coverage too much money. |
Makes sense.
| Forever wrote: |
Go to that Quack at International hospital in Itaewon and have him prescribe it for you as an anti-depressant. |
I like that guy. I get my insulin from him and he asks pertinent questions and gives sound advice. Other doctors have suggested taking insulin only every once in a while or changing my prescription to a more expensive brand of the exact same insulin that comes in smaller vials.
This wellbutrin/zyban stuff is insane. I do wish that I would have been advised a little bit more on it by the doctor, although I did do a fair amount of research before. I had two days of feeling exhausted and barely able to walk to the nearest store for some food I had no desire to eat. Then on Sunday, I felt like I had ingested a kilo of cocaine, lied in bed for about 6 hours trying to sleep while I had to tap my foot and drum my fingers because I had so much dopamine running through me, I could have run a marathon. Yesterday was fun at work. Seems to have leveled off now. |
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nycbabyblue67
Joined: 24 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 9:35 am Post subject: "That quack..." |
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Can you please pm me with his name and contact info?
I'm gonna need refills.
Thanks! |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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The gov't makes a lot of tax money off of smokers. So does the rich health care industry, which has a lot of gov't influence.
Why would they want this to stop? |
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