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How Much Does Tamiflu Cost?

Tamiflu is a brand name for oseltamivir. In short, oseltamivir is a kind of antiviral medication that can be used to combat the influenza viruses responsible for the flu by inhibiting an enzyme that said viruses need to spread throughout the human body. Due to this, oseltamivir has a couple of common uses. One would be helping people recover from the flu, which can be particularly important for people who either have complications from the flu or are expecting complications from the flu. The other would be preventing people from getting the flu, which is particularly important if they are coming into regular contact with people who have the flu. With that said, there is some controversy over whether people should be using oseltamivir for flu prevention or not, both because there are some studies suggesting uncertain effectiveness and because the medical authorities are concerned about the overuse of the antiviral medication encouraging the development of resistant strains of the relevant viruses.

What Does Tamiflu Cost?

Estimating the cost of oseltamivir can be rather complicated. This is because there are a number of factors that can influence its price. For example, branded oseltamivir is more expensive than non-branded oseltamivir, meaning that interested individuals who want Tamiflu and nothing but Tamiflu should expect to pay more. Likewise, oseltamivir is available as capsules as well as suspended in a liquid, with the liquid being the more expensive of the two forms.

Generally speaking, a non-branded version of oseltamivir should be available at around $135 for a total of ten doses. In contrast, Tamiflu should be available at around $175, which is a significant increase in price but not payoff. As stated earlier, the liquid form of oseltamivir is more expensive, so much so that interested individuals should expect to pay around $250 and $350 for the non-branded and branded products.

With that said, interested individuals should remember to consider their health insurance as well. Generally speaking, Tamiflu is treated as a Tier 2 drug, which tends to include brand-name medications. Unfortunately, while some health insurance plans will cover the cost of Tamiflu and other forms of oseltamivir, others will cover no more than a portion of the costs. Due to this, it is one more reason that interested individuals should have at least a general idea of what their health insurance plans will and will not cover as well as how much their health insurance plans will cover because it will be much too late for them to pay attention to the terms of their coverage if they wait until they need it.

Should You Get Tamiflu?

On a final note, interested individuals should give some serious thought to whether they need Tamiflu or some other form of oseltamivir. As stated earlier, there is some uncertainty over whether oseltamivir is actually useful for preventing the flu or not, meaning that taking oseltamivir might not provide interested individuals with good value for good money. Furthermore, the over-use of oseltamivir and other medications is contributing much to the development of resistant strains, which is a huge health crisis with what could be horrific consequences for humans as a whole in the long run. As a result, public-minded people might want to give some serious thought to whether they need to take oseltamivir or not if they don't actually have a need for it.

On a related note, it should be mentioned that there are also people who shouldn't be taking oseltamivir for other reasons. Generally speaking, interested individuals shouldn't be taking oseltamivir if they are allergic to either the antiviral medication or one of the other ingredients. Furthermore, children who are less than one year old shouldn't be taking it either. In some cases, there are people who will experience serious side effects when they take oseltamivir, with examples ranging from pains to the sensation of nausea. When that happens, said individuals should see their doctors as soon as possible to get assistance because they don't know if the side effect could be a sign of something even worse. This is particularly true if someone is unlucky enough to experience a side effect such as seizures, confusion, and a yellowing of the skin that could indicate liver impairment, which should always be a cause for affected individuals to see their doctors immediately. Most people will not experience these side effects, but they are nonetheless a possibility, which is why interested individuals should be prepared in the event of their occurrence.

You can also read:

  • How Much Does a Vasectomy Cost?
Garrett Parker

Written by Garrett Parker

Garrett by trade is a personal finance freelance writer and journalist. With over 10 years experience he's covered businesses, CEOs, and investments. However he does like to take on other topics involving some of his personal interests like automobiles, future technologies, and anything else that could change the world.

Read more posts by Garrett Parker

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