Friday, November 12, 2010

what are the dangers in using my health insurance to get medication for someone else?

My boyfriend neeeeds to quit smoking, he smokes like more than a pack a day! But! He doesnt have health insurance, and i have great health insurance through my job. Are there any potential dangers to getting him a prescription for chantix on my health insurance ? (i socially smoke so it wouldnt be a huge stretch at the docs office) Could it increase my insurance costs to admit that i am a "smoker" to insurers?
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There are plenty of complications this could cause for you and your boyfriend...and not just insurance-wise. Medically speaking, it could be dangerous for your boyfriend to take the prescription written for you. Dosage for many drugs is different based on a person's gender, weight, and other factors. So, the dosage of Chantix prescribed for "you" may not be the same dosage that would be recommended for your boyfriend. There are people who should not be prescribed Chantix, based on their medical history. You could give your boyfriend something that would be potentially dangerous for him by pretending the presciption is for you instead. A doctor may not feel that Chantix is appropriate for him...there are many potentially serious side effects, and it would be unsafe for your boyfriend to take it without under the care of a physician. (Chantix has been linked to behavioral issues, increased risk of suicide, and neuropsychiatric issues in some patients. It is *extremely* important to be under the care and supervision of a physician when taking this drug.) Those are just the possible medical complications! As far as insurance goes... Obviously, you'd be committing insurance fraud, and would be subject to prosecution if caught. Additionally, there's always the possibility that you'd have to pay higher health care premiums in the future, if you ever needed to go through medical underwriting to obtain a health insurance policy. (When you apply for insurance, they can check the Medical Information Bureau to get an idea of how expensive you would be to insure. If you look like you use a lot of expensive prescriptions, it could bump you up into a higher premium class.) This is a very bad idea, just for the medical reasons alone.
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