I have been on PrEP now for 8 years and have also added DoxyPEP to my arsenal of preventative tools that allow me to flutter around the meadow of life and land on any flower I want with few worries about bringing something home left there by the previous butterfly.
I’m of course referring to HIV and common STIs. If you don’t already know, PrEP is pre-exposure prophylaxis which is a once daily pill that insures you cannot get HIV from a sexual partner. DoxyPEP is an after contact medication you take on the fly to reduce your risk of contracting gonorrhea, chlamydia, or syphilis.
Both medication regimes are proven very effective and have been commonly available for a while now through your doctor and a growing list of online telehealth services.
Health insurance in the U.S. is required to cover both in most cases and if you don’t have insurance, there are many programs out there that can help you get it for free or at a reduced cost. If you do have to pay for it out of pocket, generics have brought down the monthly price to about what it costs for you and your man to go to the movies together. It’s just no longer cost prohibitive.
I have been getting both PrEP and DoxyPEP from my local doctor for 8 years and it has been fine, but I recently decided to change over to a new online service provider called Freddie. Named in honor of Freddie Mercury, it’s an online medical consultation, testing and prescription service for PrEP and DoxyPEP as well as a few other things.
Right up front, they are not paying me for my sharing about it, they are not a sponsor in any way. There is a reason I chose them and I will get to that in a moment or two.
Like many other online services you see advertised on social media and on the hookup aps, Freddie offers completely free online consultation and telehealth services, at home self testing via mail and discrete shipping of medications to your door.
Getting Started
To get started I simply went to their website GoFreddie.com and filled out their Get Started form which did ask some probing sexual questions to make sure I really needed the medications. Guess what, I passed that first hurdle quite easy. At the end of the form work I was able set up my first telehealth appointment and a free do-it-yourself lab testing kit was mailed to me.
In about a week my test kit showed up in an unmarked inconspicuous package. It did not say PrEP Whore on it in big letters, so no worries it’s discrete. When I opened it up however, they did have a nice branded kit that was easy to understand and use, though it was impressively comprehensive.
It tested for HIV, the standard battery of STIs, Hepatitis B and a couple other metrics. It did require me to poke my own finger to get blood samples, which was the hardest part. That’s surprised me since I do HIV testing on other people as one of my gigs. No worries, you can always get a friend to help.
It also has you gather urine and swab samples which you are most likely used to already if you’ve been tested for STIs before. When it was all complete it was packaged up and mailed back to their lab in a pre-paid envelope. The directions are clear and concise and walk you through the entire thing.
The Telehealth Experience
The video telehealth appointment on my phone took about 15 minutes of answering standard medical questions about me and my medical parameters. It was friendly, casual and not judgy at all. They concluded with approving my prescriptions and sent them off to their partner pharmacy for processing.
You can elect to get your medications at your own chosen pharmacy, but I chose theirs for a very specific reason.
Why Freddie Is Different
You see, what sets Freddie apart from the other online PrEP and STI medical providers is that they partner with local outreach organizations in the states where their services are available. That’s why at current, Freddie is only available in the states you see right now on your screen.
To me and you the consultation services, the lab testing and medications are entirely covered by our private health insurance. It’s entirely free to us the consumers. But because Freddie partners with local non-profits who actually facilitate the processing and shipment of the medications, a significant part of the proceeds is shared with the local outreach organizations they’ve partnered with.
This allows the local groups who you may already know and use to grow and prosper, or perhaps even survive during this difficult funding freze era we’re living in. In my case the local organization is RipplePHX here in Arizona who provides a range of outreach services like free HIV testing at events, navigation services for HIV, PrEP and DoxyPEP programs, sexual health advice and more.
This is the primary reason why I chose to go with Freddie, because it benefits a local organization I love and care about. There was an unepected benefit for me though.
Through my local doctor and pharmacy I have been getting these medications through I have always needed to pay at $30 co-pay for the labwork every 90 days. Also, the local pharmacy charged me a $30 co-pay every 30 days when I picked up my medications because I choose a brand name. So that’s $120 every three months.
With Freddie there was zero co-pay for the telehealth and associated lab testing. When the pharmacy shipped my same brand name medications, there was not only a zero co-pay but they shipped a full 90 day supply so I don’t need to worry about it again until next quarter. Bonus!
The medications arrived to me in about 3 weeks from my initial Freddie website Get Started form inquiry – again in a discrete package that didn’t say PrEP Whore anywhere on it.
So I saved money, didn’t have to go to a brick and mortar doctor or pharmacy, and I’m saving $480 a year now on fees. There is one catch. At the moment Freddie only takes private insurance, but that may change as they grow. And of course they are still only available in certain states, but a growing list none the less.
So there is, this is my Freddie experience and I highly recommend them if you are in one of their service areas even though I am not getting paid to say it.
Smoker of fine tires, eater of natural foods, connoisseur of aromatic leathers, pusher of limits.