CONNECTICUT CARE · WORDS MADE CLEAR

Words in plain language

Use a clear definition to keep a new word from taking over the conversation.

Medicine, licence or payment: what to ask

Word on a page	Bring it back to this question
A medicine term	What exactly is the product being discussed?
A licence term	Whose record can I check with the state?
A payment term	Who pays, and which part of the bill does it cover?

A useful definition gives you a question you can take into the conversation.

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Peptide: Tiny chemical parts linked into a short chain, like beads threaded along a string. Proteins are made from the same parts; insulin is a peptide.
Active ingredient: The ingredient intended to do the medicine’s main work.
FDA: The US agency reviewing drug products, named the Food and Drug Administration.
FDA approval: FDA’s review of a specific medicine for a particular use; medicines mixed to order lack this approval, as of September 2026.
Compounding: Making a medicine suited to a patient’s needs instead of supplying a finished product made in advance.
Telehealth: A care conversation or review while you and the person treating you are in different places.
Store and forward: Sending health records or images through a system that lets the person treating you review them later.
Sterile: Free of living germs.
Generic medicine: An approved copy of a brand-name medicine; a generic name is the ingredient’s name and alone does not show whether a product has approval.
Nonresident pharmacy: A pharmacy outside Connecticut; as of September 2026, it needs Connecticut registration to send prescribed medicine into the state.
Formulary: An insurance plan’s list of medicines used when it decides which ones to cover.
Prior authorization: The insurer’s review before it agrees to pay for a proposed medicine.
Self-pay: Paying outside insurance; as of September 2026, these payments do not count toward the amounts your plan asks you to pay before benefits begin or its yearly limit on what you pay.
Adverse event: A health problem that occurs during medicine use or afterward, such as a rash or feeling ill; reporting it does not by itself prove the medicine caused it.
MedWatch: The FDA reporting service that accepts medicine concerns from patients as well as health professionals.