People out there, we live in a "buyer beware" country, despite what you think politicians you send to Washington are doing to protect you as a citizen and a consumer. It's time for a peaceful revolution in this country, and we can start by becoming more aware of the ways we, in the middle-class especially, are being gouged by the corporate world.
Yesterday, just before I left to pick up my Rheumatologist's phone-in prescription from the local Smith's Food & Drug Store (Smith's here; I believe they are Kroger, etc., in other parts of the country) I had an "ah ha" moment. They advised by phone the cost would be $11.20 for 30 doses of a prescription-strength supplement I must take to prevent the rather severe side effects of sores in the mouth and throat that could result from the toxicity of one of the meds I must take for RA.
Hubby suggested I make calls to other pharmacies around town to see what they charged for the same supplement. Another grocery-store pharmacy nearby wanted $9.17. Interesting!! More than a $2 savings with one call; definitely better, but let's make a couple more calls. Wal-Mart's phone lines were incessantly busy so I called the Costco Pharmacy. After punching several different numbers, always annoying, I was finally connected to a voicemail service. I was a little bothered that I wasn't able to speak directly to a staff member, but reasoned that this may have been the problem in my not getting through to Wal-Mart. I left a message giving all the pertinent details, and expected nothing. I've been promised many, many call-backs from various service providers who never call back as promised. Surprisingly, about ten minutes later, I got the call-back; $5 for the exact same supplement!
The reason I was price shopping is that my new supplemental part D Medicare plan rejected the supplement as medically unnecessary. The authorized mail-order pharmacy I'm required to use sent the prescription back to the doctor who ordered it, marked rejected. The doctor called me a couple days back to tell me he had issued an appeal to the insurance company (Secure Horizons, affiliated with United Health Care), but despite his arguing that the supplement was medically necessary because of the complexity of the drug combinations required to keep the RA in control, they rejected his appeal. He suggested that he call in a new prescription that I could buy with no insurance coverage at a local pharmacy without any further haggling.
Luckily the low price of $5 is affordable, so $60 a year is a small amount to pay to avoid mouth and throat ulcers. But what if Costco decides to up the price next month? And what if this had been a more expensive supplement or prescription that some executive in a blue suit sitting at a polished desk in a large insurance company decides not to provide regardless of what the doctor says? Why should he? Our whole country has become victims and pawns of large corporations. Sometimes I wonder how and if we'll ever be able to fix this country from the mess our corporate-run government has made. We're already referred to by many Europeans as the "richest third-world country" in the world!
These three things I hold to be self-evident:
- Medications should have a fixed price; they should cost the same for everyone, insured or not, no matter what pharmacy you get them through.
- Doctors should have the last say about prescriptions to manage medical conditions.
- The whole medical industry needs an overhaul, including pharmaceuticals.
Michael Moore where are you? And what can we do to help?
Wed, 2007-08-08 17:56
I know you may not like this but you can't regulate the market. It always fails because of the underline principles. You can push it around a bit but it will catch up with you. If you subsidize the medical it will cost more.
For example home loans drive up the costs. Take away the loans and then no one can buy a house anymore. They would have to buy it on their income. But okay, that means all those houses will fall in price until people can afford them It doesn't stay at the high costs. This also works for government giving money away to the medical field. They can only charge what people can afford, or the government affords (Normally borrows).
I would suggest a total change of ideas. The government should allow us to buy medical from anywhere in the world. Also look into changing medical patents such that they last a very short time, such as 3 years. If it was tax funded the creation of the patent is in the open domain for everyone to create and sell.
Mal practice must be done away with such that it isn't so easy to sue and claim massive costs. This has to be done in the courts. I'm not looking for a free pass but I bet you don't realize that HMO's are protected from mal practice already.
Another negative, by subsidizing the medical this normally means some guys go up to washington and then get their company to be the one that is paid. We lose all choice after it is taken out of the free market. You might be able to sell it though if you allow tax payers to opt out and not pay taxes for it so they can choose a private plan. This would be very useful for young people who plan ahead and get the insurance when it is cheap instead of waiting when they are 60 years old.
In many ways we lose either way we go. But the government system will fail at some point by the very nature of it.
Of course we don't have a very free market anymore. Which is probably why it costs so much in the first place.
Wed, 2007-08-08 15:01
I agree, however the change that needs to occur is philosophical. Until the health system is viewed as an essential service along the same lines as the police and fire services, change will not occur. The status quo, where health care is seen philosophically as a commodity, is deeply entrenched in the American corporate/political psyche and not likely to change soon. We are the poorer for it.
Fri, 2007-07-20 23:16
I sympathize wholeheartedly. There is nothing fair about our current system. I will likely add another post as a followup to this one due to more information we have after my husband decided to shop around for 3 Rx he's about to have filled. We found that by going online to Costco Pharmacy you can make major savings on even name-brand IF you don't have insurance that covers prescriptions. We're going to get quotes from other pharmacies so that I can give particulars. It's too bad but we really do need to spend time calling different pharmacies for price quotes. You'll be astonished at the varying prices! Of course there's always Wal-Mart's $4 for generics as long as what you need is on their list (worth a check to see). I suggest you call your local Costco (hopefully you have one in your area) if you haven't already. You don't have to have a Costco membership to use their pharmacy.
Fri, 2007-07-20 16:26
Dem, I had a similar situation happen to me at my Pharmacy. My husband takes 3 medications that are not generic and we have to pay $30 a month for each. A few months ago his one medication became generic and then it was $5 a month. One Month later the medication was taken off the generic list and it was back to $30 a month. There is no justice in this at all, I'm in the process of contacting the manufacturer of this medication & complain a lot re this. I hope your situation goes improves and they cover the medication. Geminidust
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