Damn we need to institute price controls on prescriptions...

[Humanist_Activist]

By the way, it seems like I'm making damn near daily reports of my work experiences, but I keep it general, don't want to violate any Federal or State laws.

OK, so here's the run down, Member pays a percentage of copay every month for his prescription, its 20% for the generic.

The generic more than tripled in negotiated price from last month to this month, he normally pays a little under 20 bucks, and now has to pay over 60. He told me, flat out, that he can't afford that, so he has to scramble to see his doctor to see if she can switch him to an even cheaper generic. The medication in question is not optional, he needs it daily to function, and he has 2 days to do it(that's how much medication he has left).

Why the fuck do we put people in this situation, I mean, seriously, a tripling in price from one month to the next? How do you budget for that, hell, how do you predict it?

The messed up part is that while this is probably a change in the insurance company policy, they are still paying 80%, so its not like the ACA can do anything about it, which sucks.

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. I'll go you one better: Let's nationalize Big Pharma.

And have nationalized health care.

Health should not be a commodity.

[Humanist_Activist]

5. Sounds like a good idea...

Hell, most of the research, especially basic research, that leads to many prescription drugs is already largely publicly funded, we shouldn't be allowing drug companies to then take it and profit off it at such exuberant margins.

[cali]

2. should the TPP be passed, expect things to get a whole lot worse on that front

[nashville_brook]

3. here's a report on that effort: Bad Medicine Pharma's Prescription for Profits over People

Congress has failed to act on a commonsense, good-government approach to controlling health care costs. The significant resources the pharmaceutical industry has put toward influence and access has rendered Congress unable to act in the public interest.

Bad Medicine: Pharmaceuticals’ Prescription for Profits Over People, released by the Alliance for a Just Society details the overwhelming influence of Big PhRMA on congressional outcomes and finds that the imbalance created by industry spending harms both the interest of the American people and our democratic process.

At issue is a bill Senator Jay Rockefeller introduced in April 2013 with 18 co-sponsoring Senators. The Medicare Drug Savings Act, would eliminates a provision from the Medicare Modernization Act that allowed pharmaceuticals to charge Medicare higher prices for beneficiaries eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. The bill would require drug companies to offer rebates to these “dual-eligible” beneficiaries — who are generally low-income seniors or individuals with disabilities and nearly 50% of whom are people of color. These rebates were offered prior to the 2006 overhaul of Medicare. This provision would save the American taxpayers $141.2 billion dollars over 10 years.

Despite the emergence of this commonsense solution, progress has proven elusive.

Major Report Findings:

-- The industry enjoys a dominant stranglehold on Capitol Hill. From 1998 through 2013, the industry spent nearly $2.7 billion on lobbying expenses, more than any other industry, and 42 percent more than the next-biggest spender, insurers.

-- In 2012, the industry employed a small army of 845 registered lobbyists,[ii] or nearly two lobbyists for every member of Congress.

-- The Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the powerful industry trade group, has 36 current or former staff members who at one time has worked for a member of Congress, 12 who have Despite the emergence of this commonsense solution, progress has proven elusive.

Report here -->> http://allianceforajustsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Bad.Medicine.Report.Alliance2013.pdf

[Humanist_Activist]

4. I don't get it, we are capping the profits of insurers, we should do the same to manufacturers of...

prescription drugs and other health care manufacturers and operators, along with actual providers.

[nashville_brook]

14. amen to that.

[Prophet 451]

6. Here, it's $15

"Here" is the UK and, of course, we have universal healthcare. When you get a prescription filled, there is a small fee of about $15 (young, old and poor are exempt) which is mainly designed to stop you bugging your doctor with crap that only needs a couple of asprin.

Oddly enough, the pharma companies still make money here.

[Humanist_Activist]

8. I'm sorry that you live under the tyranny of socialism...

[Humanist_Activist]

9. I have a question, is that per visit to pharmacist, or per prescription?

I ask because here, it breaks down per prescription, so if you have a 15 dollar copay, but take 10 medications a month, you are going to pay 150 dollars.

[Prophet 451]

13. Sort-of both

Here, rather than having one prescription for each drug, we have one prescription that can hold infinite items (well, there's only enough space on the physical prescription slip for about 12). For instance, I'm physically disabled and mentally ill. I take a cocktail of six medications daily but they're all issued on one prescription slip so I'd only pay once.

Again, if you're under 18, over 60, poor or a student (there's an upper age limit for students but I can't remember what it is, sorry), you're exempt from that fee. And if you're having to take 10 medications a day, you probably fit into one of those categories.

[Humanist_Activist]

16. Oh, OK, I understand, our doctors write the prescriptions similarly...

at least, when you do get handwritten ones, they can list as many medications as can fit on that little piece of paper, but, when its billed through insurance, every single drug is billed separately, and has its own copay.

[1-Old-Man]

7. One of the pills I take costs a little over $50 per pill, I have to take 4 of them a day.

Yep, $200+ a day, a good bit over $6,000 per month. They can be had cheaper, buy buying them overseas. The two lowest prices nations where they might be bought are Israel and India. They would be about $1,000 cheaper per month if I got them from Israel and nearly $2,000 cheaper if purchased from an Indian source. The problem is that, as reported on the Internet, many of them from Israel are reported to be fakes and most from India.

I have mentioned frequently that I am fortunate in having very good medical insurance. In this case it really shows. My 'co-pay' on these pills is $80 per refill, and after my first refill I was then able to purchase a 3-month supply at a time. So that meant that my three month supply, which would run right at $19,000 if bought outright, only cost me $80 out of pocket. Such is the world of prescription drugs.

[Bay Boy]

10. What are these $50 pills for...

...if you don't mind me asking?

[1-Old-Man]

11. Cancer.

They are the third form of Chemotherapy I've been put under. The first set of Chemo treatments wasn't effective. The second regimen they tried on me was working but I ran up on the lifetime limit of how much they could put in me without it killing me outright. This third version, which is just pills I take at home, isn't diminishing the tumors (I have tumors in my lungs, liver, and surrounding one kidney), just stopping their further growth. Well, at least we hope they are stopping the growth. I have another PETScan coming wednesday morning and then we'll know more about how the pills are working.

[Bay Boy]

12. Well good luck with that...

...I hope you fight through it.

[TransitJohn]

15. It's probably two bucks in a civilzed country. Eom

N/t