What is happening to reform Pharma? I went to the doc yesterday

[saracat]

to find I have developed another condition requiring an expensive drug.We are already paying over $1000 a month for insurance yet I still have to pay hundreds a month on scripts, though I have a prescription coverage!
I asked my doc, who did give me samples, but won't for long and she said, Pharma is doing a good job and she thought there might be coupons!

Well, there aren't and there is no generic either.It may be I will just have to allow the condition to develop because I am not eligible for anything. We are living off our savings as both of us are now unemployed but it is income to the government so until we lose our house and every cent we have, I will not receive any help.I am not eligible for Medicare.

Big Pharma is a large part of this picture and it isn't even being whispered about!
I told the doc "What good does it do for you to prescribe preventive meds if I can't afford to buy it"?
I say the same about the HCR. What good does it do if you can't implement any of the solutions because big Pharma is holding everyone hostage?

[alc]

1. need health care reform, not health insurance reform

unless pharma (and other costs) are reformed, there's no way health insurance can succeed. the things pharma does with patent extensions to lock out generics, marketing, symptom relief vs. cure balance for new meds, and many other things really need to be looked into and reformed. They may be ok in some of these areas, which is why I say they need to be looked into first. But there is certainly a huge opportunity for reform, and without it there is no chance for any insurance reform to succeed.

[IDFbunny]

2. I thought med patent is 14 yrs?

[Samantha]

3. Have you checked out ordering your drugs from Canada?

The website is CanadaDrugs.com. This is legal. I had to switch over to this because my medicines were costing me too much. I have a bundle.

Sam

[ProSense]

5. That's a good idea. This will also be broadened

Reid ‘Guarantees’ Action on Prescription Drug Reimportation Ban

[saracat]

8. Since I do have insurance, it doesn't seem my drugs would be any cheaper.

I have several that cost me $65 a month with insurance and several I get generically at 4 dollars. But the $65 dollar ones really add up. And I have one $95 that you can't get anywhere but here and there isn't a generic for it.

[Samantha]

15. It never hurts to ask

I get two prescriptions from there now and am moving two more. The first one I transferred is about the same as my co-pay used to be. The second one is too new to have a generic, but they can substitute. The substitute is $30, $60 less than what I am paying now.

[saracat]

16. Well, I did ask but I suppose I can ask again.

The FDA says that one of my prescriptions, that has been claimed to have a substitute ,is worthless.Apparently, it doesn't have the necessary ingredient in it.The others seem to run the same price as I pay with my insurance.

[Samantha]

23. Here's the toll free phone number for CanadaDrugs:

1-800-CAN-DRUG. I know you are intelligent enough to make your decision independently. That is who you should ask. Then you can verify their answer via another avenue.

One prescription I used to take originally was a $20 co-pay when I had coverage. The prescription was about $90, so the drugstore said. Eventually, that co-pay went up to $30. When I quit my job, I had no coverage and started paying for my prescriptions myself. That prescription through Canada Drugs costs me $28.00, $6.00 of which is the postage and shipping. So the co-pay I last had was more than what I pay now for the entire month's supply. And it is exactly the same thing.

The other prescription I mentioned is too new to allow a generic to be marketed. This is how the pharmaceutical makes billions off Americans. I asked my local pharmacist could he recommend or make a substitution. He said no. I called Canada Drugs and they told me the base of this drug and said it could substitute. I am checking this out with my physician but plan to start ordering it next month. I feel as though this organization is pretty reputable. But of course, everyone needs to think these things through for themselves.

I did discuss it with another of my physicians, an extremely reputable person, and he asked me for the contact information to give to other patients of his who cannot afford their medications either. He is checking the site out personally. He's just not the doctor who wrote this particular prescription for me....

Good luck.

[ProSense]

4. Sounds like you will benefit greatly from health reform

Well, there aren't and there is no generic either.It may be I will just have to allow the condition to develop because I am not eligible for anything. We are living off our savings as both of us are now unemployed but it is income to the government so until we lose our house and every cent we have, I will not receive any help. I am not eligible for Medicare.

You're both unemployed and paying $1000 per month for insurance plus hundreds for prescription drugs?

That would make you qualified for a public option and your premiums would drop significantly. Also there will be immediate relief while the exchanges ramp up.

Immediately offers new, low-cost coverage through a national "high risk" pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created. For those Americans who cannot get insurance coverage today because of a pre-existing condition, the President’s plan will immediately make available coverage without a mark-up due to their health condition. This policy will offer protection against financial ruin until a wider array of choices become available in the new exchange in 2013.

link

[saracat]

7. We wouldn't because we are "worth" too much.Until our asserts are gone

we wouldn't be eligible. The public option is only for a really "poor" 5% of the populace.Until we join them, this won't do much for us.

[ProSense]

9. "The public option is only for a really "poor' " No it isn't.

The subsidies are based on income, but the exchange would be open to anyone without insurance due to unemployment or those unable to get affordable coverage through their employer.

[saracat]

17. I don't fit into any of those catgories.This is a large group of us who don't.

[boppers]

24. You're worth a bunch but have no income? eom

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ProSense]

11. "Who is ProSense working for, anyway??" WTF? n/t

[ProSense]

13. Also, besides your moronic comment, you're

wrong

And, that's Baucus' version.

[QC]

6. They made a hush hush deal with the White House,

so they are off the hook.

[Doctor_J]

12. Big Pharma has as much of a grip on the government as Big Insurance

another group of CEO's that need to be dragged through the streets.

[quantass]

14. WOW, $1000/month -- Never realized how good we have it up here in Canada.

I still cant over the fact that one has to pay monthly fees to have something that is as essential as say the Fire department or police....seems mideival to have citizens to decide if they perfer to live or die based on if you can afford it....very, very sad.

[slipslidingaway]

18. Biotech firms lobby for say on healthcare - $66m effort to protect drug-patent exclusivity

The longer waiting period to use the data was approved and is in both the HELP bill and HR 3200.

By Lisa Wangsness
The Boston Globe
July 21, 2009

http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/07/21/biotech-lobbyists-cast-their-nets/

"The 46 million Americans without health insurance are probably not spending much time thinking about how Congress should curb monopolies on expensive biotech drugs. But the issue, which offers a case study in the ways of Washington influence, is among dozens that have spurred a lobbying frenzy this summer as Congress debates a historic healthcare overhaul.

Pharmaceutical interests alone, including many from Massachusetts, spent more than $66 million on lobbying in just the first quarter of this year, up 25 percent from last year, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

...Biotech won a major battle last week when Kennedy’s Senate health committee gave biotech firms the 12-year protections they wanted, plus six months for pediatric versions. The committee rejected a proposal by Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, for a much shorter monopoly period. After the vote, generics companies said they wouldn’t even bother trying to make generic biologics because the 12-year protection would make the enterprise unprofitable.

“The pharmaceutical industry, especially the biotech industry has an awful lot of power in the halls of Congress,” Brown told reporters..."


Comment by Don McCanne MD...

"...Having a twenty year patent on a biological that can command a one hundred thousand dollar price tag is not enough for the biotech firms. They also want a 12 year lead time before competitors can begin to use the data, produced in our academic medical centers, for developing new innovative drugs or even generic equivalents. This doesn’t change the 20 year patent exclusivity, but it requires future competitors to wait 12 years before beginning their research that would be based on the existing data..."

[Aragorn]

19. post it

Post your conditions and meds, or email me on DU. I just retired from medicine and I'll bet there is a lot of room your doc is not telling you about, such as different meds, generics, and probably even manufacturer programs - although that last is unlikely if you have ANY insurance.

How would a book outlining treatment options, in lay terms. go over?

[saracat]

20. I am not comfortable doing that.I do have some generics where possible

and as I said I DO have private insurance(for now).as for a book? I am not sure what you mean.

[babylonsister]

21. Reid ‘Guarantees’ Action on Prescription Drug Reimportation Ban

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6608738&mesg_id=6608738

[andym]

22. Perhaps you can try buying them from Canada

Prices are usually 50% less.