Hahahaha!! You let me off too easy. The topic does make for great dialogue and keeps us wondering....
Have a great evening!
The biggest offender of price gouging are hospitals. What's the justification for paying $5.00 for one aspirin pill and other outrage prices for medication while in a hospital stay?! There isn't any. Usually that expense is covered by insurance, but the insurance policy holder is indirectly paying with higher premium costs and that cost goes unnoticed and without public outrage.
You win. There's just no arguing with logic like that.
I surrender.
You’re right. As a group, we are eager to sue and it's no secret that lawyers seek out the "deep pockets". I agree, it would be remiss to think that retailers are paying $5.80 for a 20mg tablet of lipitor. However, as a capitalistic society, the bottom line is all about making money. Unfortunately, we have become increasingly reliant on products we once took for granted (gasoline, medication) and now we are facing a frightening problem. The information in the article is factual, but as you pointed out, it only represents part of the bigger picture. It is merely part of a collective argument and something to think about.
We live in a time where medication is mainstay. We rely on it for maintenance, treatment, cure, pain relief, and in some cases, outward beauty. We want to live longer, live stronger, live healthier, look better, feel better, etc. Talk about deep pockets! As a group, we represent the largest “deep pocket” of them all. Fortunately, there are still things that most of us can do to try and help ourselves (diet, exercise, no smoking, limit alcohol, etc). Other than that, it’s in our best interest to be open-minded, read, and ask questions.
As I stated in an earlier post, I purchased medication (ACE I) at WalMart for $4.00 (my co-pay for generic is $10.00). I was told if I did NOT use my insurance card, I could pay $4.00 versus $10.00. I don’t have the answers and don’t know who does, but the problem affects all of us, and isn’t going away.
$5.80 / 100
We bring a lot of this on ourselves. We want the government (or somebody) to make everything we do 100% foolproof and totally harmless. If something turns out to not be totally benign, what do we do?? We sue the manufacturer. As an example, guns. Someone gets shot and killed. The victims family will have their lawyer picked out before they select the casket. Will they sue the shooter? Of course not. He has nothing to sue for. They sue the company that manufactured the gun. That's where the big bucks are, and of course, it WAS their fault that somewhere down the line, some crazed lunatic came into possession of one of their products. A recent example is the kid that got hurt playing little league ball. Who do we sue? Little League baseball? The other kid? The other kids parents? Of course not--we sue the company that manufactured the BAT. There's the big bucks. I amnot minimizing the injury--it was a terrible accident. In cases like these, juries of "we the sheeple" award millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars to the poor victims. It's the new American way to get rich--sue somebody.
The point is that pharmaceutical companies have a LOT more than raw material prices to worry about when it comes to pricing their products. How much do the machines cost that stamp out the pills? How about a few thousand of these same machines? Life ain't cheap, and in many cases we're the ones that made it that way.
Oops. And I almost forgot about the little weasel-looking guy that stuffs all that cotton in the pill bottles. Bet he don't work cheap either.
So, maybe we should have an expose' on how much Wal-Mart or Cosco pay for said drugs......................Sounds like a good project for Dr. Kirksey.
And, how about them gas prices ??
I don't really see anything "responsible" about posting that kind of ****. It's a long trip to get from raw material to a finished pill. What is the cost to the pharmacies? I'd be willing to bet that they don't get 20 mg Lipitor for $5.80.
As I said before, this is the same stuff we all get in our spam folders each and every day. I got an idea. Let's all not buy any gasoline tomorrow. That'll put those darn oil companies in their place, by golly.
If you do not forward this to 8,000 of your closest friends, you just might have all kinds of bad luck and stuff like that.
LOL
This is offtopic and I regret the interruption but since Dr. Kirksey is involved I would like to ask the following:
Has anyone used or heard about the new combined or hybrid CT/PET scan? I have just seen some pics of heart scans done with this new imaging tech and they look very clear and precise as to the coronary arteries and the associated heart tissue injured by blockages. Its not yet available in the Tampa area of Florida and would like to know where its being done and the relative costs to the individual CT and PET scans.
Thanks,
ChrisR
Quote e.r.:
"I agree that prices are inflated but your argument is like asking why your car costs $ 40K when the cost of the metal in it is $ 600.00. I am not afiliated with the drug companies. The costs of supporting their infrastructure and marketing elephant is enormous. I think drug companies should be not- for- profit organizations. This would help people tremendously.I hope Michael Moore produces a documentary on the subject some day"
There should be a distinction between drug retailers and drug manufacturers. The quotes listed are referring to pharmacists. Insurance companies get a price break based on purchased volume and when the drug is available in generic there SHOULD BE a price reduction as well. The pharmacist's costs are are stocking and distribution costs and their high price is not justified
A drug manufacturer has to recoup their research and development costs and in a limited time, so they the manufacturer, have the exclusive right to market the drug at the price the market will bear. Included in the cost is the expense of failed medication costs, and the cost of law suits. There is an economic benefit for the manufacturers and that benefit provides an incentive to progress with newer and better medication.
To have any enterprise not-for-profit requires a bureacrracy for oversight, and that is less efficient and the representation that it is non-profit organization is a fallacy as cost may equal revenue (no profit) but the accounting for a non-profit going concern includes the hidden costs of high wages and perks of the personnel.
Dr. Kirksey is a vascular surgeon. If you google his name, you will find an impressive CV. For me, his posts clearly demonstrate a desire to practice excellent medicine in a responsible, ethical and compassionate manner.
While your suspicion of government generated reports is understandable, the elements of this analysis are well founded and verifiable.
For me, over zealous marketing and price gouging on medication raises further questions on what is ethical all in the name of profit margins.......sad
That is such good info. Thanks. that's the type of info that makes medhelp an incredible resource. I told several of my patients about medco. Its unfortunate that the people who sometimes have these enormous monthly medication bills are older and may not be computer savvy to do their homework and find the best price. They are sometimes restricted to shopping at their local place which may be price gauging them
Hi
I'm not making an argument. It's someone else's article. I checked however and verified their data regarding the medication production and retail costs. I think its a very informative an provocative article and another example of the more information we have, the better we are able to navigate the system and be informed consumers.
I agree that prices are inflated but your argument is like asking why your car costs $ 40K when the cost of the metal in it is $ 600.00. I am not afiliated with the drug companies. The costs of supporting their infrastructure and marketing elephant is enormous. I think drug companies should be not- for- profit organizations. This would help people tremendously.I hope Michael Moore produces a documentary on the subject some day.
Iwe used to have one insurance for all medical coverage and that insurance ended at the end of the year and now we are covered by a different one.
I had to go get a few prescriptions filled for 2 different people in my family. the pharmacy had put our new insurance in the computer but for some strange reason it didn't take it still had our old one. she told us the cost and I wrote the check out and when I lookded at the receipt I noticed it was the old insurace. when they put the correct insurance in I figured I don't need to worry about writiing a different check it would be the same WRONG it was $58.90 cheaper then the first one that was wrung up.
Why is that. does the pharmacies mark these up becuase they know they can get more $$ for it.
that really irked me when I found out.
but this doesn't happen to just medications it is all over the place with everything and it is time to put a STOP to it
Thank you for your advice
Michelle
this really make me think seriously to open drug compay. i'll share my profit with you gyes!
i get my medication for free in my country, i wonder how much it cost our government!
Amazing indeed! I was among those who used to believe that the high costs of prescription drugs were always a direct result of pharmaceutical companies overcharging. That is, until I started to shop around and ask questions. Now, I think of it as if I'm making any other purchase and I shop for the overall "best deal."
Because of competitive pricing I used to purchase my medication from Wal-Mart. However, the customer service was awful, so I looked for a new pharmacy. Now, I shop at a home-grown pharmacy. Here's what's crazy...I had one RX that Wal-Mart used to fill for $4.00/month (a reduced co-pay). When I asked the new company why I was paying $10 (my usual generic co-pay), she said it was because that was what my deductible was. BUT, if I wanted to pay for the RX without using my insurance card, it would be $4.00!!! Unbelievable! It really does pay to shop and ask, ask, ask. It's still hard for me to believe that medication is a marketable commodity!!
Tony,
We just filled several prescriptions for my MIL at Medco. They were great to work with and very price-competitive. We can also use Medco mail order, but no savings. However, I'm thinking it would be nice to have a 90 day supply...especially with the price of gasoline.......
Dr. Kirksey,
Thanks for sharing the article.
Good question, Ireneo
I use the Medco mail order prescription service through Blue Cross Blue Shield. Here's what I pay and what they say BCBS pays (I just received a 3 month supply or 90 each of 6 meds & I have the invoice right in front of me). I'm actually happy with Medco since I pay a lot less now than I did with another insurer. I could lower my cost further by switching to generics.
...........................................insurance pays..............I pay.....................
Allopurinol tabs. (300 mg)......... $0.00.....................$9.11............
Diltiazem cap (240 mg)...........$36.10.....................$10.00........
Vytorin (10/20 tabs)...............$177.39.....................$35.00...........
Altace caps (5 mg)................$89.11......................$35.00...........
HCTZ tabs (25 mg)...................$0.00......................$ 2.63............
Coumadin tabs (5mg).............$29.17......................$35.00.........
So I wonder if the Insurance really pays that much?? When I used to take rythmol, the invoice said the insurance paid $800+ (I paid $35.00).
So I wonder how this works for those of us with an HMO where we have prescription coverage? We pay no more than $15 for any prescription and if it costs them less than that, we only pay a certain percentage. So some meds may cost us $9.70 for example. Do the HMO pharmacies handle their costs the same way as Costco - not out to make a huge profit?