RE: way OT--Perscriptions

[campingcop]

 
Received this in an email from a freind.
 On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for
 channel 7
 > > News in Detroit, did a story on generic drug price gouging by
 pharmacies.
 > > He found in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs
 were
 > marked
 > > up as much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that s not a typo..... three
 thousand
 > > percent!
 > > So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs,
 and
 > > usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies
 with the
 > > pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy a
 prescription
 drug,
 > > and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. The
 > pharmacist
 > > might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would
 only
 > cost
 > > $80, making you think you a! re " saving"  $20. What the pharmacist
 is not
 > > telling you is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him
 $10!
 > > At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson
 whether or
 > not
 > > there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and
 he
 > said
 > > that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the
 generic
 > > drugs.
 > > I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get
 it s
 > > online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with
 the
 > > online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my
 own
 > > experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent
 nausea
 > > in chemo patients. I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99
 for
 60
 > > pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could have
 bought100
 > > pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could
 have
 > got
 > > 150 at Costco for $28.08.
 > > I would like to mention, that although Costco is a " membership"  
 type
 > store,
 > > you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there, as it is
 a
 > > federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door that
 you
 > wish
 > > to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in
 

[Gone-Camping]

 campingcop
Hmmm, that is really helpful information! Particularly the last part, didn t know they had to let you use the pharmacy....Hmmmm

[birol]

 Gone-Camping
What a rip off ! Just like the gas companies ripping us off [:@]

[tlhdoc]

 campingcop
Thanks for the info.  It is good to know.

[brainpause]

 campingcop
Being in the medical field, with a sister who is a pharmacist, I would like to comment on this.
 
 Although there are many drugs where there is a significant markup, often times the pharmacy doesn t have that big of a cut. Pharmacists ARE paid decently, but you must also understand the schooling and training they must go through. They don t just count pills. As a healthcare professional who has written hundreds of prescriptions (yes, I can WRITE prescriptions, and SIGN MY NAME), I thank the pharmacists for their work. They have saved me a few times by calling me when I omit something or write something incorrectly. None of my mistakes were dangerous; they were simply inaccurate. That said, the pharmacies also have to pay their pharmacists appropriately. Did you also know that there is somewhat of a shortage of pharmacists?
 
 My sister also says that their pharmacies truly don t make as much money as it might appear. Yes, there might be a prescription that costs $300 per month, but did you also know that the pharmacist gives you your pills, even if your insurance plan pays MUCH less than that? Also, Medicare pays much less for things than they should. Even big name insurance companies (e.g., Blue Cross/Blue Shield) pay much less than what is " asked"  for. It is like you going to the store to buy $100 worth of groceries, but you get to the counter, and you pay only $50 to the store, and you leave with your groceries anyway. The store must make up for it somehow.
 
 Anyway, I don t mean to berate this information that Harvey has posted. In fact, many of my patients are indigent and/or elderly (a cardiology population would be expected to be). Therefore, I will keep this information in mind, although Costco s are few and far between around here.
 
 Just thought I d give my 2 cents. Thanks for the information, Harvey!
 
 Larry

[jpreiser]

 campingcop
I worked in a pharmacy for  A few years... I must say the insurance companies take about 1-4 months on some claimes to pay the pharmacy.. then it s only what they think they should pay... pharmacy has to put the money up front to pay for the drugs... which daily orders could easily be in the $20,000.00 range... I can see where people who do  not have health insurance that cover perscriptions woould have a hard time... the best we had was a man complaining that we charged the state to high of a price for his medication I belive it was like $40.00....... He was paying nothing as he was on a medicaid plan.. He went on and on finally the pharmacist just said what are you worried about? you don t pay anything anyway.. the man then shut up....[]

[angelsmom10]

 campingcop
Has anyone tried the internet services like privacyrx and the others.  A lady I work with has her husbands one RX come from Canada with no RX needed and says it s super cheap.
 
 

[tricia hicks]

 campingcop
My father is elderly with many health problems (congestive heart failure) and is on quite a few medicines.  He has no prescription health insurance.  One of his doctors here in Nashville  told me about programs through the drug companies that supply free or low cost drugs to indigent patients.    There is a little bit of paperwork involved, and most of the time the doctor s office has to initiate the process, but it is well worth it.  Just as an example: his prescription for zocor used to cost $132.00 and now he gets it for free.  The following link is a directory for drug companies that have this program.  www.needymeds.com
 
 I will say also, that his doctors are very good to give him samples.  He was always hesitant to ask, but is better about doing so.  Maybe this information will be of some use to folks with elderly parents.

[mike4947]

 angelsmom10

Has anyone tried the internet services like privacyrx and the others. A lady I work with has her husbands one RX come from Canada with no RX needed and says it s super cheap.

 While it is true that you can get reasonably priced perscriptions from Canadian pharmacies. The Canadian government does still requires a doctor s script to fill a percription and several articles have been published on disreputable firms scamming people and supplying nothing but lookalike sugar pills.
 The article had a piece on Mexican pharmacies as well and how many people crossing the border for cheaper drugs and that a lot of meications in the US requiring perscriptions don t in Mexico.
 There s also a flurishing business in the far east of internet companies supplying perscirptions without scripts and there also the articles said you had a good chance of getting taken.
 It pays to look into anything that sound to good to be true. It usually is.

[brainpause]

 campingcop
Lots of good comments on a very interesting subject. Maybe we can help somebody here.
 
 Let me invite you to my company s website, www.stcardiology.com and go to the Patient Education link. You will find help on some other medicines there. We also have lots of heart-healthy recipes.
 
 My sister also wanted to add this:
 We are now paid by 70% third party insurance, and it is more true than ever that we are paid less and less.  When I first started practicing, we were only about 40-50% third party paid.  Our profit margin has dropped by about 10 percentage point in 10 years.
 
 Hope this info helps someone.
 
 Larry