Make it make sense.
The price was bullshit to begin with. The cream probably sells over the counter for about $2.50 in most other countries, so OP still ended up paying 10x the price.
Its a tax scheme.
The pharmacy claims this medication is worth $275, insurance covers $40, and then they get as much as they can out of the patient while claiming the rest as a loss they can write off on their taxes.
US healthcare is stupid.
You should really be replacing
stupidwith “evil”That’s fucking evil and the cunts should be held accountable for their evil
But yous won’t cos you’re pussies
Health is an easy thing to jerk people around with because most of the people you’re stepping on are literally too weak to fight back.
It looks like the pharmacies do not get the tax write offs, if any. It’s the drug manufacturers who get to double dip by charging insurers for whatever they’re willing to cover, and then write off the rest causing tax payers to foot the bill.
Regardless, I agree with the article that there needs to be legislation that both bans these type of “shell game” programs, and capping the price of medications. And for what it’s worth, I don’t care if that means companies don’t make as much money. They’ll still make money, and the drugs do not actually cost that much to make.
Recently had to buy Paxlovid. Pharmacy: “it is expensive and your insurance doesn’t cover it. Will be $1500.” Me: “I don’t know.” Pharmacy: “Wait. If you go to the Pfizer website you can get a coupon.” Me: “ok” (Looks up website and gets coupon on my phone. Paxcess Patient Support Program.) Pharmacy: “let me check now. Oh, free!”
Please make it all make sense.
Your lucky your pharmacy tech recommended the manufacturer coupon. My wife was the only one at her pharmacy that did that
Meanwhile over in Europe - went to the doctor in spring as a cough didn’t go away for ages. As suspected nothing he could do much - irritated throat, and just at the time when cold season was giving way for allergy season. So he prescribed some nose spray - and asked if he should also add some antihistamine to the prescription to save me a few eur (didn’t check, but it probably is single digits. That stuff is cheap)
Shit when I have coughs that go too long I just keep coughing.
As a hospice worker, please don’t let stuff like that go unaddressed if at all possible.
The only thing crazier to me than American healthcare is how many of my fellow Canadians keep pushing for us to have this bullshit, too.
It’s not just Canada - there are people in countries with far better Healthcare Systems that the US, including with National Health Services, who want a US style one.
However this isn’t “man on the street” kind of people, these are the kind who think that if Healthcare costs went from 7% of GDP to 14%, they themselves would be able to capture a significant proportion of those extra 7% - so “investors”, financiers and the kind of politicians bought with money from ultra-rich Americans (like the money that Steve Bannon came to Europe with a couple of years ago very overtly to strengthen the far right).
My own country now has an ultra-neoliberal part that popped-up from nowhere some year ago after Steve Gannon brought that money to Europe, with the most glitzy marketing and the most expensive political pamphlets of all parties, and who, in a country with an actual National Health System, were the only party that wanted it fully privatised, though they stopped being open about it when they found out people were overwhelmingly against it. This party’s ideology has zero local ideas or basis and is wholesale imported from the America’s hardest neolibs (think Financiers and Tech Bros) and yet it got itself up to 7% of the vote in about 5 years.
What’s their argument?
That US system is better cause the privileged don’t have to wait…
Most countries have a private option in some capacity.
I have a medicine that is $1650 with insurance, copay is $60. Or, rung without insurance and the discount card, it’s $0.
Medicine pricing is utterly a scam.
Yeah dude I have dry eyes. A 3-month supply of my eye drops is $2700 out of pocket, but there’s this magical card that makes it zero. WTF.
It’s actually a pretty clever scheme by drug companies to foist the cost of medicine development AND supplying uninsured people onto insurance companies (and from there, the cost is passed on to people with insurance). I just don’t understand how it’s legal, or why the insurance companies - who are supposed to have such great collective bargaining power - accept this status quo.
I have noticed that it only seems to happen with very expensive, very recently developed drugs which are not yet part of the insurance companies recommended therapies, and they typically require a prior authorization (special approval based on the doctor stating there is a medical necessity for this, and only this, drug).
The fact that the US is the only major industrialized nation without some from of a universal healthcare system is supremely fucked up…
I legit think it’s way too late to implement universal healthcare because the entire food industry would have to change also.
Interesting take. I’ve never heard anyone connect the two. How do you mean?
A lot of the food in the US has chemicals that are banned in other countries that have universal healthcare. The food companies spend millions on research and development to make the food literally addicting. Also our portion sizes are insanely huge. When the other countries have to pay for the healthcare of their citizens, they’re going to make damn sure the food is healthier.
Excellent point. I like it.
And hate it because it’s true. Bastards.Honestly, everyone always pretends like America is the best, but were so painfully behind with so many things…
It’s not a “healthcare system”. It’s a “health insurance system”. And like all insurance systems, it’s designed to make money for the insurance companies. It functions quite well in that respect.
Many countries in the world actually have health care systems, but the US does not.
The free market works for a lot of stuff. It does not work for healthcare.
There is absolutely nothing free market whatsoever about American healthcare.
GoodRx or something like it was used. Welcome to the man in the middle scam that makes people think they’re getting a good deal when in reality, they pay for insurance but insurance makes it so costly to use their insurance that people have to pay for it out of pocket or with an HSA but can’t apply the cost to their annual deductible. This is a win win for insurance companies and patients get screwed. I hate the US healthcare system so much from spending time interacting with it from the perspective of work and personally.
you did not save any money for the insurance because that discount is negotiated. they don’t actually pay the $40. They contract with the drug supplier to raise their “full” price and then discount it for the insurance customers so they look like the insurance is providing value.
This. Insurance is incentivised to make everything as expensive as possible.
https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/13/a-punch-in-the-guts/
TLDR deregulating medicine has been a disaster. Monopolistic hospitals, ridiculous drug IP laws, and medical price middlemen with bad incentives make the US medical system the most expensive in the imperial core countries with the worst outcomes.
I work in health insurance administration. I can confirm health insurance companies are bullshit.
Because half the country votes for a party that explicitly says this is a good way to run things, and the other half votes for a party that says it isn’t great, but we shouldn’t really do anything meaningful about it.
Until there is mass “you are all assholes and we demand a more representative electoral system” demonstrations, nothing will change.
Readers may note that this applies to basically every problem in the US right now
It’s insane to me that healthcare looks like this in the US, I mean I live in an objectively weaker economy and my healthcare is vastly better in terms of cost, availability and has no hard ties to employment.
That is crazy messed up. My gut feel is that it’s again down to the corporate shareholder problem, where infinite growth is demanded. It’s defies belief that this hasn’t been fixed, and really makes me think that overall we may be losing the war of greed vs humanity.
My gut feel is that it’s again down to the corporate shareholder problem, where infinite growth is demanded. It’s defies belief that this hasn’t been fixed, and really makes me think that overall we’re losing the war of greed vs humanity overall.
It’s also maintained as a tool to punish labor for stepping out of line. Look at recent labor disputes in the States. The first thing that is done by the company is to shut off healthcare access.
You’re absolutely right. Tie health insurance to a job and you get people to never leave.
Do those of you in the US understand that this is literally only a thing in the US?
Most of us do but unfortunately only about half of us are under the impression that other systems are better and more sustainable. Entrenched financial interests run our government and a large portion of those entrenched interests made their fortunes from this medical system
It’s called GoodRX. Always check it. At least Walgreen’s is bound by the prices on there, I’m sure most other pharmacies are as well.
Alright, you didn’t ask for any of this, but I have some thoughts about GoodRX.
GoodRX is an ok stop-gap to get people medications they need, but it’s still not great. They set their prices based on agreements with PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers), which are the companies that actually provide prescription insurance benefits if you’re commercially insured (not your insurance company). Actually, on the computer side, there’s no difference between GoodRX and insurance, they are used the same way. The GoodRX coupon has the same numbers on it that a commercial insurance card would have (ID number, BIN, PCN, group number) and a “claim” gets submitted the same way it would be submitted to your insurance company (which is actually the PBM, not your insurance company). The pharmacy has to pay the PBM to process the claim (which is kinda BS, right?) regardless of if the patient is using insurance OR GoodRX, so a lot of local/independent pharmacies can’t or won’t take GoodRX because they end up actually taking a loss on dispensing the drug due to PBM fees.
I am a pharmacy technician that used to work in outpatient pharmacy; I’ve helped a lot of people save money with GoodRX, but I usually try to find literally anything else I can do to lower the price first. Prescription billing in the US is absolutely FUBAR.
Used to contract with a PBM and saw how the sausage is made. It’s not pretty people.
