Doc’s office is working on patients assistance. The problem, the best I understand is the drugs readily through these programs are more than I really need. I think the ones I need aren’t “sexy” enough, but good enough to jack the prices up.
Good grief.
Word. I can’t believe what ypaying for an old cheap medication. It’s outrageous.
I know. The cost is twice that. I’m paying half.
At the moment we can afford it.
My big big worry is the system totally failing and not being able to get it.
Supply and demand doesn’t really seem like a good idea with life saving drugs.
There was particular cancer drug that was in low supply this past fall. Only the highest priority cases were given it.
Question: who chooses who is high priority?
Another case during the worst new outbreak of COVID this past season, Paxlovid was impossible to get. I’m sure people were very ill and didn’t need to be.
What the heck is going on in those companies that this can’t be addressed?
I don’t want to know it was a way to drive up prices by holding desperately ill people hostage.
Not defending the insurance companies but people were hoarding Paxlovid for just in case and then it expired in their sock drawer.
My mom was an expert on going to various seminars and working her doctor and getting most of her insulin vials for free but that became harder and harder to do. Then she switched to the pump which she loves. There’s no good excuse for this drug to be pricy.
Luckily we have good insurance, because my wife’s MS infusions are $50k a year. Which, believe it or not, I kinda get. For one thing, these drugs mean (according to her neurologist) that degenerative MS really isn’t a thing anymore, whereas even 25 years ago it was a slow death sentence. Plus, in the 15 years since she was diagnosed, she’s gone from a weekly injection to a daily oral drug to the current once every 6 months infusion. So if you spend $2 billion to develop a new MS drug you have 3-5 years to recoup your cost, IME…
My youngest’s most expensive cystic fibrosis med retails for $300k/year. Thanks to decent insurance and specialty pharmacy services, actual yearly out of pocket cost is $600. Crazy.
Not trying to be at all confrontational mere Dewey, but I don’t think it’s American consumers who are accepting that as an excuse, it’s the people who can actually Do something about it +cough+ Congress +cough+ who are accepting it.
And, yes, pharmaceutical colpanies have various legal maneuvers to extend their patents, (monopolies).
Is there something special about insulin syringes? I inject testosterone and have been for a decade now. I’ve always purchased my needles with syringe for about .25 cents each.
They are relatively cheap. You just need so many.
(100 about $25)
I have the pump. It’s mostly covered by my very good insurance.
I have a copay for the insulin cartridges.
I do get some freebies by using a dedicated diabetes clinic. And doing their crap protocol.
I take all freebies 
Good insurance is a dang privilege that I’m willing to pay well for.
I just don’t know what people do without it.
On a lighter note, a diabetic friend of mine recounted a nurse teaching him to inject himself.
“You need to open your eyes, Mr. Morrow.”
I’m pretty sure my diabetic nurse said something to that effect. I was too young to remember. I was injecting myself by age 5.
I specifically remember the nurse at school watching me and saying, “Well aren’t you all grown up!”
They are. I once ordered Synvisc from Canada for my ankle. At the time, it cost over $1100 in the U.S. and about a third of that to order it from Canada. I used an online Canadian pharmacy that a friend recommended - her brother, an insulin-dependent diabetic with no health insurance, got his meds there. They were happy to accept a prescription from my U.S. orthopedist.
The Synvisc arrived in a couple of weeks in an unassuming brown cardboard box, and the Customs declaration called it “home care supplies.” The stuff was the same thing I would have bought in the U.S. - manufactured in NJ, exported, and then reimported. My orthopedist was amazed and said I had done good. He injected it into my ankle, and the result has held up years longer than predicted.
The American pharmaceutical industry makes me sick.
I don’t know how they got it to hoard.
Drs script needed.
Had to have insurance to afford it. Unless you’re extra wealthy.
My pharmacist limited it to 4 scripts per family w/o hospital stay.
My husband got COVID at Christmas 2023. He went on Pax.
My doctor thought I better get a script just in case. I could not get it filled anywhere around here. Luckily I never needed it.
The County gave it out if you claim to have symptoms. I guess there was a doctor at the office. Then they’d run out.
Well, I guess so.
I never heard of it here.
They gave COVID testing.
But we got ours thru the Fed website.
I know if you had a Medicaid card you could see a doctor at a certain place, if you tested positive. I’m sure they gave some kinda treatment and meds.
I suppose it was different everywhere.
I got my tests through the Fed website too but you could also get them from the County. They ran out of those too at times. Lots of people had sock drawers full of tests like my mom who got them at I believe a Medicare site of some kind.
I’m in between retirement and Medicare so I’m on Covered California which is our ObamaCare. It’s not too bad but not quite as good as my previous fancy corporate insurance.
I want to get the HPV vaccine. It’s free for anyone 45 and under. I have to pay $750 (three shots, 250 each).
That’s terrible.
Does the County health department not do that?
Yep. I was forced to switch to a different steroid inhaler this year - a dry powder one, versus an aerosol, for insurance reasons (they wouldn’t even cover the generic). The aerosol was something like 150/200 a month (before insurance kicked in). The whole BS with Epi-pens was a pure scammy / scummy cash grab.
As far as insurance for really expensive drugs goes, it’s possible that there’s an unstated policy / mindset that you’d be much more profitable if you simply died quickly/