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Outrageous price on prescription

O

OBIO

Retired SOH Admin
First off....this is not an invitation for political discussion...this is simply a vent post....just me letting off some steam. NO POLITICS!

Deb had another appointment with her eye surgeon today...trying to protect and preserve her right cornea. Have to go back in two weeks for another session of stitches, this time with some silicone bolsters to help prevent the stitches from pulling through the soft, thin flesh of her eye lids. The eye needs closed down for a while to allow some erosions on the cornea to heal and to prevent further erosions.

The last few days, Deb's eyelids have been inflamed and puffy...some nice infection at work....so we left the appointment with two prescriptions for antibiotics..one is pill based (Keflex) and the other is an ointment to apply to the right eye itself. Dropped them off at the pharmacy on the way home from seeing the doc. Gave them a few hours to fill them then ran back in to pick them up and grab some milk and bread and EASTER CANDY?!?!?....yes, the Kroger store is already selling Easter candy.

The Keflex pills were just what we thought they would be.....$4 since they are a very generic antibiotic. The antibiotic ointment, Bactracin, is also a very generic antibiotic that has been around for ever....and the last time we bought it a couple months ago, it too was $4. Well, I nearly dropped a large load in my shorts when the cashier told me the price on the Bactracin........$52!!! FIFTY TWO DOLLARS! For a tube of ointment smaller than my pinky, a tube that I could fill up with just two halfway decent nose blows. FIFTY TWO DOLLARS!!!!

The pharmacist said that they ran it through the system 3 times to make sure that they were not getting an incorrect price....and it came back at $52 all three times. He said that there was a shortage in the supply of Bactracin...and that accounts for the higher price.

Okay, a shortage resulting in a slightly higher price I can see....but a 1300% increase in price in just 2 or 3 months?!?!?!?!? From $4 to $6, I could understand. Heck, even if the price doubled to $8...that would be understandable. But an increase of 13 times the price just a couple months ago....that is freaking insane. Downright smacks of being illegal as far as I am concerned.

OBIO
 
My wife gets prescriptions for $4.00 most of the time
is this something she got before at $4.00?
or a new one
cus i have been hit for 50 or 60 bucks before
on a new one
H
 
That's a rip off... :isadizzy:

Did you try other Pharmacy?

I remember going to Target Pharmacy onetime and Hannah's prescription was $32.00. Generic anti-biotic.

I told the Pharmacist, I can't do it. I went to CVS (across the street) and they gave me the same Generic brand for $8.00
 
The Bactracin Ointment is something we have bought plenty of during the last year...and it has been $4 a tube each time. This time...$52...due to a shortage in the supply of that particular stuff.

Will check some other places to see if it is the same. Just got off the phone with another pharmacy....$58.99. So, I guess this is another drug that the average American can no longer afford to use.

OBIO
 
OBIO said:
The Bactracin Ointment is something we have bought plenty of during the last year...and it has been $4 a tube each time. This time...$52...due to a shortage in the supply of that particular stuff.

Will check some other places to see if it is the same. Just got off the phone with another pharmacy....$58.99. So, I guess this is another drug that the average American can no longer afford to use.

OBIO
Click to expand...

Was the insurance deducted on that already? :pop4:
 
My wife is a Pharmacist OBIO, she has to fight tooth and nail with certain Dr. groups to prescribe a much cheaper generic. Lots of times the group are in it for a kick-back. Let your Pharmacist do the talking, they're your lawyer concerning meds. Drs. and major Pharmaceuticals, especially specialists are rip-offs, they are like all rich men, in it for as much as they can bleed you and your insurance (should you have any) for. Most insurance cos. are more than happy to have generic dispensed. If you really want to see rip-off health care and drug costs, have an illness and go to a "for profit" hospital.

Caz
 
I remember one time I need to buy prescription drugs. I take iron for myself, (I am anemic)... and the lady took my insurance card, my co pay was $10. Then she checked it again, and called her supervisor, it took her a few minutes to comeback, it was a little annoying,.... give me my drugs so I can get out of here fast... was i my mind, but I hold it a little.

The lady came back, with the drug, gave me back my insurance card, rang the medicine $4.00 without my insurance, I saved $6.00 :jump: (I did not use it anyway it did not agree with me). Now I get the herb kind... smoother! :engel016:

But that is just to tell you how the insurance co-pay works twisted at times! :bump:
 
Thats too bad.... I feel for ya there..We know all to well the evil cost of drugs ...

My wife was on a treatment that was over 10 grand for 12 self injections....

No insurance .... Self pay...

It did not work....:pop4:
 
2003,
that's one time when i was lucky. when they removed my guts i couldn't eat for months. i had to have these bags of white liquid pumped into my chest.
2 bags a day, $1000/bag. between the hospital time, 3 surgeries, visiting nurse, physical therapy, equipment rental, meds, etc, my bills were a half mill.
after insurance, my share of it was less than 2 grand. thank you Jesus!
 
cheezyflier said:
2003,
that's one time when i was lucky. when they removed my guts i couldn't eat for months. i had to have these bags of white liquid pumped into my chest.
2 bags a day, $1000/bag. between the hospital time, 3 surgeries, visiting nurse, physical therapy, equipment rental, meds, etc, my bills were a half mill.
after insurance, my share of it was less than 2 grand. thank you Jesus!
Click to expand...

2001... (yes almost 9 years ago)

Got pregnant with my baby...
I had a very risky pregnancy, according to the doctor, bed rest from 5 months 'till I deliver the baby, C-Section... I have to see my doctor every week, ultra sound and lots of tests...

Delivered one of the most beautiful girl (I said girl-I did not say baby) in the world... I paid a whooping $10.00, co-pay... Thank you Jesus! :engel016:
 
Mrs Willy says Bactracin is over $60 around here. She had to get a tube today. $9 with our insurance.
 
When Deb has her brain surgery last summer, back when we had really really good insurance, the surgery was 157 thousand dollars. 2 weeks in ICU at 75 thousand a week, 2 weeks on the surgical step down wing at 50 thousand a week, 2 to 2 1/2 months in the rehab ward at 35 thousand a week plus the cost of therapies, which ranged from 6 thousand a week for speech therapy to 10 thousand a week for physical therapy. Plus the four other times they had to take Deb back into surgery to put in a shunt and reclean and resuture the main cranial incision, put in a PEG tube (abdominal feeding tube), remove the shunt after she had an allergic reaction to it, then again to check for infection in the shunt site.....those four totalled to over a hundred grand. Then 2 months or so at the nursing home/rehab facility....about 1200 dollars a day. Then out-patient physical and speech therapies 2 to 3 times per week...close to 5 grand a week for 5 months. Then add in all the CT scans, MRIs, modified Barium Swallows. I think Deb had 8 MRIs in 4 months.

My brain isn't large enough to add all that up :isadizzy:. Our out of pocket was less than 4 grand. Man I miss having that insurance!

OBIO
 
OBIO, I feel for you you and your wife have been through hell and back and something like this just adds insult to injury, I can fully understand the need to vent so keep on venting you know you have lots of emotional support on this forum. I greatly admire your strenght of character you and your wife have endured an unbelievable amount of pain and suffering there are many who would not be able to cope with so much for so long. I have been through some pretty awful medical battles myself in the past 10 years and I am very thankful every day that I wake up and can find something to enjoy in each and every new day. Keep the faith and know there are many friends who have you and Deb in our thoughts.
 
youy know, if a new person came in here, he would immediately see what a bunch of broke down, infirm, nutcases we all are :icon_lol:
 
Frankly, I"d be happy as hell to pay 52 dollar for a perscription.

I'm an asthmatic, and just to keep me on maintainence alone, to avoid flare ups, I have to take two drugs a day. I have no insurance. One perscription costs 192.00 dollars and the other cost 175.00. Both these perscriptions last approximately 60 days. So every two months, just to keep breathing "normally" I have to spend 367.00 dollars. If my problems could be cured with a 52 dollar perscription ... I think I'd crap myself.

:kilroy:
 
I know exactly what you mean OBIO. For me for instance, Plavix, which is a super blood thinner, allegedly, has risen over $46.00 in the last 3 months. I pay out of pocket and at $165+ tax a month now this is simply ridiculous. I did some investigating last month and this month I see many of the other meds that I need too have risen yet again and close to $300 more total now, added to +$450 that I already was paying.

Now I can't prove this mind you, but I realized something after surfing and looking into this nonsense. It seems meds for say blood pressure, and cholesterol are pretty common drugs nowadays and there are indeed quite a few generics available. But in my case every damn drug that there is "NO GENERIC" for the prices have risen. A coincidence perhaps? Hardly. They have us over a barrel as you can't just stop or simply not take the crap. If you need a special drug what choice does one have here? I'm starting to think it's just a game Dr's play with these drug cartels! Yes cartels.

My fishing buddy, who is also my pharmacist, was curious too and checked into it. He tells me what he heard was pharmaceutical companies are afraid that this new health care farce is going to wipe them out especially when it concerns future R&D into new compounds which affects the bottom line or what we know as profits. Good excuse but they should have said they hate mashed potatoes as one excuse is just as good as the next. In addition the 7 years allowed before a generic compound could be made has been changed to 12 years now. Imagine that.

I too am po'd and in financial straights here as I will have to re-budget yet again and from the looks of things this is the last time I can pull this robbing Peter to pay Paul crap so to speak.

Any time you are prescribed a new med ALWAYS ask the Dr. if he has some samples and 9 times out of 10 they do and sometimes enough to cover your new Rx too. Wish I could get away with that but it is available to you but you have to ask.

I wish you and you wife well OBIO, and just know that you are not alone. We're all getting hit hard, but as in your case, some hit harder than others...

GOD bless...

:USA-flag:
 
Another part of the high prices is due to all the litigation filed against drug manufacturers. Not a day goes by that I don't see at least one tv commercial telling people if they or someone they know have taken drug XYZ and have suffered or think they may have suffered a harmful effect to call the attorneys at 1-800-blah, blah, blah. It doesn't matter if the case makes it to court or not, the drug companies have to retain legal defense teams at all times and that's not cheap.
 
The price of medicine can "cripple" a person at times. Many years ago I had to give myself injections for a condition I suffered, and when I first went to fill the prescription, I came very close to needing a cardiac zapper machine. $532CAD for 3 days worth of meds. Luckily at the time I had a benefits plan that covered 90% of the cost. Today, I'd have to choose death.....
 
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