I was at Walgreen's today getting my pain meds prescription filled and overheard several customers being told that they were going to have to start going to another pharmacy in January or else change insurance companies. Of course, people were shocked for a number of reasons. Most people don't have much choice about their insurance plans and changing plans is perilous. In this area, there are almost no pharmacies except Walgreen's, which one can find on every other corner.

As soon as I got home, I searched for the story because I have not seen it on the news anywhere but this is a big story that is going to cause angina for a lot of people. I think this applies to me, since my health plan uses Express Scripts.

This is why monopolies are bad. This is why regulations are good. This is why we need a single payer plan. For profit health providers are not good for your health. If the drug business were not already a big drain on the family budget, it is about to get really crazy.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/07 ... s-20111007

Do you have a Costco anywhere near? Anthem BC does this often and then quietly reaches agreement, after blackmailing Walgreens/whoever

There is only one Costco in the whole of the city and it is difficult to get to. I have never been to it. Walgreen's does have a near monopoly in this city. There are more than 50 Walgreen's and only two or three CVS stores.

Sometimes you can get your meds from Costco by mail.

WTF. Why should it be difficult to fill a farkin' prescription? This "drug control" mentality that puts people at risk because places won't fill them, or pharmacists think it's Ok to not fill them, or whatever retarded reason that comes up is infuriating.

The cost of prescription drugs is another big irritation for me. I did some research once a couple of years ago, (which I can’t find right now to quote exacts) but the bottom line was staggering. Most people who have set copays for RX drugs pay no attention at all to the actual cost of the drug. I read the article you linked to and I have to say I’d side with Express Scripts in this case.

If you were on a med and had no RX coverage and had to pay out of pocket I guarantee that you would not fill any of your prescriptions at any big box pharmacies such as Walgreen’s, CVS, or Rite Aid. In some cases, the cash price for the exact same drug at non-big box stores can be up to 150% less than what the big boxers charge. In some cases the difference is even more. It was unbelievable to me how the difference of the cost to the consumer on the same drug could be so vastly different.

Costco was by far the cheapest I found on every drug I researched. Walmart has pretty good list of $4.00 prescriptions, if your med happens to be on it. But even Walmart was a LOT higher on some things than Costco. I can’t remember the drug, but one 30 supply of meds I checked on was $157.00 at Walmart, and $39.00 at Costco for the same generic drug. The big boxers were off the scale.

But what really irritates me is that while Ins companies do search for the best prices, the money they save contracting with different pharmacies where they can negotiate lower prices goes directly to profit for the company, and does nothing to lower the cost to the insured. And those who are uninsured and have no ability to negotiate anything have to pay the full outrageously inflated price. You can bet your butt they shop around.

The whole system is a scam. If you wanted to buy oranges and checked the prices at two different grocery stores and found that at one they were 99¢ a pound, and the other they were $150.00 a pound your chin would hit the floor. Of course no one in their right mind would pay $150.00 for something they could get for 99¢, but millions of people do it every single day at pharmacies. What kind of sense does that make?

Symbicort from Walmart $202.00
Generic from Canada $59.00
same generic from Allday Chemist(India) $8.57
http://www.alldaychemist.com/

And here, in the worlds most terrible medical system (according to the GOP), all my scrips are £7. Hmmm

I am confused. I have Anthem BC/BS. I get my prescriptions from Express-Scripts mail order, 3 months for the price of 1 month at CVS. Are there cheaper options? How do I check?

My mom gets her scripts filled at Wegman's. Ahhh, Wegman's....

The Republicans claim they are against government regulations. However, they are not against regulations that favor business over the consumer and the taxpayer. Not allowing Medicare negotiate and the donut holes and all that was another huge transfer of wealth from the least able to pay to the wealthiest. We all should have the benefits that Canadians and other countries do of getting safe drugs at reasonable prices. The whole business of re-importing drugs from Canada was a big red herring. What we needed to import was their system of protecting the supply and making it affordable to all.

The GOP wants to let the market settle everything, becaUse the market is perfect and can do no wrong, right?

This just makes me sick. And this is what the market wants?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/ ... 3V20110607

Reuters won't allow cut and paste. Go read, it's about the shortage of cancer drugs, a deliberate move by big Pharma. Bernie Sanders was talking about it on Thom Hartmann's show this morning.

This is exactly what they want? Not me.

This is a big deal and there is not much reporting on it. It is going to cause a lot of problems for a lot of people and there is already rationing going on. For all the talk about death panels, this is real and it should be getting more attention.

I have been watching the consolidation in the generics industry for a decade or more. Look at how Teva has taken over large parts of the generic market in NA and Europe as well as other parts of the world. As with any monopoly situation, they get to call the shots and force people to pay their price or do without. These monopolistic practices are prevalent in the drug industry.

Here is the FDA shortage list. Most of them are hospital injectibles but not all. Some are fairly common drugs.

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/Dru ... efault.htm

But, but, but you know where Teva is located?????? Oh noes - Israel

Is it starting to make sense now????

But of course the GOP will explain all of that away by saying it's due to Medicare forcing the poor, unprofitable drug companies to sell at a loss. I wonder what the amount a big pharma pays for TV ads in the US vs the amount they spend on making/researching drugs. Why the hell does Pfizer need me to ask my doctor about it's new drug for? Maybe because there was a crackdown on the payola they used to pay said doctors? Cigarettes are a regulated drug now, and they can't advertise on TV, why should drug companies be able to?

Because they paid good money to have their wholly owned subsidiary, Congress, change the law for them. Why shouldn't they get the best democracy money can buy, to use Palast's turn of phrase?

The drug companies are engaging in monopolistic practices, including buying up all the generics manufacturers. Joe LIEberman, among many many others, is in bed with Pharma, literally. His lobbyist wife used to work for drug companies.

After reading about the cancer drug shortage I went to the school to bring the nurse a couple of things for Sprout's trip next week. I was astounded and appalled to see two whole storage buckets full of prescription meds for the kids! I stood in the doorway with my mouth hanging open and looked at the very young nurse (well, in fairness, everyone looks young to me anymore). She looked back and shook her head.

Me: is is like this every year?
She: No. Two years ago I needed half of one grocery bag. In the last couple of years it's incredible how it's grown.
Me:
She: yeah. There are kids who really need meds, like your son with the Epi-Pen and some kids with asthma, but I do not approve of all this. It's all behavior modification stuff and who knows what happens after years
of it.
Me: This makes me very nervous
She: Me, too.

In the past 18 months, I have noticed that companies who manufacture medications that cause physiological dependance, such as pain meds and anti-depressants, or drugs that are highly necessary for those with certain serious health problems have been having "manufacturing problems" or "supply difficulties" quite frequently.

Last month I went to fill a prescription that I pay cash for because it isn't covered by my insurance. The 3 companies that make the drug are having "manufacturing problems". Thus, the cost of the medication went from $33.00 to ....... $166.00. I had to call many pharmacies to even find a pharmacy with the medication. Of course, this specific drug is in highest demand in the fall. Was this a manufacturing problem cause by ingredient shortages or machine malfunction, or was this purposeful price gouging at the drugs peak sales period.

THIS is the market playing in health care. Companies that manufacture the most used, most necessary and/or most physiologically dependent drugs are, IMO, creating artificial shortages. They can get away with it because folks really need the medication they are using and/or because going off the drug without tapering the dosage could hospitalize some patients. Or patients would die without the medication. Patients taking certain psychotropic medications who stop taking their med without tapering can experience Serotonin Syndrome or Stevens-Johnson Syndrome; both can be life-threatening (while these reactions are not typical, they are quite possible). Those on opiate therapy will go into withdrawal if they can't get their medication. Thus, people will pay a 5 fold increase in price because a company knows that the patient can't (or is highly motivated not to) discontinue their medication.

I would like the FDA to start following the true causes of drug shortages. Is a drug unavailable because a company refuses to manufacture enough of the drug? Or is a company having a difficult time obtaining a specific ingredient for their drug and honestly can't manufacture enough of the medication? I understand that some shortages are unavoidable. But some shortages really are basic market manipulation.

I would like FDA to forces the makes of over the counter "food supplements" like the breast enlargement pills, kaoki (or whatever) pads (wood vinegar and water) (also health food stores to back their claims). - force them to prove the claims in the literature and labeling.


But that's just me.

Our elderly kitty is the first member of the family to be really affected by this. The vet wanted to put her on one medication for her eye issue (I don't know the medication) but was unable to because of the shortage in the human supply. So she's on a second best one (which is working well).

The vet was quite pissy about the problem and ranted a bit.

Here is an extensive list of what drugs are in short supply:

http://www.ashp.org/DrugShortages/Current/

Generics, one and all.

They only list the drugs by generic name as a drug may have 10 different trade names from 10 different manufacturers.

Cocaine topical solution was on the list. Cocaine in short supply in the US???? You gotta be shiteing me...

Well, here you go, folks. Our president has issued an executive order to the FDA to try to do something about this problem. Of course, he was met with protestations that he was exceeding his executive powers in doing so from those who benefit from the gouging and monopolistic practices.

This ought to be on everybody's radar screen to watch closely. Instead, it's all about the heartbreak and huurt feelings of Kim Kardashian.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10 ... shortages/

I am disinclined to extend the benefit of the doubt when the very entity claiming "problems" of some vague sort reaps obscene profits from the "problem."

Somebody needed a new yacht for the holidays.