Anyone else remember, in the lead up to the ObamaCare vote, when the GOP used the idea of government officials (death panels) deciding who should get treatment and who should die as a fear mongering tactic?
They are not your friend. They are the reason your pill costs so much. Pharmacist can actually charge less for them if you say you want to pay in cash - you often pay MORE to use insurance on a lot of prescribed medication. They legally can not tell you that.
I’m always curious when this type of story comes up. Is it locale based? Certain states doing funny things? Certain chain pharmacy practices? From my almost 10 years experience as a pharmacy technician in Oregon and Washington, I still have yet to see the actual cash price (not wholesale price) be cheaper than insurance.
They legally can not tell you that
Got a source for that? Absolutely not true.
If you go to Walgreens, your prescription leaflet specifically tells you how much you “saved” over the cash price. That cash price is the most expensive price you could pay for the medication. Cash price of your drug is $297? If insurance pays nothing, you’ll pay $297. Ask to pay cash and you’ll pay $297.
Now there are some chains that do have a list of medications that they do have cheaper (Example is Walmart’s $4 Drug List, or Walgreens’ paid discount program), but that’s chain specific and the lists are pretty narrow in what’s covered. They’re loss leaders since they want to fill all your other drugs that aren’t on those lists.
The other alternative is Discount Cards. Can definitely save money over insurance prices, but it’s hard to know what those companies are doing with your data. You’re giving a random 3rd party access to your health information. They’ll give you a discount then turn around and sell your information to the highest bidder. Unfortunately sometimes a pharmacy will run your claims through one without telling you when you ask to pay cash (Some give kickbacks to the tech/pharmacist).
None of this is to say that I like the prices of drugs. Drug makers and insurance companies artificially raise prices and tell you you’re getting a good deal on your “million dollar” medication.
I had to go to the ER recently because my insurance decided to stop paying for the higher quality iron infusion formulation and switched to only being willing to pay for the cheapest options. Turns out the cheap, less popular options are more likely to have bad reactions.
Wish I could sue them, or at least have whoever made that decision suffer the pain that I did.
I can at least be somewhat comforted by the fact that that emergency visit cost them a lot more than the usual formulation would have. Try to save money on my health care? Fuck you, too.
There have ALWAYS been death panels. There are death panels RIGHT NOW.
They’re occupied by insurance corporations balancing the profit from your premiums and the cost of your treatment. Is it cheaper to let someone die? Can we save the life so they will continue to pay premiums? Can we deny treatment without a media circus that makes us look bad? If there IS a media circus, will they die soon enough that everybody forgets?
I would rather take corporate profit out of the equation.
Anytime someone says death panels I have a compulsive need to post this:
Frame Canada: Wendell Potter spent decades scaring Americans. About Canada. He worked for the health insurance industry, and he knew that if Americans understood Canadian-style health care, they might… like it. So he helped deploy an industry playbook for protecting the health insurance agency. https://www.npr.org/2020/10/19/925354134/frame-canada
This explains so freaking much about how everyone is always terrified of Canadian health care when it works decently well. (Perfect? No!) But so many of their problems in accessing specialists are identical to ours. (Most common argument I hear.)
And it was just so much easier getting on antidepressants and switching up my birth control methods while I was in Canada than if I had tried the same in the US.
What do you think health insurers are? Their business plan is literally “well, maybe you’ll die before we agree to pay for the treatment. We can always change the agreement tomorrow anyway.”
The truly hilarious thing is that in several states abortion bans were put on hold precisely because of medical freedom laws passed after Obamacare, which, of course, never had to be used against the fictitious government death panels.
Anyone else remember, in the lead up to the ObamaCare vote, when the GOP used the idea of government officials (death panels) deciding who should get treatment and who should die as a fear mongering tactic?
My my my how the turns have tabled.
It’s ok when multi billion dollar insurance companies do it when they decide which med they’re going to pay for.
Yeah, just as long as the government keeps its damned hands off my medicare!
My insurance company is my friend! They make the pills that make the sad go away cost less.
Insurance actually generally increases prices. Then they “negotiate it down” to regular prices.
They are not your friend. They are the reason your pill costs so much. Pharmacist can actually charge less for them if you say you want to pay in cash - you often pay MORE to use insurance on a lot of prescribed medication. They legally can not tell you that.
Read up, it doesn’t hurt to talk to pharmacist https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/why-a-patient-paid-a-285-copay-for-a-40-drug
I’m always curious when this type of story comes up. Is it locale based? Certain states doing funny things? Certain chain pharmacy practices? From my almost 10 years experience as a pharmacy technician in Oregon and Washington, I still have yet to see the actual cash price (not wholesale price) be cheaper than insurance.
Got a source for that? Absolutely not true.
If you go to Walgreens, your prescription leaflet specifically tells you how much you “saved” over the cash price. That cash price is the most expensive price you could pay for the medication. Cash price of your drug is $297? If insurance pays nothing, you’ll pay $297. Ask to pay cash and you’ll pay $297.
Now there are some chains that do have a list of medications that they do have cheaper (Example is Walmart’s $4 Drug List, or Walgreens’ paid discount program), but that’s chain specific and the lists are pretty narrow in what’s covered. They’re loss leaders since they want to fill all your other drugs that aren’t on those lists.
The other alternative is Discount Cards. Can definitely save money over insurance prices, but it’s hard to know what those companies are doing with your data. You’re giving a random 3rd party access to your health information. They’ll give you a discount then turn around and sell your information to the highest bidder. Unfortunately sometimes a pharmacy will run your claims through one without telling you when you ask to pay cash (Some give kickbacks to the tech/pharmacist).
None of this is to say that I like the prices of drugs. Drug makers and insurance companies artificially raise prices and tell you you’re getting a good deal on your “million dollar” medication.
They are called “gag clauses”.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6293384/
I had to go to the ER recently because my insurance decided to stop paying for the higher quality iron infusion formulation and switched to only being willing to pay for the cheapest options. Turns out the cheap, less popular options are more likely to have bad reactions.
Wish I could sue them, or at least have whoever made that decision suffer the pain that I did.
I can at least be somewhat comforted by the fact that that emergency visit cost them a lot more than the usual formulation would have. Try to save money on my health care? Fuck you, too.
There have ALWAYS been death panels. There are death panels RIGHT NOW.
They’re occupied by insurance corporations balancing the profit from your premiums and the cost of your treatment. Is it cheaper to let someone die? Can we save the life so they will continue to pay premiums? Can we deny treatment without a media circus that makes us look bad? If there IS a media circus, will they die soon enough that everybody forgets?
I would rather take corporate profit out of the equation.
Every accusation is a confession. Every single one.
Anytime someone says death panels I have a compulsive need to post this:
This explains so freaking much about how everyone is always terrified of Canadian health care when it works decently well. (Perfect? No!) But so many of their problems in accessing specialists are identical to ours. (Most common argument I hear.)
And it was just so much easier getting on antidepressants and switching up my birth control methods while I was in Canada than if I had tried the same in the US.
What do you think health insurers are? Their business plan is literally “well, maybe you’ll die before we agree to pay for the treatment. We can always change the agreement tomorrow anyway.”
https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/11/ai-with-90-error-rate-forces-elderly-out-of-rehab-nursing-homes-suit-claims/
The truly hilarious thing is that in several states abortion bans were put on hold precisely because of medical freedom laws passed after Obamacare, which, of course, never had to be used against the fictitious government death panels.
I don’t remember (but should), can you give me some more info to have because this is too good of an example to not use.
https://www.npr.org/2017/01/10/509164679/from-the-start-obama-struggled-with-fallout-from-a-kind-of-fake-news
Thank you. That is incredibly messed up.