11/03/2009

11/2/2009 Cost of Medicine

√ Excellent work by these individuals.

Absurdity prevails through-out the world of pharmaceuticals.

An elderly friend of mine uses Pravastatin 40mg, a generic cholesterol drug. He is obliged to order this through the pharmacy selected by his health plan (a Medicare Advantage HMO) in order to access Medicare benefits. He pays $14 every three months, and Part C of Medicare (which is to say the US government and its taxpayers) adds another $146. Total cost $160.

Anyone, anyone, young or old, insured or not, can walk into any WalMart and get the precise same drug from the same manufacturer for a total of $10 every three months, with the government paying nothing. And that is what my friend was lucky enough to have discovered.

I confirmed this. Trust Fact Checker √.

Another friend has a cat with asthma, in need of daily puffs of a steroid. The cheapest cost in the USA, with no generic available, is $176 per puffer, 120 doses. Anyone can order simply on the internet via a mail order house in Canada, and get a generic version made in Israel and shipped thru Barbados, shipping cost included, for $36.

Multiply these stories over and over.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please send comments directly to Duke.Fact.Checker@gmail.com if you want a response. The on-line form is anonymous and we cannot get back to you.

We hope with transfer to a new website in the near future to have open discussion. FC also welcomes Guest FC columns, a complete essay that will be posted just like our own.