Jessa, Ben & Spurgeon Part 3

[sawasdee]

45 minutes ago, Cleopatra7 said:

Are there any other industrialized nations without national health insurance? I thought we (i.e., the US) were the only one.

I live in Thailand,which is not a first world economy, and which has a large,low income rural population.However, Thai citizens receive free health care, and the quality of that care is on the whole very good. Wards are large, families supply non medical inpatient care, but the medical care is freely available.

[Ramen Amen]

1 hour ago, EmCatlyn said:

This is awful.  Have you tried contacting the pharmaceutical company?   Some overpriced medicines are provided for free by the pharmaceutical company when insurance turns it down for people who are not able to pay out of pocket.  (It is because medicine is so overpriced.  The companies do better keeping the high prices and donating some medicines to those who can't get it another way.)

In any case, I hope you can find a solution.  What a thing to have to deal with, on top of everything else.

I have not. But that's a good idea. Thanks. 

[Jucifer]

2 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

This is awful.  Have you tried contacting the pharmaceutical company?   Some overpriced medicines are provided for free by the pharmaceutical company when insurance turns it down for people who are not able to pay out of pocket.  (It is because medicine is so overpriced.  The companies do better keeping the high prices and donating some medicines to those who can't get it another way.)

In any case, I hope you can find a solution.  What a thing to have to deal with, on top of everything else.

Piano gal, you've got a lot on your plate!  

<<<hugs>>>

An acquaintance of mine was diagnosed with MS last year. She needs medication that is ridiculously expensive. She called the drug company and was finally able to get it at a deep discount...but the guy on the phone didn't cave in until she started crying. 

Thinking about health care in this country just makes me furious. 

Wishing you all the best and I hope things will work out for you!

[2manyKidzzz]

I saw a TV ad for a website which compares prescription prices and gives coupons. I do not know if this is relevant to Piano Gal, as this may be for an authorized prescription, but there could be other sites. There is a site for comparing the prices of procedures in your area at different proviiders. Sorry, I didn't make a note of these but will if I see the ad again. 

 

I saw on facebook, and maybe you have all seen this, about a pediatrician, Dr. Cuoney, who, working in the first half of the 20th century pretty much invented the incubator and since nobody believe it would work, as in hospitals just let the preemies die, actually they disregarded his invention. So, he made some of his incubators and put the babies and the incubator on display at carnivals and boardwalks and charged people 25 cents, thus paying for the babies' medical care. An amazing story. They basically just threw the preemies away, it seems. Sorry I don't have a link. He was a true pioneer, an  amazing man. Finally around 1950, hospitals got on board. 

[gustava]

On 3/4/2016 at 9:06 AM, quiverofdoubt said:

Except JB's insurance was a private one that he paid for out of pocket. Not a nice plan through an employer, but something he bought as an individual or self-employed. This was well before obama care too.  So even if his insurance helped a lot, i doubt it was nearly as nice as having insurance through a large company. He was probably still on the hook for a lot of money, between josie and michelle's care. But he had tlc money at the time, and the episodes on josie's health dramas probably brought in a lot of viewers.  (and how sick and twisted is that?)

I think we concluded way back when Josie was born that much of the cost of her health care was covered by state/federal government because she was a micro-preemie.

[Denim Jumper]

14 hours ago, Piano gal said:

I have not. But that's a good idea. Thanks. 

Off hand, I know Pfizer has a patient assistance program for their products. They have a need/income-based program (where they cover your out-of-pocket cost for the Rx), and a Rx discount program (where they cover the out-of-pocket cost that exceeds $20 per refill). For example, my son's medication has a $45 co-pay, so we present the card at the pharmacy, pay $20 of the co-pay, and they bill Pfizer for the remaining $25.  

[Bushes of Love]

1 hour ago, Denim Jumper said:

Off hand, I know Pfizer has a patient assistance program for their products. They have a need/income-based program (where they cover your out-of-pocket cost for the Rx), and a Rx discount program (where they cover the out-of-pocket cost that exceeds $20 per refill). For example, my son's medication has a $45 co-pay, so we present the card at the pharmacy, pay $20 of the co-pay, and they bill Pfizer for the remaining $25.  

This is another thing that's weird to me. I never even consider the pharmaceutical companies that make my medications, I couldn't tell you who makes them. I just get and take what the Dr tells me! He once switched the 'brand' of one of them as by doing that it'd save the NHS a bit of money but didn't elaborate and I didn't give a toss. I wouldn't know if my tablets cost £1 or £1000 each.

[caszandra]

For the US posters, when your Doctor gives you a prescription do you pay one price for everything or do you have to pay for each drug separately?  I'm in Scotland and we get our prescriptions free regardless how many items are on it, I am always grateful I have the NHS when the topic of healthcare comes up in threads here.  I would be in a world of trouble if I lived in the US with my health problems, I take 11 different medications a day and another one that I take only when I need it.

[MakeItSo]

Canadian in the US for university here (as previously mentioned) and I try to save my doctor visits for when I go home during summer/winter break. I have used the health center on campus for an ear infection last year and the antibiotics were super cheap through my school's pharmacy that is attached to the health clinic. I also have asthma but try to stock up on inhalers & other meds when I go home, even though those are also available at a discounted price at my school's pharmacy. Of course, we pay for these on campus health services via tuition. 

[SassyPants]

21 minutes ago, caszandra said:

For the US posters, when your Doctor gives you a prescription do you pay one price for everything or do you have to pay for each drug separately?  I'm in Scotland and we get our prescriptions free regardless how many items are on it, I am always grateful I have the NHS when the topic of healthcare comes up in threads here.  I would be in a world of trouble if I lived in the US with my health problems, I take 11 different medications a day and another one that I take only when I need it.

Each one gets billed separately.

[Bushes of Love]

12 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

Each one gets billed separately.

Yikes!

In England you pay a flat price of £8.20 per each prescription. However, loads of people get them free. If you are under 16 or over 60, if you are 16-18 years old and are in full time education, pregnant, have child under the age of 1, don't work or get tax credits (which are money you get from the government each week if you are over 25 and work over 30 hours but earn under £16000 a year. This is why I get free prescriptions), then you don't have to pay.

[caszandra]

9 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

Each one gets billed separately.

I can't even imagine how much all my meds would cost me if I had to pay for each separately, I would probably be bankrupted!

[Bushes of Love]

7 minutes ago, caszandra said:

I can't even imagine how much all my meds would cost me if I had to pay for each separately, I would probably be bankrupted!

I know how you feel. I was bored so I totted up the cost of all the tablets I take and it was £113! I couldn't spare over a hundred quid each month!

[MatthewDuggar]

With my US Insurance, I only pay about $2-10 dollars per prescription and some generics are free.  It depends on your plan.  I also take a "biologic" drug via injection that costs about $1500 per syringe.  With my insurance and assistance from the drug company, I only pay $5.  I'm lucky, many people are not able to get decent insurance plans.

[Lizzybet]

On February 18, 2016 at 9:46 PM, SassyPants said:

I think he looks a great deal like Izzy-

I agree Izzy and Spurge look a lot alike, and I also see a close resemblance to JB. I really hope both grow to resemble him less with time. His ego is already off the charts.

On February 18, 2016 at 9:46 PM, SassyPants said:I think he looks a great deal like Izzy-

 

[caszandra]

16 minutes ago, Bushes of Love said:

I know how you feel. I was bored so I totted up the cost of all the tablets I take and it was £113! I couldn't spare over a hundred quid each month!

No way could I afford to pay that much. Where did you find out how much your meds cost?  It would be interesting to see how much mine would cost me a month.

[Bushes of Love]

One thing that would blow the Duggars tiny little minds is the fact that nearly all types of birth control including the morning after pill for free, regardless of age or income. You don't even have to be 16 (the age of consent here), as long as you can prove you know what it entails and a deemed mature enough the Dr will give you the pill at any age without informing your parents. I was 13 when I went on the pill and the Dr encouraged me to tell my parents, but I grew up with only a dad and I wasn't going to talk to him about THAT.

Just now, caszandra said:

No way could I afford to pay that much. Where did you find out how much your meds cost?  It would be interesting to see how much mine would cost me a month.

Sorry for the double post!

You google the name of your meds with 'cost'. It also helps if you have the pharmaceutical company name to hand, I don't keep the boxes but it was also printed on the tablet blister packs.

[caszandra]

1 minute ago, Bushes of Love said:

You google the name of your meds with 'cost'. It also helps if you have the pharmaceutical company name to hand, I don't keep the boxes but it was also printed on the tablet blister packs.

Thanks, will do that tomorrow as it is bed time for me now.

[Bushes of Love]

Just now, caszandra said:

Thanks, will do that tomorrow as it is bed time for me now.

It should be bed time for me too because I'm going back to work part time tomorrow. I've been off for 6 weeks. In stead I'm eyeing up my DVDs. I suck at bed time lol.

[FlamingFundie]

Here's a nice little article for those who want to see just how awful prescription meds are getting in the US...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/business/a-huge-overnight-increase-in-a-drugs-price-raises-protests.html?_r=0

[PennySycamore]

I'm very lucky, because my 2 prescription meds cost less than $5 a month at the Target Pharmacy.  I take generic Lipitor and a generic Beta blocker.  My non-prescription meds are more expensive than the ones for which I have a scrip: vitamin B12, Co-Q 10, vitamin D, and 325 mg of aspirin.

When my premie daughter was in the NICU almost 29 years ago, we got a note from the insurance company as did the neonatologists that they would need to be notified every couple of days if she required more hospital care.  My neonatologist wrote a hot letter to the insurance company that he had no intention of contacting them every few days to extend Katherine's NICU stay; she was going to require an extensive hospital stay of at least several months and that a note like we received amounted to harassment.  We never had such contact with the insurance company again.  Man, I loved that neonatologist!

[EmCatlyn]

1 hour ago, caszandra said:

I can't even imagine how much all my meds would cost me if I had to pay for each separately, I would probably be bankrupted!

Medication that has "gone to generic" drops sharply in price in the US and the insurance companies generally leave you with only a small co-payment.  For example, I used to have a copayment of $40 for thirty days supply of a medication that I now get 90 days supply with a copayment of only $5.  The reason brand name medicine is so expensive in the US is largely advertising costs on top of research costs.  The research costs are high because getting FDC approval of new meds is difficult if not impossible without extensive and expensive tests.  

(The advertising costs could be cut back sharply-- and the medicines would cost less--if we didn't have tv shows and magazine ads and Internet pop-ups telling us to ask our doctor about this or that doctor.  But imagine how negatively this would impact the advertising and media industry.  If we --or insurance--didn't pay higher prices for medicine.)

The same medicines are often more expensive in the US than in Canada, Latin America or Europe.  I do not know if the reason is that the expensive research costs (which indirectly benefit consumers in other countries) are being borne primarily by US consumers. But I do know that the higher prices for textbooks in the US have indirectly subsidized the cost of textbooks in Europe and other countries for years, so I would guess that the situations may be parallel.

In the case of textbooks (I am talking here of the big fat science, math, engineering and business books) the publisher plans to cover costs and make a profit with American sales.  Sales abroad are seen as extra, and, in effect, the US market subsidizes the cost of these books abroad.  There was a big to-do about this some years ago when some Ivy League students figured out they could get their big fat books in Europe and organized a system to do this. The publishers objected, and I think some of the new book acquisition options (of renting instead of buying, for example, and some e-copies, etc.) responded to this crisis.  It doesn't seem to be as big an issue now as it was 8-15 years ago.  But my point is that when we compare the costs of medicine, education, etc. with other countries, one of th variables we discount is that some things cost Americans more just as other things (clothes and gasoline/petrol, for example) cost more in other countries.

Please don't think I am arguing against universal healthcare or pretending that the US is at a disadvantage because our meds and some textbooks are more expensive.  I am just talking about how comparisons can be complicated.  I can buy Clark shoes (British made) more cheaply in Atlanta, Georgia than in London.  But last time I was in Madrid I got an antibiotic that had a co-payment of $20 in the US for less than half that--and without my insurance kicking in. (I did have some trouble getting an MD to prescribe it. But that's traveling.)

 

 

[Fundie Bunny]

May be the price difference lies in the ads. Here there is just no publicity for meds. Only the ocassional aspirine commercial. Why should there be ads? Just let the doctor, the one who knows about it, let you know about the meds

[Bad Wolf]

But if you let the doctor decide, you wouldn't be able to imagine all these great symptoms to present to him. The drug companies want you invested in your illness, not your health.

[RabbitKM]

My birth control is completely covered by insurance, my acid medicine too.  Antibiotics usually cost $5 or so.  However, I am on an anti-nausea pill, and insurance will only cover 15 pills a month.  I often need to take this pill more than 15 times a month, but if I want more, I would have to pay for it.  Apparently, it would cost $170 for 30.  So for that pill, I try to limit how often I take it so that the 15 will last me all month.

As an aside, its interesting which medicines are banned here vs other places.  There's a medicine that would be helpful for my condition, but it's not sold here.  My doctor literally asked me if I was planning on going to Canada or Europe, and that I should pick up the medicine while I am there.  What's super interesting is that while it isn't even sold here, but in Europe its sold with out a prescription.  My cousin, who lives in Spain, checked on the pills for me, and it's sold for $2 for 20 pills.  I was shocked.