PSA for Americans

[blamebrampton]

Just watching PBS Newshour, as I like to do when I have a chance, and they had a story on pricing practices of chain pharmacies. They compared a number of cancer, cholesterol and mental health drugs from a number of outlets.

At Costco, the woman who the story was based on found her generic cancer medication for $11 for 30 days. At Target it was $450 for the same script. Yep, $11 v $450. No typos. To be fair to Target, they did offer to price match when told of the lower figure.

According to PBS, many people do not shop around on prescriptions. It appears it would be very much worth the time to do so. For the drugs looked at, price differences ranged from around 10 times to the 40+ above. I thoroughly recommend the story, and apparently a website called Good Rx does a good job of comparing prices on major generics, too.

If you'll excuse me, I'll be over here giving a big juicy snog to the public health systems I have enjoyed throughout my life. I recognise the fact that I am very lucky!

Comments

[valkyrie17.livejournal.com]

YIkes!

Makes me very grateful that I live in Canada.

[germankitty]

Good grief.

Thankfully, over here we have fixed prices for meds, no matter which pharmacy you go to in the whole country. The only difference in cost is due to brand/manufacturer, and as doctors are directed to prescribe generic meds whenever possible, that hardly matters. Patients only pay a nominal fee for prescription drugs, anyway; the rest is carried by mandatory (if you're working) health insurance.

[ashindk.livejournal.com]

*clings to public health system*
I had a cancer scare this summer. It ended up being nothing, but I can't even imagine the stress it would cause if money was something I had to worry about in that situation!

[illereyn.livejournal.com]

Yay for Medicare and other similar public health systems!

[shocolate.livejournal.com]

*gasps*

*ravishes the NHS*

[astardanced77.livejournal.com]

I remember reading an article during the Obamacare debate by a woman who had survived childhood cancer. Her parents had gone bankrupt twice paying for her treatment. She was now an adult and completely cancer free. However, because of her history, her monthly health insurance premium was more than her income. She ended up moving to England and becoming a British citizen because of the NHS.

I find the healthcare debate mind-boggling because I work in health statistics. Every time I look at the OECD comparison rates I am a little more grateful I live in Australia.

[ozdobe.livejournal.com]

Yes I even use Costco online (because that can be even cheaper) for medications for extended conditions for my dogs. I was able to get human grade anti epilepsy drugs for my dog at a totally affordable cost of $127 every 6 months instead of $200 per month just by using Costco. Gotta love some aspects of the big box stores. Gotta hate Walmart though just for existing.

Lucky for me I have good healthcare coverage thru work so when my husband had cancer most of last year, the actual total out-of-pocket cost to me was less than his medical costs for the previous year!

[dharawal.livejournal.com]

Having just spent a month in hospital, and now on permanent it seems medications, I for one am glad of the health care system in Australia, my meds cost me $7 per script every 45 days or so.

[mrsquizzical.livejournal.com]

amazing.