1 + 1 = 5
I renewed a prescription today under my new (read: worse) health insurance plan. It's a pill that is sold over the counter in measurements of 75 or 150 mg. but is sold in prescription form at 300 mg. I was informed that the pills are no longer covered under my revised plan. I told the pharmacist to go ahead anyway since, insurance or not, I need the pills.
The cost: $126 for 60 pills.
I paid and then walked over to the counter where they sold the same medication in 150 mg. form. 65 pills for $24.
Even I didn't need a calculator to figure out that I had just been ripped off. I had paid $126 for less than what I could have bought for $48.
I made a quick U Turn, refunded the prescription and bought two bottles of the over the counter stuff. The pharmacy was very gracious. My beef is not with the pharmacy.
But, hey, what's up with that?
I renewed a prescription today under my new (read: worse) health insurance plan. It's a pill that is sold over the counter in measurements of 75 or 150 mg. but is sold in prescription form at 300 mg. I was informed that the pills are no longer covered under my revised plan. I told the pharmacist to go ahead anyway since, insurance or not, I need the pills.
The cost: $126 for 60 pills.
I paid and then walked over to the counter where they sold the same medication in 150 mg. form. 65 pills for $24.
Even I didn't need a calculator to figure out that I had just been ripped off. I had paid $126 for less than what I could have bought for $48.
I made a quick U Turn, refunded the prescription and bought two bottles of the over the counter stuff. The pharmacy was very gracious. My beef is not with the pharmacy.
But, hey, what's up with that?
Labels: Random Thoughts
posted by MoChassid @ 2:25 PM
2 Comments:
At 9:27 PM,
Fern @ Life on the Balcony said…
The existence of health insurance has caused the overall price of healthcare to go up. If we all paid out of pocket for our health needs, then we would make decisions like you did today (i.e. we would search out better priced options or complain that we are being over charged). But since we aren't concerned with the actual cost of our care, but only the cost of our health insurance, doctors and prescription drug companies can charge more because a corporation is footing the bill and the corporation is spreading the cost over a large number of people.
I guess there is a chicken-egg argument to be made. What came first, an increase in the cost of providing health care which created the need for health insurance, or health insurance that created the opportunity to over charge, but without studying the issue in an academic setting, my money is on the latter, or at least a combination of the two.
At 2:00 PM,
DovBear said…
Health insurance is what makes overcharging possible, of course, but prices won't go down overnight if health insurance is eliminated.
Anyway, if we had no health insurance expensive pills would be the least of our financial worries.
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