Cost of Prescriptions

Although I agree that the national medical system is long overdue for an overhaul, I have not agreed with many of the proposals in the current bill. In particular, the bill did not address two iitems which I perceive to be major problems contributing significantly to the expanding and outrageous costs: pharmacutical commercials and ads and frivilous and unnecessary law suits or threats of law suits. For years the commercials on television and the ads in newspapers and magazines have attempted to convince the consumer/patient that he or she should be the judge of what medical prescription or need is correct for whatever ailment may be present. I am convinced that quite often the ads begin to make people believe they have problems which they had never heard of before they saw the ad. The one I am really sick and tired of is the one with the two bathtubs. Doesn't every household in America use Kickapoo Joy Juice and have two bathtubs out back with a gorgeous view? That alone should make people ignore the product, if the advised possible side effects did not. Watch the latest Focker movie if you want to see a very funny take-off on the effects of a Viagra-type drug! For years hungry lawyers have been forcing the price of malpractice insurance to rise, causing commisserate changes in fees. Many physicians will not even go into certain practices because of the possibility of damages. What is wrong with this picture? Certainly, there are some instances when someone will make a decidedly erroneous decision which needs to be addressed and which deserves monetary compensation. But frivilous law suits should not be addressed by the courts, for example. the hot coffee from McDonald's rediculous one. After hearing our primary care physician discuss the negative aspects of Medicare, I could continue this topic along other lines to great lengths. Unfortunately, under our medical insurance, we are forced to be under the Medicare umbrella, like it or not (which I do not). It certainly does not offer me much encouragement that the government's management of the healthcare system would be much better than its management of its finances. But, that's another topic! What do you think? The following is an article persuant to the topic of prescription costs that first appeared around 2003 and is still relevant today. Hopefully, this will provide some food for thought. Let's hear it for Costco! (This is just mind-boggling!) Make sure you read all the way past the list of the drugs. The woman that signed below is a Budget Analyst out of federal Washington DC offices. Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of Life Extension a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other countries. In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most popular drugs sold in America . Celebrex:100 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60 Percent markup: 21,712% Claritin:10 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71 Percent markup: 30,306% Keflex:250 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39 Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88 Percent markup: 8,372% Lipitor:20 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37 Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80 Percent markup: 4,696% Norvasc:10 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14 Percent markup: 134,493% Error! Filename not specified. Paxil:20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27 Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60 Percent markup: 2,898% Prevacid:30 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77 Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01 Percent markup: 34,136% Prilosec: 20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97 Cost of general active ingredients $0.52 Percent markup: 69,417% Prozac:20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11 Percent markup: 224,973% Tenormin:50 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13 Percent markup: 80,362% .JPG" SRC="aoladp://MA24192176-0011/ATT0001011.JPG"> Vasotec:10 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20 Percent markup: 51,185% Xanax:1 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024 Percent markup: 569,958% Zestril:20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89 Cost of general active ingredients $3.20 Percent markup: 2,809% Zithromax:600 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19 Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78 Percent markup: 7,892% Zocor:40 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27 Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63 Percent markup: 4,059% IZE="9126" ID="16" SRC="aoladp://MA23455901-0016/ATT0001516.JPG"> Zoloft:50 mg Consumer price: $206.87 Cost of general active ingredients: $1..75 Percent markup: 11,821% Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought everyone should know about this. It pays to shop around! This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to put a Walgreen's on every corner.On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit , did a story on generic drug prices gouging by pharmacies. He found in his investigation that some of these generic drugs were marked up as much as 3,000% or more. So often we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you think you are saving $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10! At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs. I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience I had to use the drug Compazine which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients. I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08. I would like to mention, that although Costco is a 'membership' type store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own e-mail, and send it to everyone you know with an e-mail address. Sharon L. Davis Budget Analyst U.S. Department of Commerce Room 6839 Office Ph: 202-482-4458 Office Fax: 202-482-5480 E-mail Address:sdavis@doc.gov