Friday, March 6, 2009

Prescription to cure wealth?

I knew my persistent sniffles would once again require an antibiotic, so I made a plea: let's not use a cannon if a slingshot will work. I was campaigning for E-mycin or one of the narrow spectrum, older, less expensive drugs instead of the monster Z-Pack that always results in yeast infections, ear infections, etc.

Instead, they called in an Rx for Blahblah. I'm guessing it's still a new drug because it cost $13 freakin' dollars EACH. One hundred thirty dollars for TEN pills!

For some reason, my surgery has not been through the insurance system yet, so I still haven't met my deductible and everything is out-of-pocket. I would have just refused, called the doc back and asked for something else. But Genius Girl waited until Friday night to pick it up, and I'm supposed to start chemo on Monday, so I bit the bullet and got the $130 Rx. I wonder about poor people and/or the uninsured who might need Blahblah: do they just die? Is it a sort of financial Darwinism?

Well, the good thing about really expensive lessons is that I tend to remember them.

4 comments:

Kathy from NJ said...

My husband's doctor has a tiny little electronic gizmo (the size of a small cell phone) that he can put in a few letters of the name of a drug & gets all sort of info, including estimated cost. He KNOWS that I cannot buy expensive drugs. Also I am not at all shy about asking for drug samples.

La Cootina said...

Wow - very cool. Docs tend to be out of touch re Rx prices. I sent his nurse a note informing her about the cost, so they don't prescribe it for under/uninsured patients.

Michelle said...

"Financial Darwinism"...I love it! I have often thought that when getting MAM's maitainence meds..w/o insurance we'd go broke. And the gizmo w/ the drug info?? LOVE that idea. We've paid enough co-pays to my doc, you'd think he would have gotten that by now.

But $13 per pill? It should not only make you feel better/not give you a yeast infection, it should also whiten teeth and cure at least one other ailment for that price. Sheesh!!

La Cootina said...

Seriously, for $13 a pill, I should be young, thin, tall and blond!