A $2,000/month prescription??? They used to use a mask and a gun.

[Cyrano]

Over the past few week, I've been trying to help an elderly neighbor get a medication for rheumatism. It consists of a few shots a month and is supposed to be very effective.

I probably spent about five hours on the phone, mostly on hold, to her HMO, her mail-away pharmacy and her doctors office. Over the past few months, I'd helped her fill out the forms required to get approved for the drug, along with some assistance from a foundation.

The bottom line is that the drug was going to cost $2,000 a month, less a couple of hundred dollars that the foundation would pick up. Her HMO won't cover it, so she's going to be doing without it.

How many people can afford $2,000 a month for a prescription? How many people out there are actually getting this drug and how are they doing it? There must be a bunch of them or the pharmaceutical manufacturer couldn't get away with this kind of robbery.

And even without definitive proof, I'm sure that the fingerprints of BushCo and the conservative congress are all over this particular crime scene. When a drug manufacturer tries to take someone for $2,000 a month, I'd call that a crime.

(And don't get me started on the Medicare Part D horror stories going on in south Florida, and I'm sure, the rest of the country as well. I hope someone is keeping a body count that can be used if/when these criminals are finally brought to justice.)

[Midlodemocrat]

Every pharmaceutical company has indigent programs.

If she is willing to do so, have her ask her doctor for the form.

The pharma companies do this because there are people whose insurance covers it, so they can give drugs to indigent folks. A lot of folks don't know about these programs, though and end up going without. My doctor is really really pushy about making sure everyone in his practice who needs help gets it.

Good luck. It is really nice of you to help her.

[flamingyouth]

5. Good point

Many doctors neglect to mention this to their patients. :thumbsup:

[wakeme2008]

8. That may not be true any more

with the new part D, there was some newspaper reports that the big drug companies were cutting it out because of Part D. :grr:

[Midlodemocrat]

9. No. It is still true.

There was some talk of cutting out sampling and the indigent programs, but they are still there.

Sampling is another way for the indigent to get their drugs. My doctor is amazing about samples. I don't take them, because we have really great drug coverage, (my husband works in Managed Care and actually helped to write the MMA which the * administration completely fucked up)

[Pugee]

15. You can pick up "indigent" application forms

at our social security office on the brochures rack. Check there.

There is a place that does all the phone calls for you and it cost $5 per med that you apply for. If you do not get on the program, they refund the $5 (for their time and costs)

[Cyrano]

11. She's not indigent. She has a pension and Soc Sec, but it's not enough.

If she spent what little she has on this drug, she literally wouldn't be able to buy food, not to mention her other prescriptions, doctor copays, etc.

She's said a thousand times that she wishes she were young enough to move to Canada, or western Europe, but she's just too old to try to move and adjust.

(So much for the "We're #1" "Best Country in the World" bullshit. Perhaps there was a time when that was so, but that time is gone.)

[Midlodemocrat]

12. Tell her to try anyway.

The programs are called indigent programs, but they exist to help pay for drugs patients can't pay for.

She has nothing to lose by applying and you could call it something other than the indigent program.

[MissB]

1. Only the really wealthy elderly can afford that type of bill.

How horrifying.

[misternormal]

2. This is the Bush administration's way...

... of sureing up the pharmaceutical industry, and weeding out the poor sick and elderly...

It is a travesty.

[flamingyouth]

3. It's awful!

One of my neighbors had to take something that was almost $6,000! (Luckily, it was a one-time thing, but still... SIX THOUSAND FREAKING DOLLARS!!!)

Drug companies give lots of money to political campaigns, and gee, I wonder why? :think:

[ovidsen]

4. Kinder and gentler...

My elderly neighbor says the intravenous medication she gets every 6 to 7 weeks for rheumatiod arthritis costs $3400 each visit. She says without it, she'd be bedridden.

She thanks God every day for husband's pension and it's insurance plan. Medicaid wouldn't cover this.

[Missy M]

6. Unfortunately there are many drugs with that kind of cost...

and HMO's that won't cover them. What is the use of paying insurance and then not being covered. The drug manufacturer's are getting out of hand. Can there ever be a solution to all of this. Will we work just to pay medical bills in the future and have nothing left?

[Warpy]

7. The insurance companies don't pay the list price

although I doubt many of them will pick this drug up unless the circumstances are extraordinary.

That list price is for the uninsured and the elderly. It's literally, "your money or your life, sucker."

For some of us, a mere $200/month prescription is prohibitively expensive.

The "indigent" programs only kick in if you're DESTITUTE.

And now they're intercepting prescriptions from Canada.

Thank you, GOP and Big Pill.

[Midlodemocrat]

10. Depends on the program

If you truly can't afford the drugs, the indigent programs will pay, even if you own your own home.

Mainly because there ARE insurance companies that will pick up the cost of the drugs.

My insurance is paying $3000 a month for a drug my son needs, and paid $15,000 for my brother and his wife to have IVF.

One of the things that gets lost in the 'insurance companies suck' discussions is the varying levels of coverage. The employer determines how the insurance company will pay out, based on the policy they choose.

I know I am very lucky to have the coverage I do, believe me, and it is only because of the benevolence of my employer that I do.

[Cyrano]

14. Yes, you are indeed very fortunate for this kind of coverage.

At one time, it may have been considered the norm in this country, but no more. Insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as all businesses, exist for the bottom line.

I forget who said that "Capitalism is the worst of all systems, except for all the others." But anyone who buys that bullshit today is a fool. What we're seeing is unregulated capitalism run amok. And it's killing us.

[Warpy]

16. I just spent the last 2 1/2 years living on $900/month

and my mortgage took $560 of that. Indigent means destitute programs. The reason for not covering me? My house, my only asset.

Insurance is nice if you have it. I lost mine in 1987 and have no hope of ever getting coverage again. I have a lot of company.

I'm glad you've got yours, truly I am. However, I want to junk our present cruel nonsystem in favor of universal single payer coverage that will benefit us all, not just the selected few.

[area51]

13. Republinazi "culture of life"

This is a republinazi culling of the sick from the population.