Wow! Do you take (generic) meds?

[babylonsister]

Scroll down at the snopes link to see the mark-ups. Did I say 'wow'? And we're all part of the captive audience.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/generic.asp

[Divernan]

1. WOW ! Prilosec (antacid) markup - 69,417% markup

Xanax, 1 mg - 569,958% markup

[RobertSeattle]

2. And of course, cue the Drug Company Apologists...

..."without these huge profits we couldn't fund our research" (but don't say: and the huge salaries for our execs, our lobbyists, and our advertisign budgets)

[varkam]

10. But, but...

Without these huge profits we couldn't fund our research and the huge salaries for our execs, lobbyists, and advertising budgets!!!111

Crap, I wasn't supposed to say that last part.

I've been hanging around here a bit, and I haven't seen or heard of anyone claiming that pharmaceutical companies are wondrous entities. Very little in life is black and white.

The truth of the matter is that drug companies do spend a hell of a lot of money on R&D for new drugs that offer a lot of promise for treatment of illnesses. It is also true that their execs are extremely well-paid, that they have a huge lobby, and that you can't watch TV for five minutes without thinking you have three diseases that need medication. There are a lot of problems with drug companies, and you won't get any arguments from me there.

IMO, the biggest problem with drug companies is that they are for-profit corporations that are accountable to their stockholders. From that comes a lot of good things and lot of bad things - not the least of which being the highway robberyesque costs of drugs.

[Fridays Child]

3. So, Costco is doing the right thing by offering lower prices and...

...Costco is blue. That's an email that deserves to go viral.

From Snopes:

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. They gave the link to Costco, which I will include here, so that you can go and check prices for yourself. www.costco.com Costco Online pharmacy

I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get it's 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.

[babylonsister]

4. Great info, Fridays Child. That deserves its own thread in GD.

And I hope you're feeling better.

[NJCher]

5. thanks, babylon sister

You just saved me almost 50%. I just refilled my prescription yesterday but next time it will be at Costco.




Cher

[Warpy]

6. Careful! The cost of the pill is much, much more than the cost

of the chemicals that went into it.

Generic drugs also have to be tested to get FDA approval. Continuous quality control testing must be performed to insure that the right amount of the drug is present in each tablet. Since some drugs are measured in micrograms, that quality control is quite expensive to perform.

In fact, the component chemicals are the least expensive part of a pill. There's also the packaging, shipping, distributing, and maintaining a huge inventory in the average pharmacy. Drugs also have a specific shelf life and must be discarded if they're not sold before the expiration date.

Yes, we're being gouged on drugs, there's no question about that. However, expecting to pay only the cost of the component chemicals is unrealistic. There are too many hidden costs present in every pill.

[nosillies]

7. I know I'll get flamed for this, but this was just announced in FL

Wal-Mart To Sell Low-Price Drugs Sooner Than Expected

Wal-Mart is offering about 314 generic drugs at a cost of $4 a month in Florida.

http://www.wftv.com/news/10007982/detail.html

[TallahasseeGrannie]

8. I take three generic drugs now that cost me $25

each, even with an HMO copay. My husband takes the same number. When WalMart comes in with their $4 meds it will save us 126 dollars a month. I'm looking forward to that!

[hvn_nbr_2]

9. Scroll all the way down at snopes to the statement below that chart

This chart has little relevance (other than an inflammatory one), as far more goes into the retail pricing of drugs than the raw cost of their active ingredients.

That chart is a little like saying your $1000 computer has a 200,000% markup because it contains 20 cents worth of copper, 20 cents worth of sand (for silicon), and a boot CD with 10 cents of raw material.

Big Pharma is robbing us blind, but use a little bit of sense. The real info in the linked article "Markups on Generic Prescription Drugs" is plenty alarming, without paying any attention to that useless chart.

[Nikia]

11. I have found that the local pharmacy in town offers good prices

For the meds that I take anyway. In fact, the prices are so good that I am not using insurance for it. I find it interesting though that Walmart charges $10 for my $4 prescription and $35 for my $27 prescription. Sometimes I wonder if insurance copays have something to do with inexpensive meds. Big companies don't want to charge below normal insurance copays because the comsumer with insurance expects to always pay at least that much.

[Buchananfan]

12. MAKE IT ALL OVER THE COUNTER

And this problem will disappear

[Crunchy Frog]

13. I've tried it and it just isn't effective for me.

Which suck, since it's really more than I can afford. :(