Make it make sense.
The price was bullshit to begin with. The cream probably sells over the counter for about $2.50 in most other countries, so OP still ended up paying 10x the price.
this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2024
12 points (100.0% liked)
People Twitter
4937 readers
1881 users here now
People tweeting stuff. We allow tweets from anyone.
RULES:
- Mark NSFW content.
- No doxxing people.
- Must be a tweet or similar
- No bullying.
- Be excellent to each other.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Its a tax scheme.
The pharmacy claims this medication is worth $275, insurance covers $40, and then they get as much as they can out of the patient while claiming the rest as a loss they can write off on their taxes.
US healthcare is stupid.
You should really be replacing ~~stupid~~ with "evil"
That's fucking evil and the cunts should be held accountable for their evil
But yous won't cos you're pussies
Health is an easy thing to jerk people around with because most of the people you're stepping on are literally too weak to fight back.
Nope. It's consequential. They need to raise their shareholder value in any way that's legal, even if it's not morally right. If they won't do that, they'd get into trouble. For corporations tax loopholes are there to be exploited.
Making those loopholes illegal is what will fix this. Then you can call it good craftsmanship by politicians. Right now you can barley call it shoddy.
It looks like the pharmacies do not get the tax write offs, if any. It’s the drug manufacturers who get to double dip by charging insurers for whatever they’re willing to cover, and then write off the rest causing tax payers to foot the bill.
Regardless, I agree with the article that there needs to be legislation that both bans these type of “shell game” programs, and capping the price of medications. And for what it’s worth, I don’t care if that means companies don’t make as much money. They’ll still make money, and the drugs do not actually cost that much to make.
The fact that the US is the only major industrialized nation without some from of a universal healthcare system is supremely fucked up...
I legit think it's way too late to implement universal healthcare because the entire food industry would have to change also.
Interesting take. I've never heard anyone connect the two. How do you mean?
A lot of the food in the US has chemicals that are banned in other countries that have universal healthcare. The food companies spend millions on research and development to make the food literally addicting. Also our portion sizes are insanely huge. When the other countries have to pay for the healthcare of their citizens, they're going to make damn sure the food is healthier.
Excellent point. I like it.
And hate it because it's true. Bastards.
Honestly, everyone always pretends like America is the best, but were so painfully behind with so many things...
I have a medicine that is $1650 with insurance, copay is $60. Or, rung without insurance and the discount card, it's $0.
Medicine pricing is utterly a scam.
Yeah dude I have dry eyes. A 3-month supply of my eye drops is $2700 out of pocket, but there's this magical card that makes it zero. WTF.
It's actually a pretty clever scheme by drug companies to foist the cost of medicine development AND supplying uninsured people onto insurance companies (and from there, the cost is passed on to people with insurance). I just don't understand how it's legal, or why the insurance companies - who are supposed to have such great collective bargaining power - accept this status quo.
I have noticed that it only seems to happen with very expensive, very recently developed drugs which are not yet part of the insurance companies recommended therapies, and they typically require a prior authorization (special approval based on the doctor stating there is a medical necessity for this, and only this, drug).
Recently had to buy Paxlovid. Pharmacy: “it is expensive and your insurance doesn’t cover it. Will be $1500.” Me: “I don’t know.” Pharmacy: “Wait. If you go to the Pfizer website you can get a coupon.” Me: “ok” (Looks up website and gets coupon on my phone. Paxcess Patient Support Program.) Pharmacy: “let me check now. Oh, free!”
Please make it all make sense.
Your lucky your pharmacy tech recommended the manufacturer coupon. My wife was the only one at her pharmacy that did that
Meanwhile over in Europe - went to the doctor in spring as a cough didn't go away for ages. As suspected nothing he could do much - irritated throat, and just at the time when cold season was giving way for allergy season. So he prescribed some nose spray - and asked if he should also add some antihistamine to the prescription to save me a few eur (didn't check, but it probably is single digits. That stuff is cheap)
Shit when I have coughs that go too long I just keep coughing.
The only thing crazier to me than American healthcare is how many of my fellow Canadians keep pushing for us to have this bullshit, too.
It's not just Canada - there are people in countries with far better Healthcare Systems that the US, including with National Health Services, who want a US style one.
However this isn't "man on the street" kind of people, these are the kind who think that if Healthcare costs went from 7% of GDP to 14%, they themselves would be able to capture a significant proportion of those extra 7% - so "investors", financiers and the kind of politicians bought with money from ultra-rich Americans (like the money that Steve Bannon came to Europe with a couple of years ago very overtly to strengthen the far right).
My own country now has an ultra-neoliberal part that popped-up from nowhere some year ago after Steve Gannon brought that money to Europe, with the most glitzy marketing and the most expensive political pamphlets of all parties, and who, in a country with an actual National Health System, were the only party that wanted it fully privatised, though they stopped being open about it when they found out people were overwhelmingly against it. This party's ideology has zero local ideas or basis and is wholesale imported from the America's hardest neolibs (think Financiers and Tech Bros) and yet it got itself up to 7% of the vote in about 5 years.
What's their argument?
That US system is better cause the privileged don’t have to wait…
Most countries have a private option in some capacity.
GoodRx or something like it was used. Welcome to the man in the middle scam that makes people think they're getting a good deal when in reality, they pay for insurance but insurance makes it so costly to use their insurance that people have to pay for it out of pocket or with an HSA but can't apply the cost to their annual deductible. This is a win win for insurance companies and patients get screwed. I hate the US healthcare system so much from spending time interacting with it from the perspective of work and personally.
It's insane to me that healthcare looks like this in the US, I mean I live in an objectively weaker economy and my healthcare is vastly better in terms of cost, availability and has no hard ties to employment.
That is crazy messed up. My gut feel is that it's again down to the corporate shareholder problem, where infinite growth is demanded. It's defies belief that this hasn't been fixed, and really makes me think that overall we may be losing the war of greed vs humanity.
My gut feel is that it's again down to the corporate shareholder problem, where infinite growth is demanded. It's defies belief that this hasn't been fixed, and really makes me think that overall we're losing the war of greed vs humanity overall.
It's also maintained as a tool to punish labor for stepping out of line. Look at recent labor disputes in the States. The first thing that is done by the company is to shut off healthcare access.
You're absolutely right. Tie health insurance to a job and you get people to never leave.
Because half the country votes for a party that explicitly says this is a good way to run things, and the other half votes for a party that says it isn't great, but we shouldn't really do anything meaningful about it.
Until there is mass "you are all assholes and we demand a more representative electoral system" demonstrations, nothing will change.
Readers may note that this applies to basically every problem in the US right now
you did not save any money for the insurance because that discount is negotiated. they don't actually pay the $40. They contract with the drug supplier to raise their "full" price and then discount it for the insurance customers so they look like the insurance is providing value.
This. Insurance is incentivised to make everything as expensive as possible.
It's not a "healthcare system". It's a "health insurance system". And like all insurance systems, it's designed to make money for the insurance companies. It functions quite well in that respect.
Many countries in the world actually have health care systems, but the US does not.
https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/13/a-punch-in-the-guts/
TLDR deregulating medicine has been a disaster. Monopolistic hospitals, ridiculous drug IP laws, and medical price middlemen with bad incentives make the US medical system the most expensive in the imperial core countries with the worst outcomes.
I work in health insurance administration. I can confirm health insurance companies are bullshit.
If you can make your own way to Northern Africa you should be able to barter your way onto a people smugglers boat across to Europe. It’s a risky crossing but many make it for the hope of better work and healthcare prospects.
Bro I bet if you did allll that work and took all that risk just to make your life maybbeee better that at the end of the day the people living in the place you made it to would be blown away by your incredible bravery and resolve and would welcome you with open arms into their society and economy!
……..
Or maybe they would just pay their coast guard to troll around drowning migrant boats with heavily armed speed boats with expensive lights on and an automated voice message that says “go home” and shrug and say “well we tried!!” as families drown right in front of their eyes.
Can confirm this is what happened when I got to Australia.
The free market works for a lot of stuff. It does not work for healthcare.
There is absolutely nothing free market whatsoever about American healthcare.
We got a shitty version of Republican healthcare reform, and Republicans and moderates refuse to admit we need anything more.
Republicans want to tear it down
And "moderates" say asking for more is somehow worse than being a Republican.
Shits not getting better till will finally get neoliberal.politicians out of the Dem party and back where they came from: the Republican party.
I don't know why people act like they don't understand opening the "left party" up to "fiscally conservative moderates" just concentrates all the crazy in the Republican party and depresses turnout from the right.
If you're trying to stop facism, we're taking the wrong path.
If you're trying to make sure the wealthy always win tho, yeah, this makes sense. But the fascists are going to keep winning half the time.
When they could be winning 0% of the time if we just gave Dem voters candidates they want. Because any "moderate" voters that go R, are statistically insignificant.
They're just loud and insist they're always right. Theyre Karen's.
And we need to go back to just ignoring them.
What in the sam hell are you trying to communicate with this word salad?
But if you want to talk politics and healthcare, there's one party that's made any real effort at improvement in the last 2 decades, and it's the Democrats. The Republicans try to gut the system at every opportunity.
There are plenty of Democrats in Congress that would like to continue to improve healthcare, but the Dems don't have the numbers - particularly in the House - to pass further reform.
There are plenty of Democrats in Congress that would like to continue to improve healthcare, but the Dems don’t have the numbers - particularly in the House - to pass further reform.
So you're saying therenis both "plenty" but also "not enough"?
That doesn't make logical sense to me...
I'm saying not everyone Dem in office really wants to fix healthcare, as evident as there seems to always be just enough against progress to stop progress.
And that logically it's a safe assumption there's even more that would oppose progress if they had to, they just don't want to publicly oppose it unless they're forced to.
So we basically have two choices.
-
Be reactive and keep assuming every Dem supports the party platform until they personally pull a Joe Manchin
-
Be proactive and make sure the people on our team our really on our team before we have to rely on them. So that when we have the House, Senate, and presidency we can accomplish stuff.
But if you want to talk politics and healthcare, there’s one party that’s made any real effort at improvement in the last 2 decades, and it’s the Democrats.
And they got a more conservative version of Mitt Romney's plan passed...
And have spent over a decade opposi g we improve it up to at least where the Republican presidential candidate was 16 years ago...
That's not enough dawg
Voters want more, they deserve more. So why not give voters a candidate that agrees so that we can easily prevent fascists from getting elected?
I don't see any downsides to the Dem party running Dem politicians that agree with Dem voters.
I agree with all you're saying. Obama's Romneycare was also a huge gift to the insurance companies.