HMO's at least mine (Atena/US Healthcare) don't want to pay anything anymore. Picked up two scrips last night, $40, picked up another two tonight, $60. Used to pay $2, then $5, then $10 and now it's a $30 cap and a $10 min. copay but you never see a $10 scrip, it seems most every one is $30. Between me and the wife we spend well over $300 on prescriptions a month. Blood pressure, pain narcotics for the wife's condition, this and that. On top of that I pay close to $80 a month for this privledge, that's a total of something like 4 bills a month. What in the world do people do that don't have insurance?
There should be a list of drugs that the insurance will cover @ the lower copay. Check with your Dr's office and they should be able to help. It could be that your doc is using the newest therefore the most expensive drug on the market. Someone has to pay for the R&D and the patent. It is such a rip off.......................[:'(]
__________________
Live well
Laugh often
Shoot straight
Doctors love to write scripts for brand name drugs, which are the ones that cost a fortune and the ones that have the highest copays. The next time you go to the pharmacy, ack the pharmacist if there is a generic version of the same drug and see if he'll fill the scrip with that instead. Some doctors even write the scrips in such a way that the pharmacist can't give you a generic version, and if so it's time to confront your doc and either get him to write the scrips for generic drugs, or to give you a perscription for a suitable substitute that has a generic version. If there is no generic version of the drug he perscribed, ask him if there is another cheaper drug that does the same thing. Just because the drug isn't the latest and greatest thing being advertised on TV doesn't mean it won't work just fine.
There is no reason not to use generic drugs either. Just because they are generic doesn't mean that they are inferior products in any way. ALL drugs sold in the U.S., generic or otherwise, MUST meet the exact same standards for quality and consistancy.
We use generic for all the ones that come in generic form but they are few and far between. The HMO actually has different co-pays up to $30 depending on the drug, seems all mine are at the higher end of that scale.
Heck, the wife had to go to the foot Dr. for some surgury and they even charged her $15 ea for the 2 follow up visits. There should be no co-pay on follow up, the follow ups are part of the initnal charge, you mean you have to pay to have the stiches removed ? The HMO says it's up to the Dr., the Dr. says it's the HMO. I say Bull****.
Oh Canada. I have the same problem with my HMO. They would not even cover the prescription that my doc prescribed for my elbows. Myself, and my doc's office fought with them for about 2 months. The whole time my doc was giving me the perscription for free via samples.
I finally checked the Canadian market and I got the same persciption for more than half the price that I would have to pay here. It doesn't make any sense to me how the exact smae medication can cost twice as much in the states as it does in Canada.
What. If anything can be done to combat these costs. Like I said in my earlier post. Myself, and the doctor's office both tried to fight with the hmo with no luck. The hmo told me that I was not 65 years or older, and that I did not have arthritis so they were not going to cover the persciption. It really ticks me off.
Has your doc written to the insurance company? Have you written as well?Is Aetna a new insurance for you? If so have you been on this drug for a long period of time? Sometimes you can get coverage for one of their non covered drugs if you can prove that you've had a history with the drug. Or that you've tried the approved ones and for wahtever reason they don't work for you. If letters have gone to the insurance company send them again asking for a reivew and request payment of your entitled benefits. Sometimes they stamp denied or round file the first go around. I swear they hope you will give up.
Also check to see if it states in the contract that they will only cover certain things at a given age. If it doesn't write to your states insurance commissoner. Have your Dr's office write as well and bundle it and mail togther.
__________________
Live well
Laugh often
Shoot straight
What. If anything can be done to combat these costs.
The first step would be to reduce the insane testing and safety requirements mandated by the overzealous FDA. The drug manufacturers spend a minimum of a BILLION dollars and generally 10 years or more jumping through the FDA's hoops before they can sell a new drug in the U.S. Meanwhile they are selling the drug overseas because those countries don't have the super-strict safety standards. Because of the high cost of drug developement in the U.S., mandated by our nanny government, it is the U.S. consumer that rightfully gets socked with picking up the tab for the R&D that was necessary because of a system that we allow our government get away with.
The real kicker of the deal is that our legislators don't want to do anything to change this system, perticularly the more liberally minded politicians, because they need drug costs to stay high to dupe the sheeple into buying into their socialist national health care system. If the legislature and president would change the law and reign in the FDA, costs would drop to levels similar to other developed countries, and the liberals wouldn't have drug costs as rallying cry for their socialist agenda.
Ask yourself this question; Wouldn't it be better to be able to afford these drugs with a slightly increased risk of adverse side effects than to go without because you can't afford the drugs that have been "proven" safe according to the government?
If every worthless two bit crap head in this country would follow some simple rules we could pull ourselves out of this mess.
1) STOP BUILDING HOSPITALS - they don't compete, they DEPLETE. You don't have to have your rear end sponged off to get a shot, but you retards still fall for the "amenenties" of medical care.
2) STOP BEING SISSIES. You see a doctor when you fart. Be a man, take the pain and stop running to the doc every 4 months.
3) STOP SUING PEOPLE. Accidents happen, unless you're dying you'll get over it - you are a shyster lawyer's dream.
4) Prescription drugs.... damn, I wish I owned a pharmacy.. you people are such pill poppers.. a pill for everything...
Prescription drugs and HMO's
