SerendipityJul 4
It's not just a problem for diabetics who need insulin. Just paid $809 for Rx WITH INSURANCE for a 2-week antibiotic course. Retail price: $4165. There is no generic; they overcharge because they can. #Health #pharma
John E. Bartley, III (D) K7AAYJul 4
Show threadSupermoosie

@evewrites

In Australia, you need a doctor's prescription, but with a medicare card*, it will cost you $31.60* for 550mg / 56 tablets.

*Australian citizens, permanent residents, partner if citizens,some visitors from other countries, some special cases

**Plus 2% of everyone's income tax which is used to fund public healthcare.
The pharmaceutical benifits scheme comes out of that and bulk negotiates with the drug companies for prices the chemist pays and the government subsidised price.

Jul 4 at 2:28amWeb
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@SuperMoosie What a civilized way of ensuring medication access to those who need it. It's entirely possible and realistic.
Show threadeyebrowsgerri will not complyJul 4
@evewrites @SuperMoosie I live in Pennsylvania. I do have health insurance. But I am reluctantly discontinuing my oral chemotherapy drug this month. Even though I can afford the chemo drug, the $1.6K out-of-pocket cost (WITH insurance) for each of the injections needed twice a year to prevent the chemo drug from turning my bones into Swiss cheese is simply not in my budget.
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@eyebrowsgerri @SuperMoosie
I'm so sorry to hear you are in that bind. Our healthcare system is immoral.
Show threadEric the half-a-beeJul 4

@SuperMoosie @evewrites

That is obscene. The health payments. scheme in the USA is beyond evil

Show threadD IngramJul 4
@SuperMoosie @evewrites You found the CW listing too!
Show threadSupermoosieJul 4
@ingram yes, then the PBS listing.
Which CW gives a 1c discount on.
@evewrites
Show threadD IngramJul 4
@SuperMoosie @evewrites I didn't realise that the PBS site gave price info. Even the non Medicare price in AU is much better than the US price though.
Show threadJoris MeysJul 4
@SuperMoosie @evewrites (it's Xifaxan, so rifaximine, right? Here it's called targaxan) In Belgium it costs 335 euro for 56 tablets, you can only get in with a prescription, and all but 12.5 euro is paid back by health insurance.
×
SerendipityJul 4
It's not just a problem for diabetics who need insulin. Just paid $809 for Rx WITH INSURANCE for a 2-week antibiotic course. Retail price: $4165. There is no generic; they overcharge because they can. #Health #pharma
Show threadMurray GM - PaperpostsJul 4
@evewrites it could just be me, but everything in the US feels like a pyramid scheme, with the poorest on the bottom and each layer grifting the one below. invisible hand, my arse.
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@Paperposts Well observed and described. Is there a breaking point?
Show threadMurray GM - PaperpostsJul 4
@evewrites there needs to be, to be honest i’m all for a social revolution at this point
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@Paperposts The state of the nation is so bad that it's not even a radical idea.
Show threadThe Crafty MissJul 4
@Paperposts Bingo
Show threadTirrimas  🚫👑Jul 4

@evewrites one of hubby's parkinsons meds is the same way (same price, even).

He's not on it anymore.

Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@tirrimas It's terrifying that people do without needed medicine because they can't afford it. I'm solidly middle class but if I don't take this antibiotic, I will eventually suffer malnutrition, neurological damage and worse scourges. The manufacturer counts on that.
Show threadDark Phoenix 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱🇵🇦🇵🇸🏳️‍🌈Jul 4
@evewrites @tirrimas wtf?
Show threadDark Phoenix 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱🇵🇦🇵🇸🏳️‍🌈Jul 4
@evewrites @tirrimas 🫂
Show threadThe Boxing KangarooJul 4
@evewrites antibiotics???!!!
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@platypusparent Yep, for a bacterial GI infection that isn't even rare. My symptoms are relatively mild now but without treatment, the problems will escalate.
Show threadtheothertomJul 4
@evewrites @platypusparent That's such a jarring difference from our recent experience in the UK. Daughter has an infection, nipped into the chemist on the way past, got prescribed antibiotics. No paperwork, let alone paying anything.
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@platypusparent @tom Clearly I live in the wrong country.
Show threadtheothertomJul 4
@evewrites @platypusparent There's plenty wrong here too :). Just the financial side of being ill seems far less burdensome than in other places.
Show threadSupermoosieJul 4

@evewrites

In Australia, you need a doctor's prescription, but with a medicare card*, it will cost you $31.60* for 550mg / 56 tablets.

*Australian citizens, permanent residents, partner if citizens,some visitors from other countries, some special cases

**Plus 2% of everyone's income tax which is used to fund public healthcare.
The pharmaceutical benifits scheme comes out of that and bulk negotiates with the drug companies for prices the chemist pays and the government subsidised price.

Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@SuperMoosie What a civilized way of ensuring medication access to those who need it. It's entirely possible and realistic.
Show threadeyebrowsgerri will not complyJul 4
@evewrites @SuperMoosie I live in Pennsylvania. I do have health insurance. But I am reluctantly discontinuing my oral chemotherapy drug this month. Even though I can afford the chemo drug, the $1.6K out-of-pocket cost (WITH insurance) for each of the injections needed twice a year to prevent the chemo drug from turning my bones into Swiss cheese is simply not in my budget.
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@eyebrowsgerri @SuperMoosie
I'm so sorry to hear you are in that bind. Our healthcare system is immoral.
Show threadEric the half-a-beeJul 4

@SuperMoosie @evewrites

That is obscene. The health payments. scheme in the USA is beyond evil

Show threadD IngramJul 4
@SuperMoosie @evewrites You found the CW listing too!
Show threadSupermoosieJul 4
@ingram yes, then the PBS listing.
Which CW gives a 1c discount on.
@evewrites
Show threadD IngramJul 4
@SuperMoosie @evewrites I didn't realise that the PBS site gave price info. Even the non Medicare price in AU is much better than the US price though.
Show threadJoris MeysJul 4
@SuperMoosie @evewrites (it's Xifaxan, so rifaximine, right? Here it's called targaxan) In Belgium it costs 335 euro for 56 tablets, you can only get in with a prescription, and all but 12.5 euro is paid back by health insurance.
Show threadgabrielJul 4
@evewrites I bet you it's worth less than 20 here in Colombia.
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@gabriel Won't bet against that. Drug research and development is costly, I'm sure, but this company is taking advantage of a monopoly until similar drugs hit the market.
Show threadH.Lunke & SockeJul 4

@evewrites

It is said that producing insulin is incredibly cost-intensive and therefore expensive as a medicine.
The truth:
Insulin prices are so high because the three pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and Sanofi control 99 percent of the entire insulin market. This market power allows them to set prices largely at their own discretion.
It costs up to 120 euros to produce the insulin required by one person per year.

Translated with Deepl
german:
https://www.aerzte-ohne-grenzen.de/unsere-arbeit/blog/diabetes-zugang-medikamente

Diabetes: Drei Mythen, die Patient*innen schaden

Marco Alves schreibt im Blog darüber, wie viele Diabetes-Patient*innen immer noch keinen Zugang zu Insulin haben.

Ärzte ohne Grenzen
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@HLunke Our healthcare is a travesty.
Show threadH.Lunke & SockeJul 4

@evewrites
Everywhere.

Ärzte ohne Grenzen is the german part of
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) https://www.msf.org/

The US Part is https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

MSF - Médecins Sans Frontières | Medical humanitarian organisation

MSF is an international, independent organisation. We provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International
Show threadChris HayesJul 4

@evewrites And Celgene has been doing their price gouging for like a decade at this point. They're charging like $20,000 right now.

(Credit to @ProPublica for the deep dive - https://www.propublica.org/article/revlimid-price-cancer-celgene-drugs-fda-multiple-myeloma)

Congress brings the CEO in for some stern questioning. Politicians get to say they "did" something. Then they cut healthcare. And nothing changes.

The Price of Remission: This Cancer Drug Saves Lives — but Costs a Fortune. I Wanted to Know Why.

When I was diagnosed with cancer, I set out to understand why a single pill of Revlimid cost the same as a new iPhone. I’ve covered high drug prices as a reporter for years. What I discovered shocked even me.

ProPublica
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@ProPublica @chris It’s bound to get worse as federally funded research has been slashed
Show threadRaymond RussellJul 4
@evewrites
That is bonkers, how can people hope to stay alive.
Asked my dad how he was for insulin yesterday.
Doesn't get out on his own these days.
He will give my sister a form with a request for a repeat prescription. She will drop it in a box for such requests in the doctors.
They will produce the paperwork for the prescription & send it to the local pharmacy of his choice. That pharmacy has a delivery service. They will fulfill the prescription and deliver it.
He will not pay a cent.
#NHS
Show threadRaymond RussellJul 4
@evewrites
He also has a load of pills that he takes daily.
He gets a weekly blister pack with medication organised by day and time. This just automatically gets delivered each week and only changes if doctors adds or removes any meds from his regime.
As with the insulin there is no cost to him.
It is paid for by the NHS which is funded from general taxation.
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@raymierussell Shockingly contrast to the US
Show threadRaymond RussellJul 4
@evewrites
Sadly so.
Show threadBob BeakerJul 4

@evewrites Hate to be smug, but just booked appointments for two recommended vaccine shots. Total point of sale cost to me, 2p (about 3cents) for the phone call to book the appointment.

Recent ultrasound scan and blood test as part of routine health screening, no charge as they could be booked online.

My routine daily meds no charge of course, although they did cost a fixed fee (prescription charge) of about 120 pounds a year before I turned 60.

Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@bbeaker I am not proud to be American.
Show threadGezThePezJul 4
@evewrites the American government really doesn’t like its own citizens
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@GezThePez Worst it has ever been here. And I’m 70.
Show threadSyloculeJul 4

@evewrites In Spain, even if I went private, this would cost around 15€. This is because the government applies price controls to all medication.

On the public healthcare system, it would cost about 1.50€

Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@Sylocule How it should be. Our system is horrific
Show threadSyloculeJul 4
@evewrites It is - I’m constantly amazed at how much you pay for healthcare (a basic human right)
Show threadPhil Thane ✅Jul 4
@evewrites
In England* our 'socialist' (boo hiss) NHS has a standard prescription charge of £9.95, I think. Not sure as being old mine are free. So are prescriptions for children, disabled, pregnant, and certain long term conditions. Coincidentally the price the NHS pays the pharmaceutical companies for antibiotics is about £10 for a 'course'. I think they pay about £20-50 for insulin for a week. Your freedom from socialist medicine is costing you dear.
* It varies in other nations of the UK
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@pthane America is not what it’s cracked up to be.
Show threadPhil Thane ✅Jul 4
@evewrites
Yet we have populist politicians anxious to bring US style insurance based healthcare over here. Many from a finance/banking background as it happens. Strange that.
Show threadMarjorieRJul 6

@pthane @evewrites also in England, if you aren't exempt (such as over 60) there are prepay certificates, £32 for 3 months or £114.50 for 12.
So if you have lots of prescriptions that's the most you will pay.

Edit: and you are exempt if you:

get certain benefits
are pregnant or recently had a baby
are aged 60 and over
are aged 19 and under
get a War Pension
have a certain medical condition

Show threadSerendipityJul 7
@marjolica @pthane
How humane!
Show threadPhil Thane ✅Jul 7
@evewrites
Most of the developed world has something similar but apparently it cannot be implemented in the US because 'freedom'.
@marjolica
Show threadSerendipityJul 7
@pthane @marjolica
It's astonishing that people die or suffer when medicines they can't afford exist to cure them. And we just shrug our shoulders when it's not us. Or curse that we'll have to forego a vacation.
Show threadPhil Thane ✅Jul 7
@evewrites
Change of topic. I have a little canal cruiser called Seren (Welsh for 'Star') and blog my travels on the canals of England and Wales here: https://pthane.weebly.com The blog is called Seren-Dipity!
I'm of again tomorrow...
@marjolica
Seren - dipity

I'm Phil, grumpy old codger and boat owner. The blog is mostly about the boat Seren. She is an old ​GRP river/canal cruiser I bought as a retirement project. Click the Menu icon above for more...

Seren - dipity
Show threadSerendipityJul 8
@marjolica @pthane Good name for a blog. Wonderful retirement project.
Show threadD IngramJul 4
@evewrites A bottle of 56x 550mg tablets of that drug (the NDC gives it away) in Australia is A$31 if you have Medicare, or A$467 if you don't.
Show threadbigjslJul 4
@evewrites land of the free to end up bankrupt due to medical debt but at least your student loans will survive to keep you broke. Yay.
Show threadJason Tubnor 🇦🇺Jul 4
@bigjsl @evewrites Those list prices seems to be inflated to the point like software and they can give you an 85% discount if you sign up for 5 year deal before 30 June. Why is health such a shitshow in, it seems, only one country on earth?
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@bigjsl @Tubsta Appalling that medication is hawked this way.
Show threadTiota SramJul 4
@evewrites image ID: photo of a receipt/label showing the prices mentioned in the post.
Show threadseyonJul 4
@evewrites people who complain about our national health service here in Portugal and other EU countries, really should do a little internship in the US.
Show threadSerendipityJul 4
@seyon Conversely, I don’t think most Americans realize that affordable health care is possible and in reach!
Show threadVeronica Olsen 🏳️‍🌈🇳🇴🌻Jul 6

@evewrites Back when I was still on the dead bird site, people who defended the US system would often claim that universal healthcare does not scale to US size. Firstly, it works better at larger scale than at small scale like in my country of 5.6M people. Secondly, if 340M scale is actually a problem (I doubt it is), admining it on state level would probably work perfectly.

@seyon