Insurance Prescription Cost BS

Siegel1719

Siegel1719

Club Member
Ok just want to vent about the bull$%!# insurance and healthcare costs we all pay. I was prescribed a facial cleanser by my dermatologist and when I went to pick it up I found out my insurance would not cover that cleanser. It would have been $600 for 8 oz of cleanser. Obviously there was no way I would pay that so my dermatologist said we will look into other options on my next appointment. Fast forward three months later and I go back. My dermatologist then gives me the generic version of the same cleanser with a discount through the manufacture. $0 cost to me and $25 cost to my insurance for 16oz of the generic option.

No wonder why insurance cost so much. The doctors get paid to recommend high dollar prescriptions when you have insurance even when low cost options are available. I couldn't believe how much the price difference was. The first name brand cleanser would of cost my insurance $75 per oz and the generic was $1.56 per oz.
 
Siegel1719 said:
Ok just want to vent about the bull$%!# insurance and healthcare costs we all pay. I was prescribed a facial cleanser by my dermatologist and when I went to pick it up I found out my insurance would not cover that cleanser. It would have been $600 for 8 oz of cleanser. Obviously there was no way I would pay that so my dermatologist said we will look into other options on my next appointment. Fast forward three months later and I go back. My dermatologist then gives me the generic version of the same cleanser with a discount through the manufacture. $0 cost to me and $25 cost to my insurance for 16oz of the generic option.

No wonder why insurance cost so much. The doctors get paid to recommend high dollar prescriptions when you have insurance even when low cost options are available. I couldn't believe how much the price difference was. The first name brand cleanser would of cost my insurance $75 per oz and the generic was $1.56 per oz.
Click to expand...

It's a strange game. A few years ago my son was very ill. I was selling everything to pay medical bills and such. We were going broke in a hurry. I go to get him a prescription and the jack ass pharmacist says "that'll be $800 please". I almost had a heart attack because we were buying meds like this almost every week to find something that worked. Then the Jackass, laughing says, oh wait, that's what it would have been if you're insurance didn't cover it. Funny boy just about got his head ripped off. It was a bad time.
 
Most pharmacies will automatically run the generic unless the doctor specifies that no substitutions are allowed. I would either get a new doctor or a new pharmacy, it doesn't seem like your problem is with the insurance. That is pretty much the same kind of coverage everyone gets nowadays.

-Geoff
 
Oh it's all ass backwards. My daughter had to have the same blood test done about 10 times when she was first born. We got bills for the first couple almost immediately like within a week of getting her home so obviously she wasn't on our policy yet. Those were $20 eachout of pocket, after she was on our insurance they were $50 each out of pocket. Where the fuck does that make sense
 
mustangjoe87 said:
Oh it's all ass backwards. My daughter had to have the same blood test done about 10 times when she was first born. We got bills for the first couple almost immediately like within a week of getting her home so obviously she wasn't on our policy yet. Those were $20 eachout of pocket, after she was on our insurance they were $50 each out of pocket. Where the fuck does that make sense
Click to expand...

Yup. I had a bunch of hearing tests done, and a couple were in Nov 2015 & I didn't have ins until Jan 1. It cost me 45 dollars out of pocket for them, once I had insurance they billed way more, and it cost me 60 dollars per test. Crazy
 
Doesn't surprise me, you should see the racket they have on asthma inhalers. There's no generic available since they gave the companies a brand new patent when they banned CFCs and made a new inhaler (but it's the exact same medicine). In other countries that's not patentable and still costs 20-30 an inhaler. It costs me $200 for one right now for my kids for a month.
 
ShadowRuleZ said:
Doesn't surprise me, you should see the racket they have on asthma inhalers. There's no generic available since they gave the companies a brand new patent when they banned CFCs and made a new inhaler (but it's the exact same medicine). In other countries that's not patentable and still costs 20-30 an inhaler. It costs me $200 for one right now for my kids for a month.
Click to expand...

This may apply to some folks; Is it feasible for you to go across the bridge to pick up the script at a Canadian pharmacy?
 
My wife had a rx that was $98 under my insurance. I went to GoodRX.com, printed a coupon, and NOT using my insurance, the cost was $30.xx. Talk about some bullshit. A price should be a price, no matter what. It shouldn't matter what pharmacy or insurance you have, other than deductible costs. This is where the ACA failed in one area.
 
89-LX said:
My wife had a rx that was $98 under my insurance. I went to GoodRX.com, printed a coupon, and NOT using my insurance, the cost was $30.xx. Talk about some bullshit. A price should be a price, no matter what. It shouldn't matter what pharmacy or insurance you have, other than deductible costs. This is where the ACA failed in one area.
Click to expand...

+1 on goodrx.com
 
Most of the time its shady Doctors in cahoots with sales reps and shady pharmacy's. Its my wife's job to keep an eye on this along with prior authorizations and a huge list of other monkey business they try n pull.
 
At my home.... we were able to buy our scrips online, 90 day supply's (cheaper that way) ....
Now I can only buy 30 day supply's (That's all insurance will cover)
I now have to contact my Dr's office EVERY 30 Days for a new script and pay more for 30 days with of scripts vs 90 days.
Premiums, co pays & Deductibles have all sky rocketed.....
I can not wait for a repeal of Obama care..... fucked up the entire country just so we could re distribute wealth.
Latest numbers are 29 million have no insurance. Stupid law barley made a dent in uninsured.
 
totally unrelated... but I had an ATV accident back on july 3rd. (pretty busted spleen and liver, and collapsed lung) Had to be air lifted from west branch, MI to Saginaw MI. (67 miles) The flight cost $39K. I did receive a blood transfusion with 2 units of blood and some pain meds/oxygen/IV fluids while on the short flight. My insurance company (blue cross independence) tried to just pay $3,700 to the helicopter company.. In dispute with that right now as my insurance plan says i should only have a 25% co pay, or $4500 out of pocket maximum for out of network ambulance providers. Medical stuff is stupid crazy expensive. Not sure if in this case the helicopter company just charges way too much, or the insurance company pays way too little. Definitely thankful to be alive though.
 
Justindwright said:
totally unrelated... but I had an ATV accident back on july 3rd. (pretty busted spleen and liver, and collapsed lung) Had to be air lifted from west branch, MI to Saginaw MI. (67 miles) The flight cost $39K. I did receive a blood transfusion with 2 units of blood and some pain meds/oxygen/IV fluids while on the short flight. My insurance company (blue cross independence) tried to just pay $3,700 to the helicopter company.. In dispute with that right now as my insurance plan says i should only have a 25% co pay, or $4500 out of pocket maximum for out of network ambulance providers. Medical stuff is stupid crazy expensive. Not sure if in this case the helicopter company just charges way too much, or the insurance company pays way too little. Definitely thankful to be alive though.
Click to expand...


It's tough to put a price on your life but $40k for about 1.5 hours (estimate) is a bit expensive IMO
 
Justindwright said:
totally unrelated... but I had an ATV accident back on july 3rd. (pretty busted spleen and liver, and collapsed lung) Had to be air lifted from west branch, MI to Saginaw MI. (67 miles) The flight cost $39K. I did receive a blood transfusion with 2 units of blood and some pain meds/oxygen/IV fluids while on the short flight. My insurance company (blue cross independence) tried to just pay $3,700 to the helicopter company.. In dispute with that right now as my insurance plan says i should only have a 25% co pay, or $4500 out of pocket maximum for out of network ambulance providers. Medical stuff is stupid crazy expensive. Not sure if in this case the helicopter company just charges way too much, or the insurance company pays way too little. Definitely thankful to be alive though.
Click to expand...

It's extremely expensive to operate a medical helicopter. Their costs are also inflated some as well.
 
89-LX said:
It's extremely expensive to operate a medical helicopter. Their costs are also inflated some as well.
Click to expand...

fo sho. The company the air lifted me was "med-trans" and the interwebz says they overcharge big time. From what i gather, my flight should have realistically cost around 25k.
 
Insurance sure isn't what it used to be, I have a $8,000 deductible before it kicks in and a total of $16,000 out of pocket for my family. I would say i work for a pretty good company as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top