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Horizon Pharma Jacks Painkiller Drug Price From $138 To $2,979

holbritter

holbritter

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One of the top reasons healthcare is so expensive....Big Pharma.

People need to be more informed and know what they are buying and what their doctors are prescribing. Many doctors prescribe whatever is newest on the market that has provided an 'incentive' to the doctor to push their drug of the month.

People should also be concerned even if they have coverage. So many that I mention this to, that have prescription cover, have a "so, as long as I don't have to pay it" attitude that just infuriates me. They really don't get it that they ARE paying for it, just in a different way.

Until the consumer (can't rely on Congress) starts to fight back against Big Pharma enough that Congress has no choice but to pay attention, this problem will never go away.

Be part of the solution and do your homework when you're given a prescription. Ask questions. Yeah, you might just have a co-pay, but remember you'll pay in the end!

Horizon Pharma Jacks Painkiller Drug Price From $138 to $2,979 « CBS San Francisco
 
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holbritter said:
One of the top reasons healthcare is so expensive....Big Pharma.

People need to be more informed and know what they are buying and what their doctors are prescribing. Many doctors prescribe whatever is newest on the market that has provided an 'incentive' to the doctor to push their drug of the month.

People should also be concerned even if they have coverage. So many that I mention this to, that have prescription cover, have a "so, as long as I don't have to pay it" attitude that just infuriates me. They really don't get it that they ARE paying for it, just in a different way.

Until the consumer (can't rely on Congress) starts to fight back against Big Pharma enough that Congress has no choice but to pay attention, this problem will never go away.

Be part of the solution and do your homework when you're given a prescription. Ask questions. Yeah, you might just have a co-pay, but remember you'll pay in the end!

Horizon Pharma Jacks Painkiller Drug Price From $138 to $2,979 « CBS San Francisco
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Preach it, little sister.

Profit over the health and welfare of humans.
 
holbritter said:
One of the top reasons healthcare is so expensive....Big Pharma.

People need to be more informed and know what they are buying and what their doctors are prescribing. Many doctors prescribe whatever is newest on the market that has provided an 'incentive' to the doctor to push their drug of the month.

People should also be concerned even if they have coverage. So many that I mention this to, that have prescription cover, have a "so, as long as I don't have to pay it" attitude that just infuriates me. They really don't get it that they ARE paying for it, just in a different way.

Until the consumer (can't rely on Congress) starts to fight back against Big Pharma enough that Congress has no choice but to pay attention, this problem will never go away.

Be part of the solution and do your homework when you're given a prescription. Ask questions. Yeah, you might just have a co-pay, but remember you'll pay in the end!

Horizon Pharma Jacks Painkiller Drug Price From $138 to $2,979 « CBS San Francisco
Click to expand...

IMO we are an overly medicated society with doctors willing to prescribe drugs as if every day is Halloween and they were giving out candy.

I am currently in my Sixties, and the only "drug" I keep in my medicine cabinet is aspirin...and I use that very rarely. Otherwise for seasonal allergies I sometimes use over-the-counter symptom relief. That's it.

Whenever I see a physician for some ailment and they suggest some drug prescription, the first thing I ask is "Is this prescription absolutely necessary?"

When pressed, most of the time the answer is "No, you don't need it, but I think it could help."

As a result I end up with either a short-term prescription (ten days or less) for some anti-biotic which I use, or pain pill which I ignore.

But most of the time I just eat right, exercise, and avoid most of the toxic substances (like alcohol, soda, candy, etc.) that harm our bodies making us susceptible to most preventable human ailments.

IMO people need to recognize much of the Drug Industry is an immense scam, with many ailments created to find a use for otherwise truly useless medications.

ADD and ADHD? Our kids, mainly young boys are being drugged up for being boys? Restless leg syndrome? Are you kidding me? :doh

I suggest my fellow Forum members take a good long look at what they have in their medicine cabinets...and ask themselves just what each prescription does and how long term use could actually be affecting their bodies. Moreover, what are the dangers in combining so many different "cures," and do the harms outweigh the actual benefits?

Seek a second opinion on your pharmacopeia and find out if some of those medications can be eliminated from your diet. The most important questions are, what do you truly NEED in order to combat what ails you, and how long must you use it, and what are the long-term side-effects.

You just might find that a drug-free life is much healthier for you than your Doctor suggests.
 
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Captain Adverse said:
IMO we are an overly medicated society with doctors willing to prescribe drugs as if every day is Halloween and they were giving out candy.

I am currently in my Sixties, and the only "drug" I keep in my medicine cabinet is aspirin...and I use that very rarely.

Whenever I see a physician for some ailment and they suggest some drug prescription, the first thing I ask is "Is this prescription absolutely necessary?"

When pressed, most of the time the answer is "No, you don't need it, but I think it could help."

As a result I end up with either a short-term prescription (ten days or less) for some anti-biotic which I use, or pain pill which I ignore. For seasonal allergies I sometimes use over-the-counter symptom relief. But most of the time I just eat right, exercise, and avoid most of the toxic substances (like alcohol, soda, candy, etc.) that harm our bodies making us susceptible to most preventable human ailments.

IMO people need to recognize the Drug Industry is an immense scam, with many ailments created to find a use for otherwise truly useless medications.

ADD and ADHD? Our kids, mainly young boys are being drugged up for being boys? Restless leg syndrome? Are you kidding me?

I suggest my fellow Forum members take a good long look at what they have in their medicine cabinets...and ask themselves just what each prescription does and how long term use could actually be affecting their bodies. Moreover, what are the dangers in combining so many different "cures," and do the harms outweigh the actual benefits.

Seek a second opinion on your pharmacopeia and find out if some of those medications can be eliminated from your diet.

You just might find that a drug-free life is much healthier for you than your Doctor suggests.
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That's is fine, and within your rights.
I am assuming that Horizon has to offset the, now dwindling, large market of prescription pain meds with higher costs to make their bottom line. From a business standpoint, fine.
But let us consider the human side of the equation.
You say that you only take aspirin and ignore pain meds. Again, your choice. Most of us make that choice. That leaves the ones who either abuse the ever increasing menu of happy pills, and the ones who desperately need pain meds short term, or for the duration.
Bottom line, lets take in account human dignity, real ( cancer) pain. As you say, it may be absolutely necessary.
No one with a serious illness should have to worry about being treated, holistic or otherwise.
 
Captain Adverse said:
You just might find that a drug-free life is much healthier for you than your Doctor suggests.
Click to expand...
I'd love to see you write this judgementalist rant when you're suffering from debilitating pain.
 
Captain Adverse said:
IMO we are an overly medicated society with doctors willing to prescribe drugs as if every day is Halloween and they were giving out candy.

I am currently in my Sixties, and the only "drug" I keep in my medicine cabinet is aspirin...and I use that very rarely. Otherwise for seasonal allergies I sometimes use over-the-counter symptom relief. That's it.

Whenever I see a physician for some ailment and they suggest some drug prescription, the first thing I ask is "Is this prescription absolutely necessary?"

When pressed, most of the time the answer is "No, you don't need it, but I think it could help."

As a result I end up with either a short-term prescription (ten days or less) for some anti-biotic which I use, or pain pill which I ignore.

But most of the time I just eat right, exercise, and avoid most of the toxic substances (like alcohol, soda, candy, etc.) that harm our bodies making us susceptible to most preventable human ailments.

IMO people need to recognize much of the Drug Industry is an immense scam, with many ailments created to find a use for otherwise truly useless medications.

ADD and ADHD? Our kids, mainly young boys are being drugged up for being boys? Restless leg syndrome? Are you kidding me? :doh

I suggest my fellow Forum members take a good long look at what they have in their medicine cabinets...and ask themselves just what each prescription does and how long term use could actually be affecting their bodies. Moreover, what are the dangers in combining so many different "cures," and do the harms outweigh the actual benefits?

Seek a second opinion on your pharmacopeia and find out if some of those medications can be eliminated from your diet. The most important questions are, what do you truly NEED in order to combat what ails you, and how long must you use it, and what are the long-term side-effects.

You just might find that a drug-free life is much healthier for you than your Doctor suggests.
Click to expand...

I have spent my entire adult life in Medicine....and while I will stay away from the subject of ADD/ADHD, I think its important to keep in mind that many medications are not designed to "help you live a better life"....they are simply to keep you alive.

Medications for cardiac conditions, Diabetes, Epilepsy, AIDS, etc.....all serve an important purpose.

I know many with severe allergic reactions to food items ( peanuts, shellfish) that simply cannot go about their daily lives without an epipen being on their person every day of their lives....my sister is one of them.

How does anyone in the Pharm industry sleep at night? What used to cost $50-$60 now cost my sister nearly $600...for two epipens.

This is not an isolated incident....and the problem will continue...this is CEO's in boardrooms placing their profit margin above the lives of the average citizens......citizens which cannot afford those kinds of increases; regardless of insurance picking up a portion of that cost....where do you think that money is coming from?

Im all for free market.....but even that has limits.
 
Polar Bum said:
I have spent my entire adult life in Medicine....and while I will stay away from the subject of ADD/ADHD, I think its important to keep in mind that many medications are not designed to "help you live a better life"....they are simply to keep you alive.

Medications for cardiac conditions, Diabetes, Epilepsy, AIDS, etc.....all serve an important purpose.

I know many with severe allergic reactions to food items ( peanuts, shellfish) that simply cannot go about their daily lives without an epipen being on their person every day of their lives....my sister is one of them.

How does anyone in the Pharm industry sleep at night? What used to cost $50-$60 now cost my sister nearly $600...for two epipens.

This is not an isolated incident....and the problem will continue...this is CEO's in boardrooms placing their profit margin above the lives of the average citizens......citizens which cannot afford those kinds of increases; regardless of insurance picking up a portion of that cost....where do you think that money is coming from?

Im all for free market.....but even that has limits.
Click to expand...
Who here remembers the Tom Cruise vs Brooke Shields fiasco?
 
Zalatix said:
Who here remembers the Tom Cruise vs Brooke Shields fiasco?
Click to expand...

Yeah....I remember that ; Scientology vs. Psychiatry would be a better label.
 
Polar Bum said:
I have spent my entire adult life in Medicine....and while I will stay away from the subject of ADD/ADHD, I think its important to keep in mind that many medications are not designed to "help you live a better life"....they are simply to keep you alive.

Medications for cardiac conditions, Diabetes, Epilepsy, AIDS, etc.....all serve an important purpose.

I know many with severe allergic reactions to food items ( peanuts, shellfish) that simply cannot go about their daily lives without an epipen being on their person every day of their lives....my sister is one of them.

How does anyone in the Pharm industry sleep at night? What used to cost $50-$60 now cost my sister nearly $600...for two epipens.

This is not an isolated incident....and the problem will continue...this is CEO's in boardrooms placing their profit margin above the lives of the average citizens......citizens which cannot afford those kinds of increases; regardless of insurance picking up a portion of that cost....where do you think that money is coming from?

Im all for free market.....but even that has limits.
Click to expand...

Don’t paint the entire industry with that broad a brush.

The price hiking such as with the OP and Epipen are done by small companies who invest little in research and extract lots because of gaming the system.

Horizon, in the OP, for example, is marketing a combination pill of two cheap OTC drugs - naproxen and omeprazole, which cost about $30/mo.

So why would any patient pay $1000? Well...they don’t. No one does.

They make their money by getting insurers to pay. This is possible because of a middleman called a PBM- pharmacy benefit manager. Like Caremark/CVS.

The insurer automatically puts drugs like this on a ‘non-preferred’ list, meaning they will make the patient pay a high copay cost for the drug - say $80. Well, nobody is going to pay that when they could just get the drug for 1/3 of the price OTC, so the company offers coupon cards to bring the price down to $10 or $20/mo. The company eats the difference between the two.

But, the money is made on the PBM side off the insurer and drug company. The PBM negotiates a rebate with Horizon. It might be 60,70 or 80%of the list price. That’s great money for the PBM.

Many insurers will not put outright blocks from payments on these drugs, because restricting drugs looks bad for business. Patients hate that! It also doesn’t cost hem too much money since the real drug costs lie in other areas, like cancer chemotherapy.

His is how our convoluted system works. It’s not great,

But , I’ll note that Epipens are the same deal these days, after the market smacked down Mylan. You can get a coupon on line and get them for $10.
 
holbritter said:
One of the top reasons healthcare is so expensive....Big Pharma.

People need to be more informed and know what they are buying and what their doctors are prescribing. Many doctors prescribe whatever is newest on the market that has provided an 'incentive' to the doctor to push their drug of the month.

People should also be concerned even if they have coverage. So many that I mention this to, that have prescription cover, have a "so, as long as I don't have to pay it" attitude that just infuriates me. They really don't get it that they ARE paying for it, just in a different way.

Until the consumer (can't rely on Congress) starts to fight back against Big Pharma enough that Congress has no choice but to pay attention, this problem will never go away.

Be part of the solution and do your homework when you're given a prescription. Ask questions. Yeah, you might just have a co-pay, but remember you'll pay in the end!

Horizon Pharma Jacks Painkiller Drug Price From $138 to $2,979 « CBS San Francisco
Click to expand...

Note that pharmaceuticals account for only about 10% of the healthcare spending in the US. Clearly not a ‘top reason’ healthcare is so expensive, especially given the fact that many of these drugs tend to save the system money.

d7907148607dac1bee9fe4a2e2de33b2.jpg
 
Zalatix said:
I'd love to see you write this judgementalist rant when you're suffering from debilitating pain.
Click to expand...


The fact that you wrote your Post at about 3AM suggests that you are already dealing with chronic, debilitating pain as many of us are after we turn 60.
When it feels like you've got a chilled & electrified ice pick jammed between your 4th & 5th Lumbar vertebra, the last thing you want to hear is "just take an aspirin"

To be fair, I didn't feel that "Captain Adverse's" Post was especially "judgementalist" or critical of those of us who require certain medications to have any quality of life.
I've endured a number of sanctimonious sermons from strident pharmaphobes / narcophobes etc & it sounded more like he was suggesting that people should be aware of what they are putting in their bodies.

I hope you find the relief you need to enjoy life to the fullest.
 
Threegoofs said:
Note that pharmaceuticals account for only about 10% of the healthcare spending in the US. Clearly not a ‘top reason’ healthcare is so expensive, especially given the fact that many of these drugs tend to save the system money.

d7907148607dac1bee9fe4a2e2de33b2.jpg
Click to expand...

Sorry, not buying it. That's data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. I'm talking more for private insurance and what it costs for people without insurance. Of course it doesn't cost medicare and medicaid that much because they only pay a certain amount for prescription drugs and not a penny more.
 
holbritter said:
Sorry, not buying it. That's data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. I'm talking more for private insurance and what it costs for people without insurance. Of course it doesn't cost medicare and medicaid that much because they only pay a certain amount for prescription drugs and not a penny more.
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National health expenditures cover all spending on health care by all sources (public, private, and individual out-of-pocket).
 
holbritter said:
Sorry, not buying it. That's data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. I'm talking more for private insurance and what it costs for people without insurance. Of course it doesn't cost medicare and medicaid that much because they only pay a certain amount for prescription drugs and not a penny more.
Click to expand...

It’s national expenditure.

Not just Medicare and Medicaid...and Medicare doesn’t have price negotiation on drugs anyway. Medicaid does on a per state basis, of course.
 
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