Thursday, January 14, 2016

THE WOLVES ARE WATCHING THE SHEEP

The doctor decided to change my diabetes medicine.
“Go online, and you can get a discount card” he says.
So first thing I do is go online and check what this new medicine is going to cost me.
Looks like 30 bucks a month, the same as the other, but whats this?
The Insurance company will be paying $12,000 a month on the new medication?
TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS A MONTH?
That’s $144,000.00 a year.

Well, I’m not going to sign up to cost my insurance that kind of money. I’ll die first. My other medication had only cost them 1000 a month, and I thought that was outrageous for something that is made from the pituitary gland of a cow.
Shoot, Saute’ Sweetbreads with Morel Mushrooms don’t cost that much.
But before I just dismiss it outright, I figure I should call the insurancecompany and ask if those numbers are correct, or if this is just some kind of accounting trick. Do they really pay the pharmacy $144,000 a year to supply a person with this one medicine?
Or are they using monopoly money in some kind of Obamacare swindle?

So I call the insurance company and ask.
You know what they told me?
They said they didn’t know. They don’t know what they pay the pharmacy for my medicine.
They said I should call the pharmacy and the pharmacy can tell me how much the insurance pays. Otherwise, the insurance company doesn’t know, and from what I could ascertain from this phone call, they don’t give a fuck.
How can that be?
That’s like asking the wolf how many sheep are in the flock.

So my next call is to the pharmacy.
“Yes, I’d like to check on a price of a medication”
Which medication mr. Renfro?”
“The Teogeofeoflo”
“Yes, that one will cost you $30 a month.”
“Right, I see that. But I also see that my insurance has to pay $12,000 a month for Teogeofeoflo”
“No, they don’t  pay that much.”
“Well, can you explain to me why it says that on your “Price A Medication” tool?”
“No, I cant. Where are you seeing that?”
“On your website. It shows I pay $30, but the insurance company pays $12,000. I’m not going to do that to my insurance company. I don’t care if I die. I refuse to cost anyone that kind of money”
“I don’t see where you are seeing that, Mr. Renfro”
“Would you like me to send you a screenshot?”
“No, that wont be necessary. I can assure you the insurance doesn’t pay $12,000 for this.”
“Then what do they pay? And what does this medicine cost you?”
“I don’t know Mr. Renfro, I don’t have that information available. All I can really tell you is that your cost is $30 a month.“

Do we need health Care Reform?
Hell yes!
And don’t think its any different before the ACA.
I went through the same drill over Testosterone a few years ago. They make that stuff from frogs, and its costs the insurance company $2500 a month. The Testosterone company pays other companies not to make it in order to keep the price up. It actually went t the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court ruled that that was OK to do!


OK, that’s my rant today.

3 comments:

flask said...

bless you, bulletholes.

Bulletholes said...

Hi Flask!

Minnesotastan said...

For some reason I had not found your blog before. Bookmarked. :.)

Stan