Episode 183 - Empress Skittles

[Mike]

Mike opens up with a Gaming Table to nowhere. He literally has nothing. But he follows it up with a complaint about prescription medication and a review of the Percy Jackson books. But then it’s Pod-O-Matic time! R2 rolls up over a dozen brand-new, listener-submitted topics. From when you’re sick and tired of winter to Kickstarter. Mutants and Masterminds, Pink Floyd bootleg tapes, three-digit prime numbers, dancing lessons. There’s oxfords vs. brogues and a semi-presidential Bed-Wed-or-Behead. So many topics, so little time! Hurry up and get your listen on before it’s gone forever!

Enjoy!

[Kyle]

The reason no one is submitted entries is because they know that they can't beat mine. It's radio gold!

Also- even though I detest prime numbers- especially ones that are two digits or higher- I'm somewhat fond of 101.

[Tahlvin]

Regarding the price of your drug: Certainly, the people who pay full price for the drug are either the uninsured, and people whose insurance does not cover prescription drugs. And people whose insurance pays a coinsurance (percentage of the cost) rather than a fixed copayment will end up paying more for more expensive drugs. And your insurance company may have negotiated a price for the drug that is actually discounted compared to the full retail price that an uninsured person would pay, due to volume discounts from distributors they've contracted with, contracts with pharmacies, etc.

But keep in mind: If you're not paying the $350+ for the drug, your insurance company is. Which means the cost of insurance is increased by $350+ per month plus 15% for the insurance company's profit. Sure, $350+ + 15% is spread across everybody at your workplace (assuming you have employer-sponsored health insurance), but you're also paying for all of their drugs as well.

And that is one of the big things that the insurance industry has been debating for DECADES: When patients are used to just paying a small copay, and have absolutely no idea how much the services actually cost that they are receiving, they don't really have an incentive to look for alternative drugs or treatments. Insurance companies have attempted to get patients more aware of the cost of services by using coinsurance rather than copayments, or deductibles (where the patient has to pay for everything up to a certain threshold before insurance kicks in), tiered drug formularies (different prices for core generic drugs, other generic drugs, and brand name drugs), etc. As evidenced by the fact that you were surprised about any of this at all, you can see that none of these approaches has really worked in terms of making patients aware of the true cost of what they are getting.

[Mike]

That makes sense. In this particular case however, my insurance paid their portion, and the remainder was 300+. I then hand over a coupon (good for a year), and my insurance pays exactly the same amount, while my portion is reduced from over 300 to zero.

The more I look, the more I suspect that this is the company preparing for generic versions to hit the market this year. I don't know. It's still beyond me.

[Kyle]

[Tahlvin]

[Kyle]

[Kyle]

Also- I just looked at the other thread for the first time. Apparently much of what I've said has already been discussed there. Sorry.

[Tahlvin]

No problem. Welcome to the discussion!