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Blogs > Sunshine217 > In Celebration of Uniqueness!!


Sunshine217 79F
3152 posts
7/12/2012 7:01 am

Last Read:
7/13/2012 7:52 pm
Who Ya Gonna Blame?

I ask myself why would any sane person pay a physician approximately 80% more for a pill they could get much cheaper at a drugstore? better yet, why would insurances pay the higher cost without passing it on as a higher co-pay? I come up with several answers: 1) many people still see their doctors as Gods, trusting them more than the pharmacy who occasionally mixes up Rx and under counts; 2) many people have no transportation and the physician providing a 1 stop shop offers convenience (Medical transportation is provided for medical tx but not for pharmacy pickups. Some people are not aware of pharmacy deliveries; 3)Physicians with an established relationship with patients, dispense Rx and allow them to pay later, 4)insurers certainly will pass this on as higher costs to us all. I can see the Repugs blaming Obama for this too. What's your take?

Insurers Pay Big Markups as Doctors Dispense drugs
By BARRY MEIER and KATIE THOMAS, NY Times, July 11

When a pharmacy sells the heartburn drug Zantac, each pill costs about 35 cents. But doctors dispensing it to patients in their offices have charged nearly 10 times that price, or $3.25 a pill.
"Another health care scam that would not be possible with a federally administered single-payer system."

The same goes for a popular muscle relaxant known as Soma, insurers say. From a pharmacy, the per-pill price is 60 cents. Sold by a doctor, it can cost more than five times that, or $3.33.

At a time of soaring health care bills, experts say that doctors, middlemen and drug distributors are adding hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the costs borne by taxpayers, insurance companies and employers through the practice of physician dispensing.

Most common among physicians who treat injured workers, it is a twist on a typical doctor’s visit. Instead of sending patients to drugstores to get prescriptions filled, doctors dispense the drugs in their offices to patients, with the bills going to insurers. Doctors can make tens of thousands of dollars a year operating their own in-office pharmacies. The practice has become so profitable that private equity firms are buying stakes in the businesses, and political lobbying over the issue is fierce.

Doctor dispensing can be convenient for patients. But rules in many states governing workers’ compensation insurance contain loopholes that allow doctors to sell the drugs at huge markups. Profits from the sales are shared by doctors, middlemen who help physicians start in-office pharmacies and drug distributors who repackage medications for office sale.

Alarmed by the costs, some states, including California and Oklahoma, have clamped down on the practice. But legislative and regulatory battles over it are playing out in other states like Florida, Hawaii and Maryland.

In Florida, a company called Automated HealthCare Solutions, a leader in physician dispensing, has defeated repeated efforts to change what doctors can charge. The company, which is partly owned by Abry Partners, a private equity firm, has given more than $3.3 million in political contributions either directly or through entities its principals control, public records show.

Insurers and business groups said they were amazed by the little-known company’s spending spree. To plead its case to Florida lawmakers, Automated HealthCare hired one of the state’s top lobbyists, Brian Ballard, who is also a major national fund-raiser for the Mitt Romney campaign.

“I consider the fees that these people are charging to be immoral,” said Alan Hays, a Republican state senator in Florida who introduced a bill to bar physicians from dispensing pills that was defeated. “They’re legal under the current law, but they’re immoral.”
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine
DustyOldDude 73M
290 posts
7/12/2012 9:30 am

 And Obama says it is all George Bush's fault. And the blame game continues. And if Obama gets his way. Then my daughter and grandson, who depend upon military insurance which Obama wants to cut, will lose their medical insurance. And then she won't have to worry. Because she won't be able to afford a doctor to give out any prescriptions.


spiritwoman45

7/12/2012 9:46 am

 I don't know of any doctor's dispensing medication either - although I went to an oral surgeon a few years ago and they did dispense a limited number of pain pills - even though I did not need or request them.

As MrsJoe said most of us have medical plans that have specific procedures for obtaining medications - likely this is some sort of alliance between the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies.

I purchase some of my more expensive meds in Mexico. In one case it is the same company and same med but much less costly, likely becasue there are no "alliances" there.
Spiritwoman ^i^


Sunshine217 79F

7/12/2012 9:59 am
    Quoting  :
MsJoe, there is no uniformity within states, different counties do their own thing within the states, and of course you know, different states do their own thing within the country. There is little or no oversight, as we the people say we don't want government oversight in our lives. Florida has even reduced the amount one can sue for medical malpractice.
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine


c3c5

7/12/2012 10:09 am

 Shades of the deceased Ricky Spin? (the spinner).

I searched |Doctors Dispense drugs| of the first ten 'hits'. None of them mentioned "Romney".

Kinda making a mountain out of a mole hill it appears.


Sunshine217 79F

7/12/2012 10:39 am
    Quoting c3c5:
    Shades of the deceased Ricky Spin? (the spinner).

    I searched |Doctors Dispense drugs| of the first ten 'hits'. None of them mentioned "Romney".

    Kinda making a mountain out of a mole hill it appears.
And your point is????
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine


Rentier1

7/12/2012 11:30 am

 Why would any sane person believe the US has the best health care in the world when it spends more than any other country and has worse outcomes?


Sunshine217 79F

7/12/2012 4:55 pm
    Quoting  :
Amen! I agree.
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine


Sunshine217 79F

7/12/2012 4:58 pm
    Quoting Rentier1:
    Why would any sane person believe the US has the best health care in the world when it spends more than any other country and has worse outcomes?
Rentier, perhaps someone else on here might be able to answer that question. I can't.
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine


Sunshine217 79F

7/12/2012 5:00 pm
    Quoting  :
If a tree falls in the forest and you are not aware of it, does that mean, that it did not fall? I'm sure there are many things that many of us might not be aware of because no one can know everything.
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine


Sunshine217 79F

7/12/2012 5:35 pm
    Quoting DustyOldDude:
    And Obama says it is all George Bush's fault. And the blame game continues. And if Obama gets his way. Then my daughter and grandson, who depend upon military insurance which Obama wants to cut, will lose their medical insurance. And then she won't have to worry. Because she won't be able to afford a doctor to give out any prescriptions.
Dusty, as I commented on your blog about 'truthfulness', it is relative. I commented to the effect, I don't know where such information about cutting health care benefits to military come from. On second thought, I do. It's a scare tactic. It was truth to you because your daughter works for the dept. of the Army. I worked for DOD, Army and Navy for 11 years as a manager and rumors abounded like no where else i have ever worked, even by officers whom one might think might know, but they didn't. I can't imagine any lawmaker allowing the words to pass their lips about cutting out military health benefits when we depend on a volunteer military. As a few have noted here, the president does not make the laws, congress does and your Republicans are in the majority. While we have some not too bright congressmen, even I don't feel they would be crazy enough to try to propose a law cutting health for the military. I know of no one who has lost their health care benefits as a result of the universal health care act that has already been instituted (however let me be the first to admit that just because I don't know of it doesn't mean it could not have happened), however I'm absolutely sure the press would be all over it. My insurance has changed only in that my Rx co-pays are cheaper than before, and I get several no co-pay preventive diagnostics. They do need to do a better job of explaining it to the average person, but I suspect that no matter what the administration may say, people have made up their mind and accepted much of the untruths. Stillwater had a blog today about a snake swallowing golf balls because they looked like eggs. This rumor looks like the snake and the golf balls.
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine


Sunshine217 79F

7/12/2012 5:36 pm
    Quoting alpinemeadow:
    Maybe it's like the old saw says.....about preferring the devil you know.
You have a point there.
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine


friendly133 76M
5418 posts
7/12/2012 5:51 pm

 Doctors, pharmaceuticals, para medical staff and allied industry all exist essentially because of the patients. Any system that exploits the patients, therefore, naturally must be jettisoned irrespective of who its champion is - Romney or Obama. And equally naturally ... that champion also needs to be discarded.

Have a wonderful day, SunshineGirl.
"To fight the darkness do not draw your sword, light a candle" - Zarathustra


Sunshine217 79F

7/12/2012 10:01 pm
    Quoting friendly133:
    Doctors, pharmaceuticals, para medical staff and allied industry all exist essentially because of the patients. Any system that exploits the patients, therefore, naturally must be jettisoned irrespective of who its champion is - Romney or Obama. And equally naturally ... that champion also needs to be discarded.

    Have a wonderful day, SunshineGirl.
Friendly, that would take jettisoning almost the entire pharmaceutical industustry,the medical establishment, and the congress who is bought by the lobbyists who write many of our laws as a result.
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine


Sunshine217 79F

7/12/2012 10:09 pm
    Quoting  :
Did you read the article? They are not risking their medical licenses as charging these high prices, at least in FL does not appear to be illegal at this time, and dispensing medicine from a physiciann's office is not yet illegal, so how would they be risking their license??? It's unethical but not illegal. I have, on very limited occasions, purchased supplements from one of my doctors which was a little more than I could have gotten it at Walmart, only because he said his was a better formula. When I told my other doctor, he said it was a waste of money.
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine


Sunshine217 79F

7/13/2012 10:11 am
    Quoting  :
boogie, perhaps you missed the comment I made to MsJoe above:
"MsJoe, there is no uniformity within states, different counties do their own thing within the states, and of course you know, different states do their own thing within the country. There is little or no oversight, as we the people say we don't want government oversight in our lives. Florida has even reduced the amount one can sue for medical malpractice".
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine




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