Guest guest Posted December 27, 2002 Report Share Posted December 27, 2002 ----- Original Message ----- From: " Kathi " <pureheart@...> Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2002 12:06 AM Subject: Medicine prices > i'm fwding this, hoping this might help someone in the group. > happy holidays to you & yours. > luv > gerr > > Information on Generic Drug Prices > On Monday night,July 22, 2002(?), Steve , an investigative > reporter for channel 7 News in Detroit, did a story on generic drug > price gouging by pharmacies. He > found in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were marked > up as much as 3,000% or more. That is NOT a typo-- three thousand > percent! Mr. did a > thorough research, and checked out all the major drugstore chains, > discount chains, independent pharmacies, and even checked on some > Canadian pharmacies. His > findings, and report, made me see red to say the least. > > So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and > most of the time that is where the blame should be. However, in this > case, the fault clearly lies > with the pharmacies themselves. For example, if you buy a prescription > drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. The > pharmacist might tell > you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, > making you think you are " saving " $20. What the pharmacist is not > telling you is that those 100 > generic pills may have only cost him $10! > > The following link is to the story itself, so that you know that this is > not a hoax of any kind. www.detnow.com/news/0207221204.html Detroit Now/ > WXYZ-TV : > prescription drug costs. > > The next link is to read about the reporter, Mark . > www.detnow.com/about7/anchors_reporters/wilson/html > > Within the story, Mr. provided a comparison chart, using several > drugs, and several pharmacies. The link to that chart follows. > www.detnow.com/news/0207221204-table.html > http://www.detnow.com/news/0207221204-table.html > > At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. whether or > not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and > he said that Costco > consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs. They > gave the link to Costco, which I will include here, so that you can go > and check prices for > yourself. > http://www.costco.com/ Costco Online pharmacy, Costco Online > > I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get it's > online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the > online prices. I was appalled. > Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to use the > drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients. I used > the generic > equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked the price > at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my > pain pills, I paid $72.57. I > could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08. > > I would like to mention, that although Costco is a " membership " type > store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there, as it > is a federally regulated substance. You > just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they > will let you in. > > When I think of all the seniors, people who don't have prescription > coverage, and people who don't have insurance at all, I get so very > angry that these people are > doing without necessities, or without the medications themselves, > because they are so cost prohibitive. I personally know of at least one > person that is forgoing taking > needed medication, because she does not have health insurance, and > cannot afford the drugs. And all of this so that the large drugstore > chains, and independent > pharmacies can make a bigger profit. One pharmacist from Birmingham had > the gall to say " Well ... these folks are affluent. They can afford it. " > > When anyone complains to me about an " injustice, " I usually ask " what > are you going to do about it? As it does no good to complain, without > taking some sort of > action. This is my " action. " I have emailed channel 7, asking them what > I can do, as a consumer, to help get the word out. In the meantime, I am > telling anyone that I > can think of to help alert as many people as possible. I am sending this > to every person listed in the church directory with an email address, > and also to everyone in > my personal email address book. I am going to contact as many churches > as I can in the area, asking them to put a message in their church > newsletters. I will be > asking my apartment management to do the same with our newsletter. > > I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, and > passing it into your own email, and send it to everyone you know with an > email address. And if > anyone has other ideas of how to address this problem, please contact me > at cleg@.... > > And maybe, just maybe, working together, we can make a difference. Thank > you for your time, and thank you in advance for your help. > > -- > Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are > honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, > whatsoever > things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any > > virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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