I was asked the following on another thread: Since it strayed a bit from the original topic, I thought I would answer in a new thread. I think as more regulation evolves regarding the prescription of controlled pain medication in the primary care setting, topical treatments will be an alternative that has less headaches and lower risk. I don't necessarily see compounding pharmacy reps as different, though. Like a pharma rep, they are there to raise awareness and remind physicians of products they might not be using in appropriate patient scenarios (at least ideally). Other thoughts? Thanks for your question!
Find out exactly how much your patient's insurance company or Medicare is being chargd for that jar of compounded medicines. You will be shocked. It's a dirty rotten business. And it's about to end. Medicare already has a microscope on it.
People generally don't care how much their insurance companies are charged for any medication or general medical services. The medical industrial complex (corporations and politicians) has concocted a system whereby all the costs are hidden from the consumer. The only thing the consumer is concerned about is his insurance premium. And most don't have the intellectual fortitude to connect their premium and deductible costs to the cost of medicines and medical services. The average consumer is completely oblivious to it all. Kept ignorant and totally fooled. And the increasingly vast numbers of people on Medicaid under ObamaCare couldn't care less since they pay nothing for their medicines, medical services and likely don't even know what a "premium" is. Welcome to America.
I'm sure you're right, but I'm similarly shocked at the cash price for many branded medications. Can you elaborate? Well said. Hidden cost and third party payment for basic of medical services drives up cost tremendously. As I've commented in other contexts, if your car insurance worked like medical insurance, can you imagine how much an oil change would cost? Conversely, if medical insurance worked like car insurance (or like medical insurance used to work in the 60s and 70s), do you think there would be such a thing as $200 heartburn medication? Thanks for your posts!
Excellent point, Dr. Dave. The problem is that you wouldn't know the cost of the oil change at point of purchase. Your mechanic would bill you 4 weeks later with a surprise invoice that would probably run you $250 for 4 quarts of regular oil and 15 minutes of his time. And they would call it "ObamaLube".
Or the insurance carrier might get billed incorrectly and 6 months later you find out you're dealing with a collection agency for your oil change. To be fair to President Obama, I do have to say that while I don't care for Affordable Care Act, I see it as a response to a problem, not THE problem. The third party payer issues we're discussing existed long before the ACA.
Yes, that's true about third party payer issues, Dr. Dave. But Mr. Gruber (an ACA architect) let the cat out of the bag. We know now that Obama sold the American people a bill of goods. There is nothing 'affordable' about the Affordable Care Act. His fibs have been exposed. It just gives bigger rewards to the corporate oligarchy while it steals from the commoners. The largest tax increase on the American people in US history, while our medical costs continue to soar. Of course you know that the 1st world nations in Europe, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, etc.... spend much less than we do, per capita, and produce medical outcomes equal to or better than ours. This is public information. ACA did nothing to solve that. It just made it worse. We have to face the truth.
