In our new series “The Cost of Denial,” NBC News’ Anne Thompson reports on the young man who went to refill his asthma inhaler only to find it unaffordable because it was no longer covered by his insurance. He left the pharmacy with an emergency inhaler that his father says was found empty by his bed.
I bought one yesterday for $12. The USA is fucked.
Ok my $12 was for Salbutamol not the Fluticasone/Salmeterol Cole needed, that would have cost me $35 (AUD that is)
It’s even worse than it seems! This is according to his family, who is suing:
Not only was the price of his normal inhaler jacked sky high without any notice, there were actually several “$5 alternative options” available that neither his insurance nor his pharmacy made him aware of.
Yeap after years of getting my scripts filled at CVS or Walgreens, I recently started getting them filled at the hospital i work at. Man, having a decent pharmacist makes a huge difference. The first round of scripts I had filled one of the pharmacists called asking if I needed a specific version of any of my scripts. They ended up switching my thyroid medication that was costing me a ton every month because for some reason my doc had accidentally selected a gel coating.
If we just allowed Medicare to negotiate pricing with pharmaceutical companies like every other nation with a tax funded medical program we wouldn’t have any of these problems.
I just read an article on People which indicates that he had a $5 copayment alternative, which is the US equivalent of the $12 inhaler I bought, but it wasn’t good enough for Cole he needed a preventer not a rescue inhaler.
Yeah it’s been all over the news for a few days now. Their lawsuit alleges there were actually suitable alternatives but the CVS system did not make the correct substitute recommendation.
Only parroting what I read though, just to be clear.