You forgot to quote the most outrageous part (emphasis mine), it’s a 1000x increase, not 100x:
In its complaint, the government demanded a jury trial that would put front and center the actions of the company at the heart of a 97,000% drug price hike. The price of Mallinckrodt’s anti-inflammatory drug Acthar – best known for treating babies with a debilitating seizure disorder – has gone from $40 a vial in 2000 to nearly $39,000 today.
Thanks. Good to know.
That’s basically what we do. We get paper Rx, then use GoodRx app to find out which pharmacy has the lowest price locally (we’re lucky to have about half a dozen different ones nearby). We head to the lowest one and ask to compare the GoodRx price with the price from our insurer. GoodRx is cheaper about half the time. At this point, I’d almost want my health insurance to have no prescription coverage at all and pay even lower premiums since the coverage is of very questionable value to us. One 90-day prescription we had last year was $246 at our insurer’s price or $22 via GoodRx. Was even slightly cheaper at Sam’s actually.
To say that the whole prescription drug price process is opaque is an insult to opacity.
I’m all for lower drug prices but I’m a bit concerned about this bill honestly.
The CCAGW which I’d assume would support initiatives like this one, actually urges people to oppose it: Link
These guys usually emphasize conservative fiscal policies so that worries me if they see this bill as likely to have adverse effects.
That’s pretty much what you have to do. I had one Rx that was going to be > $600 at CVS that I ended up filling at Costco for $14. And yes, comparing generic to generic.
Presumably the difference in the two prices is accruing to the insurer via their pharmacy benefit manager and other intermediaries?
Wow, that is insane!
Executive order incoming from Trump on this.
The order will direct federal agencies to initiate regulations and guidance that could require insurers, doctors, hospitals and others in the industry to provide information about the negotiated and often discounted cost of care, sources said.
The White House believes it has authority to compel disclosure under a variety of tools, including the 21st Century Cures Act and the Affordable Care Act. Insurers could be compelled to disclose prices under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and Employee Retirement Income Security Act, according to people familiar with the matter.
The irony of this made me chuckle.
So 2 years later this is now the law and it seems that most hospitals are complying but there hasnt been much fanfare. I guess they do not want you learning about negotiated prices. This article just came out and has some interesting tips for finding this information :