Posted on 04/10/2010 5:53:07 PM PDT by SmokingJoe
Along with so many other things, keeping a lid on spending seems to have gotten lost in the health care overhaul. Individuals lose some incentive to save a couple of bucks by having fewer tax-free dollars in their health savings accounts. A panel to oversee Medicare disbursements based on the cost of clinical effectiveness of treatments--zapped, thanks to intense lobbying by drugmakers, doctors and every other medical interest group. That leaves medical providers and health plans, which have little motivation, unless the employers who buy insurance turn the screws.
They rarely do. But Edward Kaplan, a New York City health care consultant, last year came up with a simple way to save a pile of money for a Boston union representing supermarket workers: Its medical plan stopped covering Nexium, saving $133,000. The heartburn medicine is a $5 billion blockbuster for its manufacturer, AstraZeneca ( AZN - news - people ). At $2,000 for a year's supply, it was the union plan's second-most-prescribed pill, accounting for 5% of all drug costs. But its active molecule is almost identical to the one you get in cheap over-the-counter versions of Prilosec.
Prescription drug spending is maybe 10% of the total health pie--$234 billion in 2008--and rising at 3% a year. Still, "cutting Nexium saved a big chunk," Kaplan says.
The journey of a thousand cuts might begin with a little purple pill. It should have started years ago. Nexium launched in 2001, just as the patent for Prilosec, AstraZeneca's original heartburn remedy, was expiring. Intense marketing around Nexium coincided with price increases for Prilosec, pushing many patients to Nexium. Doctors, easy to woo with drug sales reps bearing samples and company-commissioned research reports, were happy to write scripts for the new drug--and oblivious of the economic implications.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Health savings accounts of Obama money..
Omeprazol works great, and is cheap. Not only that, but Prevacid has gone OTC and is pretty cheap as well, works good too.
Right after Viagra, to be sold later on the black market.
My insurance won’t cover Nexium. I use Prilosec or the generic from Costco. It works most of the time, but the brief time I did use Nexium I was 100% symptom free. Clearly anecdotal and subject to placebo effect, but it was nice.
My doctor was mad at the drug company for the relatively minor change in the formulation. He thought the better result was probably due to the better method of delivering the drug into the small intestine. It has to survive a lot of stomach acid. That is why it is important to take your dose 30 minutes before your first meal of the day. Thus, before your stomach has produced loads of acid.
Wonder Drug indeed.
“But as a nation we’re all paying for the rest of it.”
This is a ridiculous statement — people buy insurance so they are covered for their medical needs. The insurance companies figure out the premiums so they can pay for the medical care and medications for those who need it and have some profit remaining. That’s how a system works. We are not paying for it “as a nation”.
To single out a particular medication is ridiculous — by doing this the author also implies that all doctors are crooks and aren’t prescribing what is best for the patient.
This whole article is ludicrous and is just trying to rile people up against pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies. Maybe Obama was the ghost writer.
I would like to see an article about how limiting the patents to 7 years increased the prices of medications — pharmaceutical companies spend a fortune on developing drugs and now they have to get their investment back and some profits in 7 years. If they let them keep the patents for 30 years, brand name medications would be a lot cheaper.
That is so sad. You have my condolences.
And based on experience, a lot of people taking Nexium could instead simply change their diet instead to stop the acid reflux. Yet another drug to help us keep up an unhealthy lifestyle without personal consequences.
Nexium is simply being used as an example to make the bigger point of high prescription drug costs, as the sub heading says, “Nexium is a parable of what's wrong with health care.”
Not saying I agree with him or don't agree with him. Just pointing that out.
In a perfect world, or Obama's world of the future, perhaps.
In the universe I inhabit, that has never, once, been the case.
Lobbyists, in many cases lifetime snakes, make sure that the suddenly generic pill, chemical etc., is suddenly declared toxic or halmful to the purple three-toed salamander and banned from sale (best examples, DDT, Freon).
How old are you, anyway?
I’m so sorry for your loss. My brother had an adenocarcinoma that attacked his esophagus - his death was 3 months after the diagnosis. We just remembered him on April 8th, his birthday.
My sympathies and prayers.
k.
Get your doc to double your Prilosec... Then it is substantially the same (or, at least, is for me). I have been on twice the recommended dosage for many years.
see post 6....you need to find a natural solution to your problem....really....taking nexium or prilosec continually is NOT GOOD FOR YOU! YOU NEED the acid! Check here...this guy is my doc....Harvard educated MD and a Naturapath also....he knows of what he writes...
http://www.tahomaclinic.com/aging2.shtml
Deepest condolences.
I am so sorry.
And add into the mix the ever-lowering standards for cholesterol, blood sugar, and “obesity” and it should become obvious that there is a vast laboratory-pharmeceutical conspiracy to get everyone hooked on prescriptions.
Prozac used to cost us $80 a month. For years. Finally it went generic and took another few years for the price to slowly drop. Now it’s one of the $4 drugs and is affordable. I think the pharmaceuticals should be able to make some money, but I don’t think people should be gouged for years. Many drugs cost several hundred dollars for 30 day’s supply. I’m not particularly worried they aren’t making their R&D back.
I don't even think I'm particularly stressed. I don't know what it is, but Nexium is THE drug. My sister in law has achalasia (look it up - it's one of the most horrible things I can think of to have, for some odd reason). Her heartburn has completely subsided with Nexium.
All of the above is completely anecdotal, I realize, but I know it works for me and I don't want to give it up.
I was issued a perscription for a new medicine called Victoza for my diabetes. Worked great, but my copay was $225 a month. Can’t affort that. Back to the non-working stuff.
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