That CAD$30 is the over-the-counter price - for anyone.
Well, yes, maybe. But the market in Canada is a different āfree marketā than in the US, no? If the pharmacies were to charge $150 instead of $30/vial then how many people would buy it? Wouldnāt they instead go through their government healthcare which I assume provides the insulin at the $30 or lower cost point to the patient?
In the US we have to go through the insurance companies rather than a government form of health care because, well, things are just always better when you have a private company running the show. Thatās a common rule of thumb for many Americans. For some reason they never seem to consider that a non-trivial part of why our government is often so bad at things is because we have politicians who work very, very hard to make government not work.
The theory as I understand it is that essentially you have to destroy the country to save it. I guess weāll see how that goes ā¦
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It seems that you have a misunderstanding of the medical market in Canada. It is true that we have universal healthcare. That is, we get government paid āmedicalā coverage. We do not get government paid ādrugā or ādentalā coverage. For ādrugā, including insulin, Canadians pay out of pocket, or by private ādrugā insurance coverage.
No, insulin is not covered by government healthcare.
Eli Lilly lobbied/bribed the FDA to require a prescription for insulin analogues so it could jack the price of insulin up further because health insurance companies would bear some of the cost (thus killing any true market price competition). In the US, you can get human insulin without a prescription but analogues require one. This shields Lilly and company from ārevealingā the true prices and helps perpetuate their argument that āno one pays the full priceā
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So Ei Lilly only answers to the PBMs, not the end-user/patient/us. They donāt care what we can pay because theyāve lobbied to not have to.
Meanwhile people have died when they run out of insulin and hadnāt been able to get their rx refilled in time.
I see it like thisā¦The gouging big Pharma is doing is because they know we T1Dās and allot of T2Ds NEED their productā¦So they know insurances will pay their price without much hassle so they jack the prices up yearlyā¦as for those of us who CANāT pay or donāt have coverage to pay is less per capita than those of us who have Insurance, (including Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) they, (big Pharma), donāt care and figure if some people ādie because they canāt afford to pay Out Of Pocket thatās too bad, but the ability of the many who can pay, or have coverage to pay far out weighs the need of the few who cannot afford to pay.ā thatās how I see it, and it is a shameful, disgusting, and inhumane way to do business!!! We need to come together and fight for more fair practices when it comes to Big Pharma gouging the little man, Congress needs to get off their butt and institute regulating Big Pharma instead of just taking their bribes and campaign moniesā¦
I agree with most everything here (ridiculously high prices, although economics would say where there is consistent high demand, the market will pay more) and cannot explain the price differences for the same insulin in different countries, but I have a slightly different perspective/thought on the high cost of medications in general.
My understanding of pharmaceutical companies is that for every successful drug they develop, there are hundreds or thousands more that they were working to develop but did not actually work. So while it may cost a very small amount in direct costs, they have very high indirect costs. So effectively, the margin they put on all the drugs they do sell helps to subsidize the cost of their research and development.
It doesnāt make me sympathetic to the pharma companies, but it helps me understand a bit more why itās so expensive.
p.s. @Michael_Birch, one option that was posed to me once while on vacation (I forgot to check my insulin supply while packing and ran out) was to call my doctor and have them send the pharmacy a prescription. Or, can you submit the receipt to your insurance and get a reimbursement after the fact?
Um. Not entirely. Eventually a point is reached at which the insurance companies throw up their hands, drop out, take their ball and go home. Case in point: my drug plan gave up on Apidra and dropped it from the formulary Jan.1. So now my only choice is to buy it at retail at $253 a pop.
That explanation would be a lot more credible if profit margins were slender. Actually they trend in the opposite direction.
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This is not correct. Canada does not have two different prices for drugs, a āgovernment/insurance priceā and a āconsumer priceā the way the US seems to. There is only one price. If the government or insurance covers that drug (either the entire cost or a portion of it) they pay the same price the consumer would pay. Iāve never quite understood how the US seems to have two prices, to be honest.
The US seems to be the only developed country where healthcare costs are insaneāand I donāt think itās only medication. Iām pretty sure Iāve read that the US spends more per capita on healthcare than any other developed country, yet has some of the worst healthcare outcomes compared to other developed countries.
That is because a large proportion of the money spent does not go to care but to lobbying, marketing, malpractice insurance, profits, and five or six other money sinks I probably forgot to mention.
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Yeah, but we have the best health-care in the world!!! USA! USA! USA!
Please forgive me if you didnāt catch the satire ā¦ It would be funny if it wasnāt so sad.
So true! My latest receipt for pump supplies is the perfect example. Supplier charged a total of $1307 for three months of supplies. Insurance paid $371. I paid $41. What about the other $895? Erased because it was a fake price to begin with. Insane!
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āEssentially you have to destroy it to fix itā
We are working on that now`
Hi, Pam!
I have so many supplies for my Medtronic pump that I could live a year anywhere. My endo doc just prescribed more infusion sets and reservoirs than I need and they started piling up. I would suggest you talk to your diabetes doc and ask f r their suggestions on how to get an overage.
Also look for the Omnipod website that is international, for Italy and write them for a price list and how to get supplies when there.
Will you be on health insurance? Will it cover you there? You might need to have a doc see you over there to verify your need to get supplies in a foreign country, maybe not.
What other issues? Insulin was $35 per 100 ml bottles for me in Austria and I would be that it is as cheap in Italy. That is cash, no insurance!!! I would take as many as you can from the US in a cooler and keep them in the fridge when yo get there. The foam cooling blocks stay cooler longer.
Let me know if I can be of more help.
Susan
Itās cheaper in Canada because the governments of the provinces negotiate a bulk rate sale price for the drug.
Canadian government doesnāt negotiate bulk rate. In Canada, insulin is an over-the-counter medication. Straight from the supplier to the pharmacy to the user.
The provinces negotiate a bulk rate price on certain medications, like insulin, for the people who are eligible for various support programmes. Seniors who are receiving support payments, patients diagnosed with certain āorphanā diseases, transplant patients and people who receive income support through being unable to work due to their illness or condition all come to mind.
Please reread the post. I said the provinces, nothing about the federal government.