Lets make a big collection of memes to spread online.
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At least 3 of those countries’ citizens are jealous of our standard of living so I’m guessing that many of them figure “so what”, not knowing the pricing in the US is disproportionate to most US incomes, and is outrageously high giving the profit margins and ever-increasing price hikes. I’ve lived overseas in 4 countries and I know how they typically view Americans–with disdain, disgust, and envy. I probably shouldn’t have limited my first comment to “at least 3 countries”, but just substituted “many foreigners”. I’ve heard “Yankee go home” a number of times and it had nothing to do with me personally. It isn’t always easy being an American abroad.
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Was wondering where you’ve been, @IgotT1. Have really felt like complaining about 'betes lately, but you weren’t around. I was looking for ya.
Could’ve been just you, Dave44, lol. But, I think your right, we even view ourselves with disgust and disdain lately. I strongly believe that the first person to throw a chair during a Senate meeting will be elected our next president. I think its a winning strategy. Its what the people want. They need some more lawmakers down there from state college. This would have been settled long ago.
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It is horrible that insulin is 10 X more expensive in U.S. than anywhere else, but with the for profit pharmaceutical and insurance companies, none of that will change until people start speaking ( yelling) at the voting booth.
IMO…publicly judging those with the disease of drug addiction, is unlikely to be helpful to the cost of insulin.
Gotta say I have mixed reactions to this one. As the father of a heroin addict who has been clean for 12 years thanks in part to Suboxone, my reaction to denigrating “dope addicts” in order to make a point about insulin prices is just about too strongly negative to see the larger point being made. If there’s a treatment that helps people like my kid with their very difficult affliction, then the lower the cost the better as far as I’m concerned (though Suboxone isn’t free), and it has bupkes to do with the prince of insulin. Whoever came up with the original sign was engaging in some really ugly, divisive and unhelpful rhetoric, and probably not even aware of it.
Which I take it is kind of the point being made by the crossed-out version, though it took me a minute to get past my rage at the top version to see it. If so, I’m all for it, though in that case the meme seems to be as much or more about attitudes toward addiction as about insulin price-gouging. I guess my chief misgiving is that there are a lot of people who won’t get it at all, but will just see the top version and not get any further than “Yeah! Right on! Why should junkies get free drugs when deserving people gotta pay through the nose!”
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Eli Lilly didn’t jack up the price of insulin… the pharma companies aren’t the real enemy and in fact their profit margins and “net” price of insulin has actually gone down over recent years. The real bastard is the insurance companies and PBMs that negotiate undisclosed rebates that drive the “list price” of medications absurdly high… I guarantee at the end of the day the commercial payers aren’t paying more than $100 per vial or box of insulin pens (I’d strongly suspect it’s far less than that but we’ll never know because it’s considered confidential)… yet we’re told that the “price” is multiples of that. This is fraud and racketeering any way you look at it and I’m astounded that our elected representatives seem unwilling to challenge this totally unacceptable situation.
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I don’t think Narcan is free. I’ve never heard of free Narcan. Its $150.
God bless our volunteer street medics. This Minneapolis man is on a mission to hand out needles, Narcan | MPR News
It IS true that they are gouging. However, the value of the dollar has declined markedly over the 60 years I have lived in the U.S. The 15 cent can of Campbell’s soup is now $1.58. And they claim the rate of inflation is under 2%! Has that been figured using the new math?
Try and buy insulin without using insurance. It isn’t cheaper. I do agree that insurance companies are wasteful middlemen.
I’m not saying it’s “cheaper”
I’m saying that the pharmaceutical companies aren’t reaping tremendous profits from jacking up the price because it’s effectively the pbm rebate system that jacks up the price. Yes to someone paying cash for it that’s irrelevant, but that’s the underlying scam that’s escalating the list price indefinitely—- the real big picture marketplace for prices is in the rebate system… so if I’m going to give you a $1000 rebate for a $100 product obviously the “price” has to be at least $1100
It’s not just wasteful—- they’re the ones driving the list prices falsely high when they’re not actually paying anywhere near that
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Do you have a source for the actual amount pharma companies receive for their insulin in the USA? I have always assumed it is commercial in confidence.
No. Their rebates are confidential…
This is actually the problem in a nut shell. The rebates are “secret” but outrageous. They are “sneaky” too because they cut out the patient. If the rebates were down up front, at the pharmacy level, patients would also get the benefit but they aren’t. Rebates happen AFTER. So if a drug is $100 and you have to pay 20%, you pay $20 and the insurance company pays $80. Then, the insurance company turns around and gets a 50% rebate so (on their portion or the full amount, I’m not sure so either $40-50). So you have paid $20, and the plan ends up only paying $30-40. What I really like to know is what happens when you have a deductible? If you pay the $100 as part of your deductible, does the plan still get their 50% rebate from the pharma? (My guess is yes. If that is true than you have paid $100 and the plan gets $40-50 on something they haven’t even paid out on). That thought irritates me to no end.
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Hey, I just wanna make sure that you have seen this.
This is good, old fashioned patient advocacy.
This Doc is taking names. He’s a bad-■■■gunslinger.
When I’m walking into a fight that I know I’m gonna loose, I try to walk like the BeeGees in this video. There’s a certain confidence that come with knowing your going down, but your going to put up a hell of a fight. Sometimes that confidence freaks people out and you get an advantage. Sometimes you can win. I wonder if that Doc hears this song every day in his head. He’s a wild man.
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