The only socialism in Medicine is the CDC. Those are government workers paid to do whatever, since they can’t even cure MERSA. The top dogs get a government pay check and a patent for their fancy vaccination.
http://www.nvic.org

The FDA is a revolving door between themselves and the drug makers. Scurvy is a Vitamin C deficiency but the FDA will not allow anything but a prescription medicine as a treatment. The FDA allows some 60,000 food additives. They also allow genetically modified food. Google Excitotoxins the Taste that Kills, by Dr. Blaylock.

Health care profits are made by treating disease, not healing. TV ads push more pills, more vaccinations. Doctors and hospitals increase profits with more operations. While the government pays for 50% of health care now it is not socialism. The bill from a hospital stay would be like going to the store and buying eggs, then several months later, you get a bill from the chicken, the farmer, the truck driver, the stock clerk and the check out person. The industry Lobbyist have created a Monopoly and set the rules for what is paid. The whole health care system needs a redesign and the incentives need to change. Health care costs are now 20% of household budget and climbing. In cases where people are sick, their monthly insurance bill is more than their mortgage payment. Health care costs are crushing small business owners and taking away money from the consumption of real goods and services. A society is not better off because it treats the disease it creates and the population pops pills starting in school at an early age with Ritilin and Adderall, fancy names for methamphetamine.

The Drug companies have an Army of beautiful sales people that call on Doctors at the same time as patient hours. After your 10 minute office visit the M.D. probably couldn’t pick you out of a police line up. The visit doesn’t try to find that cause of your problem, just to hear a set of complaints which a drug that was tested for effectiveness verses a sugar pill.

Listen to the drug ads on TV and all the side effects. In Magazines look on back page of drug ads. Many written side effects are now four pages long.
While drugs can save lives during emergencies, the least number of drugs you take the better. Niacin works better than Lipitor. Cholesterol is not a disease, it is a precursor to hormones, nerve sheaths and a major component in every cell membrane.
While one my only pay a co-pay for a prescription, we all pay in insurance premiums, social security taxes and other taxes. We also pay since PhARMA companies are the worst polluters.

Not to mention the billion dollar fines paid by drug companies for fraud and marketing violations. The CEOs need to go to prison.

For the cost of the many drugs people are prescribed, it would be cheaper to stay at a World Class Health Spa.

Just saw Pristig ad on TV, it says that it may work by treating to chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine. Sorry serotonin is mostly in GI tract and norepinephrine is an adrenal chemical. The drug comes with deadly side effects.
http://www.drugawareness.org/
Stop the INSANITY. Real food by God is your best medicine.
Love to all,
Dr W. David Berglund

It is illegal for doctors and physicians to advertise (wear) any certain brands by using clipboards and wearing other items with the brands name on them now.

The FDA really doesn’t have our best interests in mind. Also, quality of service.. You’re in, you’re out. $30 just like that. There are definitely problems with the ideas of socialism with health care but I agree with Obama on the point.. the status quo is not working.

Caduet is a combo drug, but it is a combo of the brands. And yes, you are seeing the ingredients… but they’re the ingredients in the brand (as well as the generic). The differences between brand and generics are filler chemicals and actually, Simvastatin (generic for Zoror) is one that some people don’t react well to (or so they say). The other generic Amlodipine is generic for Norvasc.

The drug companies want to continue to make money and they can do it by patenting these combo drugs. The patent on the brand ran out (that’s why there’s a generic) so they lost their market share to the generic drug makers (and thus the income stream) and they’re trying to get it back. From the consumer’s point of view, they only have to take one pill a day as opposed to taking two. May not seem like a lot, but if it is in addition to a large pill regimen then it may make a difference!

Ultimately, these drug companies are big business. They absolutely have a product people need… so they’re seen as providing a helpful service, but it’s business. That’s why when you go to the doctor, they have samples and coupons and why the doctors always have tons of “things” from the drug companies (clip boards, pens, coffee mugs, etc). When there are similar drugs available, the pen a doc uses may just nudge them one way instead of the other and all of a sudden, the drug company is making more money.

I mean, I do get it in one sense. I’ve heard patients asking pharmacists why brand meds cost so much. The answer is multi-faceted. First, the drug company producing the brand had to do all of the testing to make sure the drug is safe and to be compliant with the FDA. The second is… because they can. While there may be some less expensive alternatives for many drugs, there are not. In many cases, people need the drugs to stay alive. They (the patient) aren’t going to put a premium on their life, so they pay, thus the demand remains high.

The final reason goes back to something I said in my last comment… It’s the insurance companies. They will pay for the expensive drugs (and for the expensive doctors, etc), but ultimately, it is you and me who pay. Premiums are going up, up, up because the costs are going up, but the service, by and large, is not changing. This does have to do with the doctors’ insurance, which is going up, but it also has to do with the fact that there are no (or remarkably few) factors driving the prices down.

Don’t get me wrong. A doctor has to go through a TON of school to get his degree and most work very, very hard. The closer we get to socialism, the less the doctors will get paid and the less incentive there is to go through that. And if the cost goes down, I’m afraid the quality will follow suit, which I don’t want to see happen. I think there does need to be reform… but it needs to be internal reform by the medical industry, not government mandated reform.

But I digress… that is a discussion for another time!

That being said, the patient can request a brand as opposed to a generic if they would like (DAW-2). They often pay more for this designation, as the generic is allowable by the physician. Ultimately, as another commenter noted, this is mandated by the insurance companies the most, though pharmacies do certainly make more money off of generics than brand name drugs.

It truly astounded me when I worked at a pharmacy how little people truly understood about their drug benefits. And while it is true that pharmacies do charge different prices for different drugs, unless you are paying a percentage of the drug price, it doesn’t matter. Flat copays will be the same dollar amount (as determined by your insurance company) no matter where you go.

And the limitations based on quanity are also determined by the insurance company, not the pharmacy. There are certain laws that regulate the dispensation of control medications, especially schedule II meds, but again, these are laws, determined by the state, not by the pharmacy.

When writing a piece geared towards readers from 50 states with 50 different state laws, it is always important to clarify that point.

Excellent point.

This is especially true when dealing with SSRIs and other antidepressants. Things that are effective in small doses and/or effect the brain, I’m a bit leery of generics, though I’ll try it.

But one crucial piece of advice you’re missing FrugalDad: If you want to save money on your perscriptions, ASK YOUR DOCTOR! Tell him that you are having a difficult time financially (if you’re in debt, that’s a reasonable claim), and ask if he has any suggestions. From talking about generic vs name brand FOR YOUR SPECIFIC medicine to discussing cheaper alternatives, doctors can help you save money…but you have to ask, they’re not going to bring it up to avoid offending you.

I recently told my doctor I had no choice but to be uninsured for a month, she responded by giving me six months of free samples for all my drugs that were going to expire within a year anyway, and thus would have gone to waste. She also told me that for my specific meds, they were safe up to 6 months after expiration. Then she griped about private insurance for a few minutes, and I got the impression she’s been having more than a few patients lose insurance lately.

But seriously. Doctors know a lot more than they’ll volunteer, you have to know what to ask. True when it comes to your health, and true when you’re saving money.