If you watch or read the news you are aware that Pres. Biden has put a big push on drug companies to negotiate with Medicare on some very important drugs that are ungodly expensive. Drug companies have until October 1st to negotiate with Medicare. If they don't negotiate they could lose their contracts with Medicare and Medicaid. Hopefully, that will squeeze them into doing the right thing.
The prices would go into effect in January 2026 sadly.
Can you believe the GOP is opposing this? The survey showed that 83% of Americans want this. Does the GOP do anything for the American people they supposedly represent? No! Their skill set is all about lining their pockets and they are fabulous at lying.
How can they be so freakin' heartless?
Rick is taking one of those extremely expensive drugs. Eloquis.
That drug is a blood thinner. As a stroke survivor that drug is everything.
It's also more than $1,000 for 30 days.
With insurance, it was $800+.
Then we went the good rx route, $580 - $600 depending on the pharmacy.
Still too much. Our doctor suggested a 'hardship' price and to contact Eloquis. That was uncomfortable. This is where my life has gotten?
Rick said, "We've paid taxes and insurance payments and worked hard our whole life, allow them to help us."
We must or no food.
But it's very uncomfortable for me.
But if Eloquous will work with us why not just lower the fucking price? Honestly. One shouldn't have to worry about staying alive and/or keeping a roof over their head.
Only in America.
**On a funny note. My hubby sent me this. He thought I could relate.
Okay, so I'm OCD. I have to put the carts back where they belong in the parking lot of a store. I mean how hard is it to put them back for Pete's sake? I saw a lazy guy just leave it in the parking space. Now no one can park there and the cart holder thingy is only a few feet away!
I admit, if that small cart is in with the big carts, yes, I will rearrange that too as I did the other day after his therapies. Rick watched me from the car and just laughed at me. He finds my issue amusing. When I got in the car he said, I was eyeing that cart and just knew you'd take care of it. You amuse me Margaret. Glad to make you laugh Stroke Boy.
I saw a man in Walmart in the cracker aisle arranging all the boxes. I thought he worked there. Nope. He just thought they needed to be lined up and was rearranging them. Oh dear one of my people in the wild.
When I realized I had forgotten something in that aisle and went back several minutes later he was just finishing up and he stood back and looked at everything. I smiled at him. I knew. He did too. We nodded.
I did tell him it looked great. He was proud.
After 6 months of me being so ill with the chemo and such I wasn't in my kitchen, pantry, laundry, etc. Rick was taking care of everything.
Then his stroke and my surgery all back to back. When the girls left to go back home to their lives I saw the unorganized mess my husband had created. I was now feeling better so I saw the work ahead of me.
How those women found anything is amazing to me. I spent weeks rearranging everything and putting things back where they should have gone but he doesn't care. It's in a cupboard that is all that matters to him, and truthfully even leaving everything on a counter wouldn't bother him. It took me 2 days to reorganize and clean the cupboards inside and out. He never wipes the cupboard doors either if they have fingerprints or food. Oh, he is blind to it all. He just doesn't see the issue. So we call it my issue and I'd appreciate it if he'd put things back where he got them. But he never remembers where he got them. Seriously how can you take something from a drawer or cupboard and not remember where it goes? 36 years ago I'd get mad but now I find it amusing as he does me and I just put it where I think it should go or where he got it in the first place. If I die first, he will never find a damn thing including his clothes. For some reason, I find that humorous as does he.
Oh, this isn't a stroke thing, it's a Rick thing.
He's been doing this since I've known him at 31 years old. He laughs and turns around and I move it to where it was originally. It's a dance we two do and have done over the 36 years together. I don't even ask him or say anything anymore as I used to. I just move it.
When he sees me doing this he laughs, hugs me, and says, "Oh my anal-retentive wife"
The Idiot makes me laugh and I can't be mad for some reason.
**We will be getting remnants of Hurricane Idalia. I look forward to the rain. We've hardly had any rain here for the last 3 months. Just horrific high temps. So a day or two of rain sounds wonderful to me. Not hurricane winds but rain will be nice as well as the lower temps.
Wednesday morning just about lunchtime it was announced on the local news that a certain school was having an early dismal due to the air conditioning going out and the teachers and children were melting. Rick and I thought it was the equivalent to being up north and the snow storm is coming so they let out schools early.
So a snow day of sorts in the south. Yeah, you can't go to school and be hot and sweaty in 96-degree heat.
Rick told me that swamp ass and learning just don't go together.
Some things never change.
20 comments:
Don't feel uncomfortable and don't feel guilty, let them give you the free medicine! Yes, it's ridiculous, disgusting, even inhumane that they won't just lower the price but take it for free if you can get it! I could rant on this subject for hours. I jumped through all the silly hoops and got my mom free meds. Never felt guilty, just super angry at what I had to go through to get them and wondering how many other people couldn't even get them because the system is rigged against the patient.
My brother has mesothelioma and has been very lucky to be under the care of a seemingly magical doctor, who has kept him alive for several years. So grateful. But the cost! He has told me what the treatment costs, and I can't even retain the number in my head. I cannot imagine how people pay for this stuff. But his doc also advised calling the company, and he has been able to get reduced price, although not free. I was disappointed that none of the meds listed for negotiation were cancer drugs. I guess those companies give better campaign donations.
Nina
No reasonable negotiator would give away the right to negotiate, but that's what the Republicans did under GW Bush. The only rational reason for that is because they are bought and paid for by the pharmaceutical industry. So now they're being paid to fight against the reversal. It's all just power politics. The donors say 'Jump' and they answer, "How high?"
My cardiologist just told me last week he wants me on a blood thinner. I have a small stock of Xarelto, which I had on hand for emergency a-fib spells, but that shit is expensive too! I told him there's no way I'm spending that kind of money on a maintenance drug. He said he'd have his assistant look for cheaper options, but I haven't heard a peep out of them since.
Bobi, oh they are no way giving them to me for free. There is still a cost but far less than originally.
I'm telling you a stroke is going to have us living under a bridge.
Nina, oh my goodness that is so damn sad. But I am so happy to hear your brother has a magical doctor who is keeping him alive and kicking. :-) Like our eloquis, not free and we are having to jump through hoops. But it should be cheaper. Fingers crossed. He has to be on this for the rest of his life.
bluzdude, it makes me sick. Maybe they should help their buddy Mitch Mcconnel who can't talk - he can afford his medicine and yet they throw him out in public like a show pony. He needs to go. Can you imagine if Biden were like that? Or anyone on the left? JC these men suck donkey dicks as far as I'm concerned.
Please think nothing of, for once in your life taking advantage of a chance to get reduced prices. One should not need to earn such consideration, but you and Rick, by being upstanding citizens for all of these years, have earned the "privilege".
It really upset me, about a decade or two ago, when I was faced with a bill of about $7,000 for some out-patient procedure that I had thought might be in the low-hundreds of dollars range. I called to see what was going on. In the process, they finally told me that I need not pay that bill. No matter how many times I asked, I could not get a real answer as to what was happening that the bill need not be paid. It wasn't as if they had asked if I needed financial assistance (we surely would not a missed a meal over the whole thing), and I could only believe that they would make up for it by over-charging other people. Not a very good feeling, for me.
These price negotiations on RX drugs are long overdue! Good luck.
I do the same thing with shopping carts and messy merchandise. I can't walk past magazine racks without fixing them. I think there are a lot more of us out there than one might believe.
Did I tell you this already... Claudia's doctor wants her on a new and improved drug. How much? $2000 a month. Nope. The doctor said let us see what we can do. They know a pharmacy in Pennsylvania that can help us. The pharmacy helped. How much do we pay... zero, nada, nothing. From 2000 to 0 in one phone call.
Mike, got that phone number to PA pharmacy? That great Claudia got that medication. After all that I sure hope it helps!!
Jean, ah, nice to know you do those things too. I refolded towels that fell off the shelf onto the floor in Target once. Everyone walked over them. I picked em up, folded them and put them back. Ricks head exploded😁
Cop Car, that's wild about the bill. My luck I'd be sent to collections!! I'm glad it worked out for you.
Your doctor has to call the pharmacy and then the pharmacy calls you. I think this pharmacy may just specially handle our particular medicine. My SIL's mother was paying $300 a month for one of her medicines when I told her about our luck. She talked to her doctor who called (?) and now she gets it for free. Talk to your doctor.
I too had to get over the idea of "taking" something in the form of a hand out. A hard pill to swallow but it looks like I am going to have to get used to it.
Thank goodness for safety nets. Let's hope the red stain doesn't keep spreading or we will lose that too.
XOX Peg.........hope you get some cooling rain and not that hot sweaty kind.
ps. not sure if this is a fluke or if blogger finally fixed something. I can't believe it posted my response! YAY
OCD -- I have always arranged my spice rack in alphabetical order, obviously the way they were intended to be. Don one day took it into his head to "improve" the pantry and arranged my spices by jar height. Also having been a library volunteer, I know to arrange books by subject and alphabetical by author. Don wants to arrange books by color and height. HE is the one with OCD! I don't know how long we will be able to live together.
Mike, will do!
Yeah, I'm glad to see you here Linda!!😃
Olga, oh my this made me laugh. I'm with Don. So your book shelves are like a library? Mine are by height and color but they are with decorative things. I don't think two people with this can live together. Rick may have to share tips on how he deals with what I call my quirks.😅
Olga I do not put all said colors in a row. I do the opposite. Thankfully Rick could give a hoot🤣
Scott is also on Eliquis. We pay $185 every 3 months with my insurance. That is one of the reasons I don't quit my job.
Oh also Trevor's medication for his Psoriasis was $600 a month and the insurance would not approve it because they wanted him to take one that does a lot of liver damage. He's in some trial thing and gets it for free for a year.
After my breast cancer treatment they wanted me to take some fancy estrogen blocker for 5 years. It was really expensive, and I had no problem at all requesting a discount on the drug. As it turned out, the fancy one caused me to have continuous uti's, and the doc switched it to an older drug that was $5 for a refill. Go figure.
I had to chuckle about your ocd and Rick's apparent lack of it. After he retired and I was still working he took it upon himself to put things in different places...drove me nuts. He also threw away bowls and plates he had dropped and broken and thought I would not notice, haha. I always put stuff back where I had it, only to find it somewhere else again. It's a war that was never declared and will never have a victory. :-)
Julie, I wouldn't quit then either!! Cool that Trevor's in a trial, that helps.
Yvonne, Oh how I feel your pain. I saw this meme. Same thing really
Wedding vows should
include...
"Do you promise to
always help him find
his stuff that is right
in front of him"
because you will be
doing that forever.
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