Thread: Welcome to SOCIALIST Healthcare

Originally Posted by Mary Jo

Insurance companies have practiced medicine for years.
A couple years ago I went to get a prescription filled at the drugstore. When I got it it was not for what was written. The pharmacist said that my insurance said that I had to get something else. WTF?

Was it generic?

Originally Posted by pepperpot

Unfortunately....so are we.....

Don't remind me!

Originally Posted by pepperpot

Was it generic?

That's what I was thinking. We always get generic. First off its alot cheaper. Plus it saves the ins. company. And I would LIKE to think if everyone got generic ins. would be cheaper. But I don't kid myself. lol

Unless I hit a sale and/or coupon...I purchase generic over-the-counter all the time...... But that's my option.

It has to be generic because a pharmacist and insurance company can not change a course of treatment. The insurance company can only dictate the brand, be it generic or a lower priced version of the same med from another drug company.

Originally Posted by speedygirl

It has to be generic because a pharmacist and insurance company can not change a course of treatment. The insurance company can only dictate the brand, be it generic or a lower priced version of the same med from another drug company.

The insurance can deny to pay for something and tell you to have it changed to something else. At that point the pharmacist will call the doc and see if they will change it to a covered med. They have done this to my gma several times.

Originally Posted by stresseater

The insurance can deny to pay for something and tell you to have it changed to something else. At that point the pharmacist will call the doc and see if they will change it to a covered med. They have done this to my gma several times.

Yep so true. We get calls all day from pharmacists saying that the insurance won't pay and end up having to call in a new RX. We look at the fomularies sent us by the ins. companies but they change so fast! In the time it takes to do that all day long we could have seen an extra patient or two.

Originally Posted by speedygirl

Yep so true. We get calls all day from pharmacists saying that the insurance won't pay and end up having to call in a new RX. We look at the fomularies sent us by the ins. companies but they change so fast! In the time it takes to do that all day long we could have seen an extra patient or two.

Agreed, this has happened to me as well. As with any health insurance plan, the higher the premiums the more 'name brands' are included.

Same with auto insurance, the higher the premium, the lower the deduction.

Originally Posted by pepperpot

So anyone who has insurance doesn't know what's it's like? For some it may be cheaper to pay directly for care than to pay insurance plans/copays/etc......but we make sure we pay our insurance "just in case"....it's not "free" for anyone....just some sacrifice more than others to make sure they have it.....

I never said I expected it to be free, I was just saying that around here at least, the insurance determines the quality of care you receive. Alot of times if you are paying cash, you not only pay a higher price, you also don't get the same treatment and testing. For example, one of the times I went to a dentist with a toothache, it was only hurting when I ate, there was a cavity. The dentist recommended a medicated filling, and some antibiotics, to be followed up by a permanent filling in a couple of weeks. When he found out I didn't have insurance, that course of action changed entirely, then he wanted to extract and be done with it. I no longer had a say so because I didn't have an insurance card in my pocket. My choices were to get an extraction or continue experiencing pain. Here if that was passed it would be a level playing field for everyone.

Originally Posted by SurferGirl

Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.

That was the part I was talking about. People pay into social security and medicare all their lives. NO ONE HAS A RIGHT TO DECIDE THAT THEY SHOULD DO WITHOUT THE CARE THEY PAID FOR ALL THEIR WORKING LIVES.

I'll play devils advocate here.

Picture this, 60 year old man, has had regular check ups all his life and been deemed perfectly healthy. The last check up being only a month before his medicare kicked in. As soon as medicare kicks in, at his next check up, he mysteriously pops up with all of these ailments. His blood sugar was a point or 2 high, so they deem him diabetic, and prescribe testing and medication for that. His cholesterol, which was fine 6 months ago, is now a tad high, more testing and meds. The slight aches and pains that he feels on rainy days, that his doctor said a few months ago were normal for his age and to take tylenol, are now considered a serious problem, and yet another med is prescribed. The story goes on, until a man who was supposedly perfectly healthy 6 months before ends up on 15 different medications daily. What makes the difference? The fact that his bill is picked up by medicare.

I am not saying by any means to let our seniors suffer. What I am saying, is as our bodies get older there are certain things that aren't going to work like they did when we were 20, and no matter what the doctor prescribes, he is still not going to turn back that clock.

The society we live in is so quick to prescribe a pill for anything, here take this, it'll go away, but the pill you took to make it go away, will cause 15 other things to go wrong, then you get more meds to fix the new problems.

So, let them suffer? No, not by any means. But yes do accept the fact that an 80 year old will never be 20 again, they will move a little slower, may have the OCCASIONAL aches and pains. As long as they can still have a good quality of life, then let it be. Now, if something affects that quality of life, do every thing possible to correct it.