(Don't think you're lucky because you have "good employer health insurance", you don't - read on.)
What would you think if you paid $1400 for four new tires and then found out you could buy the same tires from the same store for $182 if you'd have just downloaded a free mobile app, pay nothing for it, and just use the app at the point of purchase? Might you be just a little upset? Would you think there had to be a scam in the mix, somewhere?
The following is real life, it provides proof that government should stay out of our business, and it totally indicts the prescription medication industry into official "scam-dom".
Four months ago we were on a Blue Cross plan, via Obamacare (marketplace). This is a policy that we were paying over $800 a month, and for 2017 was going to jump to almost $1200 a month. When we were notified of the change we decided to seriously look at alternatives. The option we took meant we decided to pick up the drugs on our own cost.
Just four months ago I refilled a prescription for a common medication. Looking back on the records it cost $81.31 through our Blue Cross online pharmacy service. Keep in mind, the drug would have cost over $400.00, without the insurance - or so we thought.
So today I went in to refill the prior prescription, no longer on the Blue Cross plan. I forgot to hand them our card and initially went into shock when a $430 tab rang up. Then I remembered the discount card that we paid nothing for, and it brought the price down to about $200.00. Wow, a $230 discount for nothing?
Then after returning home my wife reminded me of a mobile app we could download and get competitive pricing. Lo and behold, I could get the same drug for $55 at a grocery store pharmacy 2 miles away. That's the same drug, same count, no difference. I went back to the store and was able to get a refund for almost all the difference using the mobile app.
Let's do the math. $430 - $55 = $375 savings. As a matter of fact, had I used that mobile app while insured with Blue Cross I still would have saved $26.31. Huh? What did I do to deserve that? Absolutely nothing, there was no money changing hands for that discount, and as a matter of fact I could have been ANYBODY that downloaded the mobile app.
No, I'm not selling any app, I have no affiliation. If you want to know what it is just ping me. But the point to the blog is this: Apparently, my insurance company paid zero for my meds all these years, and actually cost me money for drugs as compared to someone without insurance at all.
Now to the subject line. You can be sure that the reason for the disparity is because healthcare is in chaos, and rules are changing all the time. Further, you can bet that when ALL the shackles are taken off the system soon that the prices will level out for everyone, because the word is getting out (you're reading this). So, that is my proof that competition works, because it was competition at the retail level that provided the best price. Had Obamacare been allowed to prevail and expand, or worse morph to single payer, there would be no opportunity for price consolidation, only inflation. Medicare is proof of that.
There's nothing like "history" to make us smarter. Can we please learn from this history lesson and be ready accept it for ALL things competition? Anything that doesn't require government intervention should not be run by government, with rare exception (our air, our food, our water, our safety, etc.).
Pass the word and let the market prevail!
Patrick
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