How much do Medical Insurance Companies rip us off?

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I was appalled and very pissed off the other day. Awhile back my medical insurance provider not only raised our premiums, but also our co-payments for both doctor visits and prescriptions. For the second time in two years no less. The prescription issue is what bothers me the most.

Two years ago I was diagnosed with a condition that gave me an option of trying an herbal approach or a prescription approach to treat the symptoms. First I tried the herbal approach and it made me violently ill (full blown, complete ugly flu like symptoms for a month so the doc and I opted for the prescription approach. It has worked as well as it can.

Here's my beef. Through my prescription plan, my co-payments on these meds are now $20 for generic versions, $30 for name brand but on the "proprietary list" and $40 for name brand, non proprietary. I did some shopping around the other day and found out I could get 4 of my 5 'scrips for a hell of a lot less with NO insurance than I could using my insurance plan!!

Who the hell is ripping us off here? The pharmacies? The insurance plans? as anyone else encountered this complete inequity with their own insurance companies? No friggin wonder our rates are so high!!

Arghhhhh!

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Lady J wrote:

Through my prescription plan, my co-payments on these meds are now $20 for generic versions, $30 for name brand but on the "proprietary list" and $40 for name brand, non proprietary. I did some shopping around the other day and found out I could get 4 of my 5 'scrips for a hell of a lot less with NO insurance than I could using my insurance plan!!

The clothier Sy Syms has a saying that he quotes on his ads,

"An educated consumer is our best customer".

And so it is with prescription plans. Anyone with a computer can check out the prices for a prescription. If the retail price is cheaper than the co-pay from the prescription, it is very simple............................pay cash.

I have had a similar situation. Where I found that the retail price was cheaper than I would pay for something with my plan, I paid the retail price.Remember, most prescription plans have a charge for a month's supply. So, if one person takes a certain medication 3 times a day, and another takes the same drug once a day, both people would be charged the same amount, even though one customer gets three times the amount of the drug. Once I had only a few pills left in my prescription, and the drugstore wanted to charge me for a month's supply. So I paid the cash price.

Is it fair? Of course not. So that's why we all have to be vigilant.

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Reminds me how happy I am to live in Canada!

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I feel lucky with my husband's coverage. Both the local drugstores (local and local branches of chains) and the on-line mail order tell us when a generic is available and when it is cheaper to buy the drug directly rather than paying the assigned co-pay.

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How much do Medical Insurance Companies rip us off?

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