Wisconsin man dies in agony after inhaler price soars from $67 to $540

[richaveli83]

 

[Absolut]

Man to hell with that bill

You go to the ER get that bad boy taken care of.

Then you worry about getting your prescriptions taken care of

Yea I mean you’d think most people would agree, but he didn’t

 

[tru_m.a.c]

This should be a illegal.

True. So who's going to do that.

 

[Breh13]

The medical industry turning out like this is crazy.

It's not a surprise Luigi went to those depths.

 

[Wildin]

If a million people can unite for a single purpose, fukk congress, they would have the world’s attention plus the alien overlords

That's where the problem is. If a million people can unite then a million people should be able to solve the problem. Who cares if a million people unite to get the world's attention or alien overlords. Im not wanting or waiting for them to help me.

 

[Kufi]

Americans winder why they cant have shyt when they vote against it

?

"According to Newsweek, Walgreens suddenly refused to cover the prescription under insurance after OptumRX allegedly changed its policy in fall 2023. "

 

[MajesticLion]

Never underestimate the depths of wickedness in this place.

 

[MrRDU]

Optum's policy was changing regardless of the election

 

[Bleed The Freak]

?

"According to Newsweek, Walgreens suddenly refused to cover the prescription under insurance after OptumRX allegedly changed its policy in fall 2023. "

And if he had a 3-month supply of it he likely never knew when January hit of he got it filled in September or October.

But you HAVE to go to the ER or urgent care. You cannot, and I am not blaming him, go home for 5 days. You gotta hammer the insurance on the phone or pharmacy or doctor as soon as you get outta there ASAP. Through no fault of his own he panicked.

 

[Bleed The Freak]

Oh my goodness what made it rocket like that some one break it down for me pls

I can say this from personal experience. The asthma medication Advair brand name is no longer covered or made by GSK in the US. It is being transitioned out. The generic name of it is Fluticasone propionate. It is literally the exact same medicine without the brand name associated with it.

This young man likely filled his 3 months supply in fall of that year and did not know or was not informed of this upcoming change and was blind sided. Or just thought it was another piece of paper in the mail and threw it out.

Pharmaceutical companies have very stringent patent laws to corner the market for like 15 years after a drug is introduced. Hence why back in 97 Viagra was the only ED drug now there's commercials for everyone having a comparable medication.

When a medication is either being discontinued or changed your insurance is supposed to notify you of the respective changes in your explanation of benefits. Typically then they allow you to use the generic non-brand version of it. Which is substantially cheaper and just as effective, although some people based on their medical conditions can't take generic versions of medications.

The chemical composition is literally exactly the same for the generics it simply the brand that sells from the pharmaceutical company

You can get epinephrine instead of EpiPen. EpiPen can cost $400-$500 and epinephrine is like $10 at CVS.

Or budesonide/formoterol instead of symbicort.

Despite all that, and despite these generics are cheaper insurance companies and their pharmacy benefit managers (who they own) oftentimes refuse to cover the generic because they'll get a higher profit margin when it comes to forcing people to take the brand name one.

And that you get to pay out of pocket rather than them covering it or they have a very strict agreement with the pharma company they can't pay for the generic. This is specific by employer and they have very strict terms.

And people generally are very personal when it comes to their health and won't seek a generic because it's been drilled in their brain they have to have EpiPen Advair or symbicort. They believe generics could be ineffective despite having the exact same chemical composition.

The only difference could be how the medicine is actually dispensed because the pharmaceutical company has a trademark on the dispensing of the medicine.

In the young man's case, he should have in a perfect world pressed very hard back at the rep at the counter and done one of the following

- ask to see if there was generic
- ask if there was a coupon from the manufacturer or savings card
- call his insurance to see WTF was going on
- if generic was covered, call his doctor ASAP to get the generic script
- go to ER or urgent care

Unfortunately what you cannot do under any circumstance is get down to your last 1-2 puffs with your insurance when it comes to a inhaler you need to use everyday.

You have to give yourself like at least a week ahead of time before that thing runs out in case anything like this happens you got enough to get you through the next refill.

And I support this family in their lawsuit because all of the above doesn't matter he died and this is ridiculous

 

[Kasgoinjail]

I can say this from personal experience. The asthma medication Advair brand name is no longer covered or made by GSK in the US. It is being transitioned out. The generic name of it is Fluticasone propionate. It is literally the exact same medicine without the brand name associated with it.

This young man likely filled his 3 months supply in fall of that year and did not know or was not informed of this upcoming change and was blind sided. Or just thought it was another piece of paper in the mail and threw it out.

Pharmaceutical companies have very stringent patent laws to corner the market for like 15 years after a drug is introduced. Hence why band in 97 Viagra was the only ED drug now there's commercials for everyone having a comparable medication.

When a medication is either being discontinued or changed your insurance is supposed to notify you of the respective changes in your explanation of benefits. Typically then they allow you to use the generic non-brand version of it. Which is substantially cheaper and just as effective, although some people based on their medical conditions can't take generic versions of medications.

The chemical composition is literally exactly the same for the generics it simply the brand that sells from the pharmaceutical company

You can get epinephrine instead of EpiPen. EpiPen can cost $400-$500 and epinephrine is like $10 at CVS.

Or budesonide/formoterol instead of symbicort.

Despite all that, and despite these generics are cheaper insurance companies and their pharmacy benefit managers (who they own) oftentimes refuse to cover the generic because they'll get a higher profit margin when it comes to forcing people to take the brand name one.

And that you get to pay out of pocket rather than them covering it or they have a very strict agreement with the pharma company they can't pay for the generic. This is specific by employer and they have very strict terms.

And people generally are very personal when it comes to their health and won't seek a generic because it's been drilled in their brain they have to have EpiPen Advair or symbicort. They believe generics could be ineffective despite having the exact same chemical composition.

The only difference could be how the medicine is actually dispensed because the pharmaceutical company has a trademark on the dispensing of the medicine.

In the young man's case, he should have in a perfect world pressed very hard back at the rep at the counter and done one of the following

- ask to see if there was generic
- ask if there was a coupon from the manufacturer or savings card
- call his insurance to see WTF was going on
- if generic was covered, call his doctor ASAP to get the generic script
- go to ER or urgent care

Unfortunately what you cannot do under any circumstance is get down to your last 1-2 puffs with your insurance when it comes to a inhaler you need to use everyday.

You have to give yourself like at least a week ahead of time before that thing runs out in case anything like this happens you got enough to get you through the next refill.

And I support this family in their lawsuit because all of the above doesn't matter he died and this is ridiculous

Thank you

Now you broke it down I support their suit also.
Some of my children use Salbutomol which is why I was asking

 

[Tribal Outkast]

The parents filed a lawsuit, but he couldn’t ask them for the money? Most parents are still helping their 22 year old children.

Yeah I don’t feel good about a lawsuit even though I understand the need for it. Couldn’t give that man 500 for a shot but could end up getting millions off his death. It’s a cold world out here

 

[Tribal Outkast]

Optum's policy was changing regardless of the election

I mean medical insurance has been a problem all of our lives. I’m not sure why people are even talking about Presidents lol. Talk about the leaders of these medical companies