Eye drops rant.....

jujube

jujube

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Location
I think I'm in Florida, but I'm not sure any more.
.....though it's actually more of a doctor rant.

I have an eye procedure coming up on Thursday. A prescription for eye drops was called in to the pharmacy. I've had this procedure before and the eyedrops didn't cost much. It didn't occur to me to ask about the cost of these drops.

THIS TIME, though...…. I just stopped by the pharmacy to pick up the drops. The cost? *****$325.00*****. Yes, $325.00 for drops I'll use twice a day for two days. There are no generics for these drops. Needless to say, I didn't get them.

So, I called the practice and told them I couldn't afford $325 eye drops. The lady says, "OK, no problem, I'll call in a prescription for generic drops. No problem with using the generic drops."

Most of the patients at this practice are retirees. Most retirees can't afford $325 eye drops. Why in the world would they just routinely prescribe hideously expensive eye drops when cheaper generic ones work just as fine? No, wait, I already know the answer......the drug rep has been in recently. It's partly my fault for not asking about the drops, but still...…..

Rant over.
 

You did the right thing. The mafia is in charge of the now. Either they are outrageous in cost or are addictive.
 

That's terrible. My hubby just ran into a similar situation with his medication, it went from $10.00 to $46.00. He went to several pharmacies and hit one that charged him the $10.00. I feel sorry for people who aren't able to run around and check prices. Some my age don't have a computer so that isn't an option.
 
The expensive stuff was Prolensa, which was $325 at my pharmacy. It can be found for a little less some other places, but still too expensive. It's not covered by my insurance.

The new prescription is for Ketorolac Opthalmic Solution, which is $6. Quite a bit of difference.

My insurance dropped in price this year and a lot of the Tier 1 generics are $0 cost. To make up for it, they changed a lot of prescriptions that were formerly Tier 1 to Tier 2. Very nice of them, huh? The insurance company giveth and it taketh away. Mostly taketh away, these days.
 
Why the heck didn’t your doctor immediately write the prescription for the genetic brand first time round?
If that were me, I’d find a new doctor.
 
Keesha said:
Why the heck didn’t your doctor immediately write the prescription for the genetic brand first time round? If that were me, I’d find a new doctor.
Click to expand...

Doctors in the U.S. taking kickbacks and perks from drug companies has been a problem for many years. The Website Propublica.org, ran a series called "dialing for docs" for several years, and it tracked how much money doctors were receiving from the drug companies. I just looked, and they have another version going now....https://projects.propublica.org/checkup/
 
OP: Was the Prolensa for post op of cataract surgery? I'm so thankful I keep my eyes doing good with the eye supports I take including homeopathic drops for cataract prevention. I do my very very very very best to stay away from any surgery...2 in my life were wake up calls...deal with complications from both surgeries...glad I'm retired so I can do all the research I do.


Kickbacks yes yes yes.

My daughter came down with a lot of issues when she was in her marriage, many of us believe so much marriage related, birthing a stillborn, just too much for this young woman to deal with.

Her obgyn recommended a kinda new MD in our area, didn't know that then, but she went to him and he wrote and wrote and wrote dx drugs and she kept taking them and getting worse and worse...she trusted him at that point in her life. She had one small child already. But the stillborn at 8 months was the big breaker.

She got so messed up on the meds, lost her hearing due to the vicodin and other drug interactions...and NOW at 55 and divorced and both kids, she had another child after stillborn, are both in college. She won't go near pharma if she can prevent it. Longer message here but years later this MD is well known in our city as a "writer".....he is high on the list that Don posted. Lunches, dinners, gifts, trips, speaking engagements...you name it, he does them...$$$$$

Well, I got off topic but it seems to happen a lot when we discuss MD's and what they are all about.
 

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