My wife recently had a visit to a doctor, where she was diagnosed as having a pinched nerve. He charged her $892 for the visit, including shots (two at $300 each), x-rays and the office visit. She told him up front that her insurance wouldn’t pay any on this visit.
He then wrote her a prescription for a controlled-release form of naproxen, a pain killer and anti-inflammatory. The prescription would have cost $242 – a coupon brought it down to “only” $192. At the pharmacy, the pharmacist called and asked the doctor to change the order to regular naproxen, which would cost $4. He refused. Needless to say, we didn’t get the prescription filled.
Victory Pharma, the pharmaceutical company that makes the higher cost medication, has a patent for this drug, so there is no generic available. They take a common drug like naproxen and change it slightly and get patent protection for several more years.
I only have a high deductible insurance policy for my wife because Anthem Blue Cross of Virginia kept increasing her premiums, which now top $5,000 per year. Whatever is the “adjusted” portion of the $892 office visit will come out of my pocket.
To some of you, this may not sound like much money. But try telling that to the guy making $12 to $15 per hour, which is pretty good wages for this area, and who doesn’t have health insurance. And that guy doesn’t get an “adjusted” bill. He is in for the whole charge.
The attitude of those opposing health care reform seems to be “too bad about, you, I’ve got mine and that’s all that matters.” They don’t seem to realize that they are going to pay for the uninsured indirectly in the form of rate increases to cover those who can’t afford to pay.
Democrats have the Presidency and both houses of Congress; they need to go back and write a real health care bill and forget the “just say no” Republicans!!
Charles Cartmell
Bristol, Va.
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