Workers Comp Pharmacy High Costs – One Pic Explains It All
A Workers Comp Pharmacy comparison can be shown in the picture below. My comparison is not for a Workers Comp claim that I have presently. Instead, a simple picture shows the source of the high costs of name-brand medications regardless if the benefits are health or workers compensation.
The one on the left is brand name. The inhaler on the right is a generic version. Each one of them provides 200 doses.
Every year, I have to use an inhaler when I catch the usual upper respiratory infection at an airport or in an airplane. I use air travel just enough to have the usual travel maladies.
I was explaining to a friend of mine in another country that an inhaler here retails for approximately $175. I will not mention the drug company or the drug in the inhaler. He said let me check on that as I think they sell here over the counter without a prescription for $4. I thought he was out of his mind.
Then, one day I received a package from his present home country. I will keep the country anonymous as well. I had remarked to my good friend that the inhaler was running low and I would have to pay for a Doctor’s visit and an extremely high price, even with health insurance, for the inhaler.
I opened up the package and there was an inhaler from his home country from the same pharmaceutical company. With postage, it cost him less than $10 including the cost of the inhaler.
I had thought that it could not be the same medicine. I was wrong. IT WAS THE EXACT SAME MEDICINE manufactured by the same company overseas. So the inhaler can be obtained without a physician visit in his country – amazing, and it was the dollar equivalent of $4.
Let us look at the comparison:
- US – $25 for office visit, $175 (let’s not count in the insurance copay) = $200
- Foreign country – $4 + 6 postage = $10
Why does it cost 2,000% more for the same drug manufactured by the same company? I then honed in on Workers Comp Pharmacy expenditures. The light bulb went on quickly. Why are name brand pharmaceuticals so expensive for Workers Comp? I think it may be that the generics are produced in the same factories as was the inhaler.
By the way, there is no generic version of the inhaler, unless you live in another country. Why? The domestic patent has not expired yet.
Workers Comp pharmacy costs for the inhaler would be full bore at $175, right?
I am not a Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) expert. However, the numbers are the numbers – PBM or not. If you wish to comment, below, please explain the $173 difference and if the inhaler would be cheaper with a Workers Comp Pharmacy network.
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