[Medicine-for-people] Annual Pharmacy Price Update - Overseas
Medicine
Douwe Rienstra
medical at olympus.net
Thu Jul 5 08:20:25 PDT 2007
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Medicine for People!
July 2007
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Contents
- Annual Pharmacy Update
- Free Pharmaceuticals - "Bad News" and "Good News"
- Medicine Far From Home - Three Short Takes
- Better Medicine Overseas ? Maybe
- Better Medicine Through Business-as-Usual? No Way
- Better medicine In Cuba? Not Either
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Annual Pharmacy Update
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Pharmacy practices and prices are always changing. When people ask
me what's the best pharmacy, I can only say, that depends.
-- Need a prescription on a Sunday? In Port Townsend, that's
Safeway - the only pharmacy that's open.
-- Looking for personalized service or a compounded custom
pharmaceutical? In Port Townsend, that's Don's Pharmacy.
-- Taking a generic medication long-term and price is
critical? Try Costco. You don't need to be a member, they will mail
your medications postage-free, and you can check prices online at
http://www.costco.com/Pharmacy/frameset.asp?trg=HCFrame.asp&hcban=Banner.asp&hctar=finddrugs.asp&catid=678&fromscript=1&Article=pricing%20information&log=.
-- Taking a brand-name medication long-term and price is critical?
Try Canada Pharmacy at http://www.canadapharmacy.com/. They charge a
$10 shipping fee and may take a couple of weeks to get your
prescription to you.
=== Price Comparisons
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* Costco
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Prozac (branded fluoxetine) 20 mg, 100 caps $493.36
Fluoxetine (generic alternative) 20 mg, 100 caps $10.00
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* Canada Pharmacy
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Prozac (branded fluoxetine) 20 mgs, 90 caps $221
Fluoxetine (generic alternative) 20 mgs, 90 caps $39.00
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The key point is that branded drugs are currently less expensive at
the Canadian pharmacy than at US pharmacies; generics are less
expensive in the US. As well, Costco prices generally beat prices at
other US pharmacies. For now. Prices and availability are always
changing. Keep us posted and we'll pass on what we learn.
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Free Pharmaceuticals "Bad news and Good news"
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You've know about "bad news and good news." When your income is "bad
news," the "good news" can be free medications from the
pharmaceutical companies. In 2004, major pharmaceutical companies
gave away $4.7 billion retail value of drugs to low-income
patients. Some critics charged that the programs were difficult to
access. Each company, for instance, had its own program, so that
patients on drugs from several companies had to go through the
cumbersome process of application and income verification several
times. The industry has responded by forming a centralized access
point, the Partnership for Physician's Assistance at
https://www.pparx.org/Intro.php. Now patients can go to this one
site to discover what programs are available.
I hope you don't qualify.
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Medicine Far From Home - Three Short Takes
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=== Better Medicine Overseas? Maybe ===
A number of our patients have obtained medical care overseas. Doing
some research to check on the reliability of off-shore care, I
discovered a whole world of medical tourism. People are traveling
abroad for lower-cost care or procedures not easily available in the
US. One company http://www.planethospital.com/2.html specializes in
arranging overseas care. Sometimes insurance will even pay. For
instance, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of South Carolina now covers
treatment at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Thailand
http://www.bumrungrad.com/Overseas-Medical-Care/Bumrungrad-International.aspx .
=== Better Medicine Through Business-as-Usual? No way ===
Today I reviewed the records from an East Coast specialty clinic
regarding one of our patients and was appalled to see almost every
report from the specialist to the referring physician end with the
sentence "I hope this report contributes to your
chart." Translation: These tests look good on the record.
The specialist noted on one occasion that the patient was in
treatment for substance abuse, then later prescribed a federally
controlled (potentially habituating) drug!
What is happening here? It looks to me as if the many thousands of
dollars of tests performed were done largely to make the medical
record look good. Even worse, it seems clear that the clinic is just
going through the motions with no real recognition of this person as
an individual with a distressing medical problem. Why not end the
report with "I hope our work has benefited our mutual patient"?
=== Better Medicine In Cuba? Not either ====
Reviewers tell me that a recent movie holds up the Cuban system as a
model for us to follow. As pointed out in the British Medical Journal in 2001
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1120325,
and by many other reliable sources, Cuba has two systems, one for the
rich, which includes journalists and film makers, and one for
ordinary citizens. The Canadian National Post reviews the
experiences of working-class Cubans at
http://www.cubaverdad.net/references/for_cubans_a_bitter_pill.htm.
Movies that make us laugh are good for our health. But not if we
don't do our homework afterwards. Check out
http://www.rienstraclinic.com/newsletter/2006/2006Aug_solutions.html
for a more useful under-the-hood look at the US medical system and
how we can improve it.
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=== Recent issues of Medicine for People! ===
May, 2007 Depression, Dementia, and Lithium
http://www.rienstraclinic.com/newsletter/2007/2007May.html
April, 2007 Beware the Lowest Bidder - Choosing Supplements for
Health http://www.rienstraclinic.com/newsletter/April2007.html
March, 2007 Brain Health as We Age Part 12 - The Final Chapter
http://www.rienstraclinic.com/newsletter/2007/2007Mar.html
February, 2007 Brain Health as We Age Part 11 - Reason for
Hope: Nutrients to Preserve Memory and Sharp
Thinking http://www.rienstraclinic.com/newsletter/2007/2007Feb.html
Janaury, 2007 Brain Health As We Age Part 10 - The Hippocampus, Seat
of Memory http://rienstraclinic.com/newsletter/2007/2007Jan.html
December, 2006 The Shingles Vaccine: is it Right for You?
http://www.rienstraclinic.com/newsletter/2006/2006Dec.html
November, 2006 Brain Health As We Age Part 9 - Dementia - Know Thy
Enemy http://www.rienstraclinic.com/newsletter/2006/2006Nov.html
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Medicine for People! is written by Douwe Rienstra MD, edited by
Carolyn Latteier, and published at Port Townsend, Washington.
Copyright July, 2007.
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