Nobody Asked Me…

Thanks to Obummercare, and the latest hijacking of drug prices, this one has come back around… Still true 12 years later…

Let’s  hear it for Costco!!  (This is just  mind-boggling!)  Make sure you
read all the way  past the list of the drugs.  The woman that  signed
below is a Budget Analyst out of federal  Washington , DC offices.

Did you ever wonder how  much it costs a drug company for the  active
ingredient in prescription medications?   Some people think it must cost
a lot, since many  drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet.  We did  a
search of offshore chemical synthesizers that  supply the active
ingredients found in drugs approved  by the FDA.  As we have revealed in
past issues  of Life Extension, a significant percentage of drugs  sold
in the United States contain active ingredients  made in other
countries.  In our independent  investigation of how much profit drug
Companies  really make, we obtained the actual price of  active
ingredients used in some of the most popular  drugs sold in America .
The data below speaks for  itself. Go HERE for the story and the embedded link to pricing…

Since the cost of prescription drugs is  so outrageous, I thought
everyone should know about  this.  Please read the following and pass  it
on.  It pays to shop around.  This helps  to solve the mystery as to why
they can afford to put  a Walgreen’s on every corner.  On Monday  night,
Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for  Channel 7 News in Detroit
did a story on generic drug  price gouging by pharmacies.  He found in
his  investigation, that some of these generic drugs were  marked up as
much as 3,000% or more.  Yes,  that’s not a typo:    three  thousand
percent!    So often, we  blame the drug companies for the high cost of
drugs,  and usually rightfully so.  But in this case, the  fault clearly
lies with the pharmacies  themselves.  For example, if you had to buy  a
prescription drug, and bought the name brand, you  might pay $100 for
100 pills.

The pharmacist  might tell you that if you get the generic  equivalent,
they would only cost $80, making you  think you are ‘saving’ $20.  What
the pharmacist  is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills  may
have only cost him $10!

At the end of the  report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson  whether,
or not there were any pharmacies that did  not adhere to this practice,
and he said that Costco  consistently charged little over their cost
for the  generic drugs.

I went to the Costco site, where  you can look up any drug, and get its
online  price.  It says that the in-store prices are  consistent with the
online prices.  I was  appalled.  Just to give you one example from my  own
experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine,  which helps prevent
nausea in chemo  patients.

I used the generic equivalent, which  cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS.
I checked the price  at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills  for
$19.89.  For 145 of my pain pills, I paid  $72.57.  I could have got 150
at Costco for  $28.08.

I would like to mention, that although  Costco is a ‘membership’ type store, you do NOT have to  be a member to buy prescriptions there, as it is a  federally regulated substance.  You just tell them  at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they  will let you in.   (This is true)

This  is true in Canada, too. I went there this past Thursday  and asked them.

I am asking each of you to please  help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your  own e-mail, and send it to everyone you know with an  e-mail address.

Sharon L. 
Budget  Analyst
U.S. Department of  Commerce 

Gah…  If things aren’t already bad enough, now the copays are going up (again), and the ones that are hurt the most are the elderly…