Is Prescription Medicine Overpriced?

It is over priced and the worst part is often what a self pay, with no insurance, is more then what they bill the insurance. We found that out. My sister's one medication to buy cash price was $85 for two teaspoons of this nasal spray but they pill insurance companies for it, $40. We happened to get it the one time and it showed what they billed. So those of us without insurance are paying for those who do basically. I know one medication she was on Advair, is almost $300 for a 25 day supply not even a full month, and that is cash price. It's crazy for them to be charging that amount. You can't tell me it costs them that much to make things. I can understand brand new ones maybe being higher since they had all the research and such but older medications? Tried and true ones that have been out for decades should be a lot cheaper.

I think prescription medicine cost is outragious. I feel so bad for the elderly and sickly people on fixed income who have to choose between paying utilites or buying medicine. I use to work for a collection agency for a credit card company and I also worked as a tax collector YUCK!! I had to quit both jobs because they were not for me I was an excellent collect, but I ofetn took my work home I would be feeling bad for the lady who chose to pay instead of paying for her heart medicine. Unlike my co workers I was always kind to the people I talk to because you never know where life will take you, and I can easily be that person on the other end of the phone.I would often talk to elderly women who would tell me about their medicine cost per month. People would always talk to me oppose to hanging up on me because I was nice. I once was talking to a lady who had just got out the hospital from a heart attack I listened to her while she explain how she did not have insurance only $500 per month income and the were threatening to take her house because of taxes she was elling me about the medicine cost She had to decide if she was going to pay about $1000 to in back taxes or $400 for medicine she chose to pay her taxes. She I was nice I felt terrible I would have probably said screw the taxes my health is more inportant but I was not alloud to reject any money.I believed the job as a tax collector would be easier than being a credit card collector but it was actually harder majority of the people who didn't pay taxes had medical problems.. sorry for the long response.

i know how you feel, its really getting out of hand coz the gov. is not doing anything about it, my stepson has ADHD and he takes medicine everyday and we're paying $50.00 for co-pay for his concerta, if we don't have insurance it'll cost $208.00 for 30 days supply, isn't that rediculous, where in the world people can afford all that?

Yes I think prescription medicine is way overpriced. A lot of people have a hard time financially because their medicine is so high they can hardly pay for anything else. Luckily I only have one prescription and I do have insurance but it's still $25. They also don't make it in generic. I do think it's getting out of hand. There are so many people out there that don't have insurance. I feel bad for them because they have to pay full price. That's just like another big bill for everyone.

Yes that is really overpriced. I thought it was bad that I have to pay $20 copays for a month's supply of meds if it's not generic. If you want to cut costs though, you could probably find natural remedies for the acid reflux. I used to be on acid reflux meds and I'm not anymore. This is going to sound crazy, but I actually find that drinking lemonade helps when I have heartburn. I kind of discovered this by accident. I just happened to drink it one time when I had heartburn and it felt better. So then I started drinking it deliberately when I had heartburn and it almost always helped. So I asked a few people to try it, and they all told me that it helped their heartburn. Before I did the lemonade thing, I used to take these natural supplements for acid reflux called Digest More. I paid a lot less for those than what you are paying for your prescription and they worked really well. Here's a link for it. http://www.amazon.com/Renew-Life-Digest-More-capsules/dp/B00014DMKU/ref=sr_1_1/103-2821418-9596668?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1178841798&sr=1-1 I hope that link works. If not, then just go to amazon.com and search for Digest More.

yes it is overpriced and not to mention the poor elderly that live off the crappy social sercurity that the government gives them . I've heard some of my patients say that sometimes they have to decide if they should eat or buy their meds so they can stay alive and out of the hospital. Its sad to have to live that way .

Yes, my grandmother is always complaining to me about how expensive her meds are.

I don't have insurance but I am lucky. I go to the pharmacy at Walmart and my prescriptions are on their $4 plan that they offer. The only problem is not all medicines are on there. I bet the ones you need wouldn't be on there. I do have another medication I take thats not covered but its only like $12 but its a two week supply. But yes, I do agree that most medications are way overpriced.

Oh I know its really out of controll. Right now I dont have insurance because my husband changed jobs but I will have in august. So Im paying for my medicine. I shopped around and found that walmart was only charging $8.00 for 120 tablets and the pharmacy I was using charged me $30. Thats a big difference. Im so glad I found walmart.

It is a shame the prices they charge for Rx medications. Something really needs to be done to change this.

I believe it is, my Mum gets 20% off of everything in her chemist but y'day when she had to pick up her pills & such, even with the 20% off, it still came to almost $130. I was shocked, it's disgusting that companies can charge so much for pills & stuff that people need. My Mum's diabetic so she needs all sorts of things & i hate that it's so exensive for her, even with the 20% off, it's ridiculous. I think there needs to be more generic pills made coz when i was on the pill i was given a prescription & the brand my Dr prescribed was $35 to pick up (i think) but the generic brand ended up costing me $4.90 so more generic would help a lot i think, especially for people who need those pills on a regular basis.

It's ridicoulous, a few months ago, I paid out of pocket for my daughter's meds when she was sick, one was $75.00 for the generic and the antibiotic was $25.00. I don't have insurance on her right now, my ex is supposed to carry insurance, and I thought he did, until I went to the pharmacy and it was rejected. I had no choice but to pay for it.

We pay £6.50 which isn't too bad... But I am on Maternity leave at the moment so we get all prescritions free for a year after the birth which is a good thing to have when you are earning not a lot of money. But I do think we are a lucky in that way over here in Blighty :)