Obama care has made the problem exponentially worse and everyone finally agrees..maybe we can actually fix it now but big pharma and durable goods needs to be in the new plan. Leaving them out does NOTHING to help the system.
@BooBear:
Exactly, and to your comment above this one.
DME (durable medical equipment) is charged at OUTRAGEOUS prices. I needed a knee brace 2 years ago, before I got my knee surgery. It was free to me because of medicare, but I later found out how much medicare paid for the brace... $175.00. Right after I got that brace but before I found out the cost to the clinic, I went to Walgreens and Walmart to get a second so I could alternate & wash the sweat out daily. Walgreens wanted $30. & Walmart wanted $20. Both places the braces were comparable to the one from the clinic.
When I was in home health, medicaid patients were allowed to have diapers and chucks, medicaid reimburses these DME companies way above what the cost of disorders and chucks at about 4 times what the person could spend at a local discount store. Why doesn't medicaid and medicare cut out the middle man and issue a debit card for just those approved items at a store if their choice?
Pharmaceuticals are thru the roof! Old line medicines have had their patents bought up by speculators who jack the prices up...like the AIDS drug last year was raised 5,000%. That **** needs to stop. I take a blood pressure medicine and I pay $10.00 for it, but on the receipt it says the insurance paid $150. WHY? JUST WHY? This med is an old med, been around for ages. It should be super cheap!
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