Holy hell. Look at that number. Let me write it out again. $317.99. That is the cost of ONE of James' meds PER MONTH! It's the Risperdal. My guess is that there isn't a generic to it yet. However, that seems RIDICULOUSLY high! He has Medicaid, and it covers the full amount, thankfully. I can't imagine paying that each month.
This brings me to a political thing I guess. What do people do without insurance? Take me for example. The kids are covered by Medicaid. Our state is good about trying to make sure that kids are covered. Jason also has insurance. For just him, it costs him about $6 a week. Which is great. However to add just me, it would cost an additional $97 a week. We can't afford that. We just can't. So I go without insurance. With the stimulus check, I'm hoping to pay for my annual exam. I guess next year I'll know how much it will cost and I'll save up for it.
That's ridiculous. Having to save up so I can get basic preventative medical care. I don't ever see a "regular" doc. Part of the reason I won't do therapy is the out of pocket cost. I *might* qualify for reduced or free services, but there is no guarentee. And when you go to an agency that accepts those kinds of arrangements, the therapists don't stick around long.
I'm not covered by insurance. If I needed a medication like James does, I'd go without honestly. There is no way I could afford that. And no, it's not because I work at Wal-Mart. I get paid more at Wal-Mart than I would if I worked at Meijer, Target, or K-Mart.
I was talking to Jenn tonight. For her job alone, she makes quite a bit more than Jason and I do combined, and that's including my child support. And then she has her husband's income on top of it. And they feel the pinch of the economy, and they don't have the added expense of kids (at least not the human kind). They don't feel it as badly as some, however they do feel it. I've have more than one person ask me "how do you guys make it on so little?". Well, did you read the Peter and Paul post? That's how. We also live in an area where the cost of living is less than other parts of the country.
Would nationalized insurance really solve anything? I don't know. However, something has got to give. Law suits against doctors force their insurance to go up. So they are forced to raise their prices. Insurance companies charge an arm and a leg because the doctors are raising their prices. It's a vicious cycle of everyone just trying to make it by.
By the way, that's the cost of the med with tax added.
2 comments:
David's Concerta is $4/pill - no generic. we don't pay it right now, but we will starting in Sept. Ouch. Thank goodness it's not the huge amount it would be for all of James' meds!
Something does need to change. I don't want to become like Canada. ER waits of 18 hours? Almost impossible to see a doctor? Yet I do think everything should have insurance. I think it would drop the cost of premiums. The other side of it is we need to limit the medical judgments, and keep the bad doctors from practicing.
Brads Risperdal is the name brand too, so I guess you're right about there not being a generic. You know how cheap the govt. is... they would sure want to get the generic one if there WAS one. Anyway...his is paid for too, otherwise we'd be sunk!
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