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posted by martyb on Tuesday August 23 2016, @07:34AM   Printer-friendly
from the staying-alive-is-getting-more-expensive dept.

EpiPen's price has ballooned about 400% since 2008, rising from about a $100 list price to $500 today. The EpiPen is one of the most important life-saving medical innovations for people with severe food allergies—which affect as many as 15 million Americans and 1 in 13 children in the United States. But its price has exploded over the last decade despite few upgrades to the product itself. The product's lack of competitors is likely a significant driver of the costs. [...] [The] EpiPen enjoys a near-monopoly on the market with annual sales of more than $1.3 billion and nearly 90% U.S. market share.

At Fortune, NYT, The Hill.


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  • (Score: 2) by scruffybeard on Tuesday August 23 2016, @12:08PM

    by scruffybeard (533) on Tuesday August 23 2016, @12:08PM (#392078)

    I would be shocked if your insurance company was paying $700 for them. I get routine blood work twice a year. The bill from the lab is usually about $150, but the insurance pays about $6, with no additional co-pays from me. Similar thing from the dentist. He might bill $200 for a filling, the insurance knocks it down to $120, which I split 80-20 with the insurance company.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday August 23 2016, @03:41PM

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Tuesday August 23 2016, @03:41PM (#392174) Journal

    I would be shocked if your insurance company was paying $700 for them. I get routine blood work twice a year. The bill from the lab is usually about $150, but the insurance pays about $6, with no additional co-pays from me.

    THIS. Many people don't realize how much "insurance" really translates to "negotiated private deals with medical services/groups/suppliers." You go to the doctor and they bill you for "$200," but the only person who pays the $200 is the person without insurance. One insurance company pays $160, another pays $122, another pays $64, one lucky one pays only $40, or whatever. But then you receive the statement that the "$200 bill is settled."

    The first time you see this, most people react with, "Huh?"

    In reality, the doctor's office "charges" a number higher than it knows any reasonable insurer would pay. That way they get the maximum money out of everyone. And the person who is screwed the most is the person without insurance.

    Same thing happens with medication, where insurers have deals with pharmacies and drug companies. I'm sure it's true here.

    Important tip: Try to negotiate medical bills -- if you offer to pay cash quickly, you may be able to score a discount similar to insurance companies. (It helps if you have an idea of how much a private insurer would actually pay, but that's hard to find out.) Also, shop around for medication. Your "insurance" may NOT be giving you the best deal. A few years ago I needed a generic medication for a family member, and the "preferred pharmacy" the insurance recommended required paying a $16 co-pay for a 30-day supply. Then I went to the local grocery store pharmacy, and they offered the same generic drug at $10 for a 90-day supply (with no insurance). The system is completely messed up.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2016, @05:23PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23 2016, @05:23PM (#392215)

      Even people without insurance don't pay full price, if they are smart. When I didn't have insurance, I would go to the doctor and just ask, "how much do I need to pay in cash, right now, to make this bill go away?" Almost always, I'd get at least a 60 percent discount as an initial offer. I'd always remind the office manager, who was almost always called by the desk jockey, that they were better off just taking my money now, then wasting it dealing with insurance or collections headaches.

      Of course, the real way to fix this is to require doctor offices to do what every other business has to do: post their prices ahead of time so you can compare prices BEFORE you go. You'd be amazed what real competition can do. You already see this with the various retail clinics that have began to pop up. The nearby doctor's price for strep tests dropped by an order of magnitude after the nearby pharmacy started offering them.