Posted on 04/24/2021 1:55:17 PM PDT by CheshireTheCat
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) recently made waves claiming that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are to blame for the volatility of insulin prices. It's a bold statement, to be sure. But here's the thing: the senator is absolutely right — and PolitiFact has confirmed as much.
On January 31, 2021, PolitiFact partnered with The Daily Iowan to release a fact-check on Grassley's statement, ultimately providing the senator with its highest rating of "True" on the organization's Truth-O-Meter™. "With their complicated discount negotiations," PolitiFact concludes, PBMs play a role in driving upward the cost of insulin in America.
One fact that may surprise many is that the net price of insulin has been decreasing for years. But much to the dismay of those who depend on the drug to survive, those negotiated savings are rarely shared directly with patients — who see the list price of the drug climbing. As a result, patients with chronic conditions (like diabetes) are paying higher out-of-pocket costs. And unfortunately, PBMs' business practices only exacerbate the situation....
The AARP, for instance, is the largest special-interest organization in the nation. It claims to represent the concerns of millions of seniors throughout the United States on all issues of health care. Surely, it should care that PBMs and Big Insurance are hosing its members. Yet AARP is silent in the face of this injustice.
The real question isn't whether PBMs bear significant responsibility for higher patient health care costs...Instead, people should be asking: why doesn't the AARP seem to care?
The frustrating answer is that, despite what the organization may claim, AARP doesn't actually represent the interests of its members. Rather, it reflects those of its corporate funders: UnitedHealth Group (UHG) — the nation's largest health care insurance company — and UHG's wholly owned subsidiary, OptumRx. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The AARP was taken over by the left about 20 years ago.
At Walmarts in Ohio it is.
I can buy Novolin R over the counter for $25.00 per vial. And do. That price hasn't changed in the three or four years since I started buying it to supplement what my Medicare plan provider supplies according to my doctor's prescription. (They won't give me enough to let me build up a reserve for emergencies.)
Novolin R is slightly slower acting than the prescription Novolog, but I don't have much trouble adjusting my dosage to it. (I don't guess and pray. I do blood tests as often as eight times a day to maintain control.)
Walmart's pricing tells me that this "volatility" reporting is BS. Or Walmart is subsidizing it heavily. Either way, Walmart is doing us diabetic seniors on fixed incomes a life-saving service.
This!.. I dumped them many years ago. I got tired of their magazine with nothing but leftist drivel.
The AARP is run by commies.
They don’t care about prices and people. They only care about the power they wield.
Trump told me it was going to be cheap.
RAT run organization. Will never join that bunch of grifters and conmen.
To add to Rollo's post. There is no one size fits all for different people. My son was diagnosed as a type I diabetic at age fourteen. By the time he graduated from high school he had tried three different types of insulin. They started with the cheapest and moved up. I have no idea what type he is on now. He was telling me the one he is now using requires about 80% of what his last one required and it keeps his blood sugar level much more even.
Well, they didn’t give a rat’s ass about Obamycare insurance being shoved down out throats a few years ago . . . remember how they got their staffs exempt from it because they knew it was a disaster. I hate anything to do with AARP.
On 11 January 1922 insulin was first used in the treatment of diabetes. So why is it still expensive!!!!
For the same reason they didn’t care about what Obamacare rates did to the insurance industry. Democraps never do wrong.
The AARP is a scam. They bugged me for years to join, then once I hit 55, they disappeared. My wife was a member one year, realized what a joke it is, and never renewed her membership. I get my Lantus Solostar insulin pens for $159 for a three month supply. It’s the Trulicity weekly pens that’ll rob you - only 30 days at the same price.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.