[GailA]

Doesn’t help Medicare is slow paying and Tricare Life is even slower, 3 months or more. Both already dictate what they will pay, what they will cover, and where you can get your daily meds. The private Pharmacy we used for 30 yrs now gets only an occasional 1 time fill script, or in my case they get my water pill Triamterene generic Diazide which doubles as my heart med as neither Base nor Express Scripts can guarantee the one that works. ES just sends what every they can buy the cheapest, Base has only Maxzide a green tablet that doesn’t work. Nor should they be allowed to OVER RIDE a doctors DAW instructions, my ENDO only uses Name Brand Synthyroid as the generic is 30% less hormones and has tons of side effects.

[Rockingham]

Complaints like that are common. Medicare's cheeseparing leads to higher effective charges for those with other medical insurance or who self-pay. "Medicare for all," or even just "Medicare rates for all," would swiftly lead to losses and retirements throughout the healthcare system.

The FDA requires that generics have the same active ingredient as the brand name drug and be biologically similar. Inactive ingredients though are permitted to vary. Thus generics might differ from brand name prescription drugs because different manufacturing and chemical engineering may lead to different isomers and inactive byproducts in the finished drug. This can lead to differences in effectiveness that escape detection in the industry and FDA review processes for generics.

As the FDA explains in a statement on its website:

FDA is aware that there are reports noting that some people may experience an undesired effect when switching from brand name drug to a generic formulation or from one generic drug to another generic drug. FDA wants to understand what may cause problems with certain formulations if, in fact, they are linked to specific generic products. FDA is encouraging the generic industry to investigate whether, and under what circumstances, such problems occur.

The Agency does not have the resources to perform independent clinical studies and lacks the regulatory authority to require industry to conduct such studies. FDA will continue to investigate these reports to ensure that it has all the facts about these treatment failures and will make recommendations to healthcare professionals and the public if the need arises.