Competition between insurance plans may work but for drugs? No way. This is what I said earlier about a centralized system. There are not a lot of drug companies out there and mostly a single company will produce a single drug. Even generics are not widely produced. Add that to the fact that many times your getting drugs, weather named or generic, from a single distributor. And many plans ask you to use their mail order drug plan, which means you're stuck with that single distributor. Some automated warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Competition woulds on the macro scale here but not on the micro. But when it comes to business, I suck, so I can be totally wrong. Actually, knowing my business sense, it's probably exactly the reverse of what I say. :)
On Sun, Aug 2, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Dana<[email protected]> wrote: > > I have recently been researching the costs of certain drugs and procedures > and I have found a flaw in the idea that we can reduce costs through > competition, an additional flaw beyind the fact that people really aren't > shopping for price when they do shop, they are shopping for compatibility in > outlook, perceived quality, and sometimes closest services if it's an > emergency. > > But beyond that --- providers don't publish their prices. Sometimes it is > possible, if you are diligent, to find out what Medicare thinks the service > is worth. But that is not what an individual would pay. Perhaps I am missing > something, but I don't think so. > > Let's take for example Nexium. Can anyone find a link for what this costs at > your local pharmacy? The official web page talks about "average co-pay." > What about oh, a simple xray of an arm or a leg? A CAT scan of the chest? > > If I missed something simple because it was late and I was frustrated, fine > -- I will be glad of the clarification. If not, I think that this theory is > dead in the water. > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:301331 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
