April Fool

I think we should begin an experiment with the first of the month. People will think it's an April Fool's joke and we can showcase our 100 yard stares we've perfected over the years.

I propose an insurance-free month. Simple. We in the pharmacy bill NO insurances. None. Discount cards? Nope. Manufacturer coupons? Nein! Charge everyone full cash price for everything.

The point of the exercise is not to be mean-spirited. It is not to make money. (We'd lose many Rx's that way.) Instead, it is to give everyone the perspective on exactly how much health care costs them and their employers. When we tell people it'll be $25.00 for their copay and they ask "didn't my insurance cover anything?" on a $500.00 medication, it is not enough to explain it costs $500.00.

Let people submit paper claims to their own insurances for reimbursement.
Let Medicaid patients pay $50 or $100 copays at an ER when they visit with a sniffle. It'll take the crowds out of the ER.
Let people determine what they truly need to survive. Let people make their own, informed health decisions.
That's the way to cut costs in healthcare.

Dermatologists will need to figure out how to get their patients, well, anything since the only way they know how to prescribe is "put a DAW on it and give them a manufacturer coupon to make it semi-affordable". They do not operate in the same reality in which we live. Theirs is an insular existence.

Make people realise how much things cost. It already plays out, to a lesser extent, with men across the country who purchase 1 or 2 or 3 ED tabs every week or month. It plays out with pet owners who have to decide which services to pay for and which medications their beloved animals need since there is rarely insurance to cover that.

There are many other ways to cut costs. The first problem is making people understand what things cost. It is easy to know the price of gas, of milk, of a new car, or a house. People understand these things. Prescription and medical services are more complicated.