What WoudYou Do?

OK..The QUESTON here is.....What would YOU do, if you cam upon an elderly woman who couldn't pay for her Diabetes medication?

There are ways to get this stuff paid for. Elderly? Where is medicare and medicaid and her SS? I would have a discussion with her about how to get all that paid for. Such Rx's are paid for.

I'd tell her ya Obamacare isn't all it was cracked up to be. A few are getting it free and the rest of us are getting the shaft.

I know I should have poste this sooner...but.. I really hope this won't turn into a Political discussion...it's about Morals.. Thanks!!!

Mike, what a great idea to seeif other customers would help out!!! I would be willing you would be able to get a few people to open their hearts to a fellow human in need.

And what a kind person you are to be willing to help her out in the first place!!!

If I had the money on me I'd pay for it.

Good for you Mike and I would do the same.

I would then write letters-to-the-editor of all local papers that have such a feature, citing the pharmacy involved.

Wy to go Mac! I always knew you had a kind heart!!!

OMG! I'm glad my husband isn't on medication for his diabetes yet!

RL, I had no idea. Even with both? That's outrageous. Have you researched all your options for your meds? That makes no sense to me.

I'm all for single payor medical for all Americans.

Ditto!
BTW I love ethical questions!

Me, too, Mike. The markup on medicine is high. The drug companies are the real drug cartels.

I would tell her to move to Canada. The article indicates she is an older woman, so assuming she is at least 65, not only could she benefit from universal free health care, but by making an annual $100 registration fee at her choice of drug store she would be entitled to prescription drugs with only a minimal dispensing fee no matter HOW expensive the drug might be.

Did you ever watch the movie Little Lord Fauntelroy with Freddie Bartholemew and Micky Rooney? Your son has the sensitivity and generosity that Ceddie had in that movie.

You can also bet I'd be putting the guilt trip on the pharmacist to work with us as well, to get that price down to their actual cost.

Mike in Ga that part of your answer, about working with the pharmacist, snapped me back in time about 17 years.

I'd come home a little after 1am from my second job to find my wife in severe pain from her cancer. I called her doctor who explained that he had been expecting this, that the morphine dosage she was on was no longer strong enough and he would call in a new prescription for me.

He expressed his worry that the only 24 hour pharmacy near me that would carry that kind of drug was in a part of Dallas he really didn't want to send me to at that time of the night. He said he wanted to try something and hung up. About 20 minutes later he called back with an address for a place about 15 miles away.

When I got there, maybe 2am, the parking lot was empty and the building was dark and locked up but a few minutes later another car pulled in next to me and a guy, still wearing pajamas and a rob, got out, unlocked the door and let me into the Pharmacy. It was the Pharmacist and owner of the place. After he gave me what was basically very expensive, very pure medical heroin he went to run my insurance card only to find his computer system was down. He didn't bat and eye, just asked me what I THOGHT my co-pay was and took me at my word that it was $5. He took my $5 and, without knowing if I had insurance or not, let me drive off into the night with the medicine for my wife.

I think I cried a little on the way home at the kindness of the Dr. & his friend the Pharmacist. By 4 my wife was able to rest again and was still sleeping when I left for my day job.

Of course if the poor lady was dealing with corporate pharmacy youd probably have more trouble getting any help from the pharmacist.

Me, I'd pay her bill. Paying forward some of the kindness shown to me in the past.

A. H....What an incredibly touching story. Thanks for sharing it with us. I love stories that tell of people's kindness. they re-new my faith in humanity.

Wonderful Dr. and Pharmacist...Bless them both.

lNona work on a healthy diet, get rid ofwheat and potatoes.

Good luck

Thanks R.L. trying to get him to eat healthy is a chore, but, I manage to get him to eat a lot healthier than before. I will keep trying tho!

What a wonderful thingfor your son to do..and he didn't think twice abut it!! That says something for his upbringing. You have every reason to be proud of him...

By the design of the (Medicare) program, the federal government is not permitted to negotiate prices of drugs with the drug companies, as federal agencies do in other programs. The Department of Veterans Affairs , which is allowed to negotiate drug prices and establish a formulary, has been estimated to pay between 40% ^[25] and 58% ^[26] less for drugs, on average, than Medicare Part D. For example, the VA pays as little as $782.44 for a year's supply of Lipitor (atorvastatin) 20mg, while the Medicare pays between $1120 and $1340 on Part D plans. ^[26]

Although generic versions of [frequently prescribed to the elderly] drugs are now available, plans offered by three of the five [exemplar Medicare Part D] insurers currently exclude some or all of these drugs from their formularies.Further, prices for the generic versions are not substantially lower than their brand-name equivalents. The lowest price for simvastatin (generic Zocor) 20 mg is 706 percent more expensive than the VA price for brand-name Zocor. The lowest price for sertraline HCl (generic Zoloft) is 47 percent more expensive than the VA price for brand-name Zoloft.

Families USA, No Bargain: Medicare Drug Plans Deliver High Prices ^[26]

Estimating how much money could be saved if Medicare had been allowed to negotiate drug prices, economist Dean Baker gives a "most conservative high-cost scenario" of $332 billion between 2006 and 2013 (approximately $50 billion a year), and a "middle cost scenario" of $563 billion in savings "for the same budget window". ^[27]

Former Congressman Billy Tauzin , R-La., who steered the bill through the House, retired soon after and took a $2 million a year job as president of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the main industry lobbying group. Medicare boss Thomas Scully , who threatened to fire Medicare Chief Actuary Richard Foster if he reported how much the bill would actually cost, was negotiating for a new job as a pharmaceutical lobbyist as the bill was working through Congress. ^{[28] [29]} A total of 14 congressional aides quit their jobs to work for the drug and medical lobbies immediately after the bill's passage.

I would try to help, if I have the $$ myself. I wonder why an older woman does not have some kind of coverage, and would ask if they could help her, too-- I mean surely there is something that would help her!

I feel sorry for anyone who can't afford their meds.

It's a very sad situation all the way around.

I had a similar incident happen but it didn't prove a dilemma for me, but this involved kids around the 12/25. I was shopping. Some guy was short maybe $23 for buying things for his little kids. I picked up the tab and bought him and his kids a gift card for $100 he could immediately use.

This accomplished two things; a) It made me feel good and b) it got the line in the store (with one cashier) moving again.

Good for you! That was a wonderful thing you did. It's a "win-win" situation for everyone!

don't people do this normally?

One would only hope.

I would do whatever I could to help her...I don't have a lot of money but I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do something!

In my line of work (I manage a senior citizen apartment building) I, unfortunately, see this all the time...people not being able to pay for their meds or giving up something else, like food, in order to afford the scripts! It's a damn shame and shouldn't happen!

AH, BF and AP...amazing stories, thanks so much for sharing them!

It saddens me to say this, but, I don't see it very often at all.

I love stories that tell of people's kindness. they re-new my faith in humanity.

AH, BF and AP...amazing stories, thanks so much for sharing them!

Thanks Nona62 & Uptownchick.

Nona this thread reminded me of another kind act that came early in our families 10 month ordeal and from a very unexpected source.

Oct. 96 was a big month for us. My wife turned 40 on the 4th & our 20thwedding anniversary was on the 30th, so to mark the duel occasions we decided to splurge and buy her a new car.

We hadn't owned the thing 2 weeks before her cancer was discovered.

Once she got home from the hospital I drove the new car back to the dealership and tried to sell it back to them.

There I got ushered into a guys office, one who had our paperwork out in front of him while he asked me why I wanted to sell the car back before having made even the first payment on it. I explained my wife's very recent diagnoses & grim prognoses. How I didn't think I would be able to keep up with the new car payments once she was too sick to work and with the pending medical bills we would face.

Perhaps he could tell how hard I was struggling to maintain my composure or perhaps he had dealt with something similar in his own life, well whatever his reasoning, after I stopped talking he just picked up his phone and asked for form 123 to be brought in.

When he had the requested form he filled in a few spaces, signed it and had hissecretary do so as well then he handed it to me for my sig. He took it back, gave me a copy and put the original into our file.

Turns out the guy was the owner of the Dealership and, rather than buy back the car, he had back dated an insurance policy about 3 weeks, one that would pay the car loan in full, should one of the signers die during the life of said loan.

He told me to keep the car, to go home and care for my wife and wished us the best.

Thanks to the kindness of that car dealer, a few years later when he turned 16, that would be our sons first car.

Tyson has bought a few new cars on his own since then but he still keeps "the one his Mom passed on to him".

The kindness of strangers, one just never knows from what direction they might come.

OH !!! That literally brought tears to my eyes! You jus never know when that act of spontaneous will happen. I'm so glad that you experienced such a giving person I your time of darkness. Thank you for sharing your experience!!

THERE ARE GOOD PEOPLE!!