Healthcare and You

Healthcare and You

This speaks about your medications, brand names, generics, and regulations – how people are treated differently, and why some people accept anything a doctor writes on a slip of paper.

Please,  take time to read this important article that will help you understand what is happening with your healthcare – from the child in your family to the oldest.

As I have mentioned within many posts on my timeline within Facebook, on Google, Google+, and my blogs, it was in the early ’90s when people knew things were changing quickly in the health care industry.

Back then they called it the HMO factor, but our country was in great shape, no one listened then – and who is listening now?

CAN WE STAND TALL AND CALL AMERICA THE LAND OF THE FREE?
CAN WE STAND TALL KNOWING SOME PEOPLE ARE IN HARMS WAY?

Within this post, you will hear about Medicare Fraud by Doctors – and Greed – those who lie about your personal health records, but even far more devastating the Pharmaceutical Companies who are pulling the wool over your eyes.  You must read on for your own protection.

(A few months back I mentioned specific issues, now covered extensively by the press – when it first came to be – no one heard the blurb on the news – could it be – elections are creeping closer as we turn the pages of our calendar. Remember – this all began at least twenty years ago  – no one would listen.)

We know health care is failing for those insured or uninsured, for the poor or the working class.  One thing we know – those we have placed in office are not going without proper care.  They are not waiting weeks for a pre-approval for an expensive test diagnosing perhaps a life-threatening illness.  They won’t be turned away at a doctor’s office because they have no insurance or on Medicare or State-run Medicaid.

Then, on the other side of the coin – some doctors receive the Medicare patient with open arms – that is – if they were one of the thousands reported last week, arrested for Medicare fraud. Sure we have good doctors, but the rotten apples spoil the pack.

Over four months ago I posted about Medicare Fraud, and being one of 15,000 people on a conference call concerning Medicare – we were asked what we believed to be the main problem with Medicare and how we would fix it –  80% of those on this call identified doctors charging for visits, services, medical treatment, all lies, written up on a record belonging to a Medicare patient.

It wasn’t until last week when a quick report came on the national news informing the public; so far hundreds of doctors were caught who billed Medicare at the cost of over 459 million dollars.

Why do important matters receive a couple of minutes during an hour news show but we hear over and over about the color dress worn by a candidate’s wife, or why one candidate walks better, one speaks better, one has more children, etc.

What is wrong with this picture?  I know you know the answer is control.  So, back to the initial issue – check the timeline or blog – concerning Medicare fraud, this time someone listened but there is more to do – people must become aware of their own health care providers, and ask for a printout of each visit.

This week the news brought back an issue I was extremely concerned over, children with cancer going without medication because our great country allows huge pharmaceutical companies to control supply, limiting it for profit, regardless of demand.

Hard to believe?  Well, it wasn’t only one drug given to children but several and it isn’t only the child, it expands now into the adults who suffer.  Those who are doing without help from proven cures, concerning cancer and life, or the quality of life when we are speaking of different drugs, drugs the same person has found relief from for over ten years – even longers – now suffering and dying because of large companies are what we spell out the name of greed.

Several large pharmaceutical companies will not see an expensive drug fall in price, losing profit due to a patent.

Instead, the drug is now placed into a team of different companies, with a slight twist of the hand the compound changes declaring a new generic drug.

If a brand name drug works, and it comes a time when it can be duplicated as a generic with little change,  we enter the world of generics – it was once cheaper, and the only flaw would have been a pill that may crack or crumble faster if bounced around in your purse or pocket,  but not now – Generic drugs are taking over the business, waiting like the claws of a lion to have the ability to change the dough, and a new drug is born.

This generic is number one – of four which I know about for one brand drug.  Each one costs equally the same and do less and less of what the first brand named drug did – changing lives, making people run from here to five or more drugstores to find those limited supplies, to find those pills that work, not filled with false hope.

Sure some generics work fine, may fall apart, but these have been around for years, the newer costly brand names, do not fall in price, only change in content. Learning about the cancer curing drugs and drugs I have taken for 20 years, are now limited by pharmaceuticals, peddling them as the same to the medical professionals, but they do not work, false advertising. People are suffering.

Generics are made by a different companies,  companies are cutting back on drugs while they continue to manufacture generics, in some cases, NOT EQUAL, made by DIFFERENT companies –  perhaps having four large companies now in charge of patients using the first drug, and knowing their reaction could be different, but no one bothers to tell the consumer.

Following five or more stops at different drugstores I finally found the brand name in stock, at a difference of five dollars, I had the drug which I knew worked. Druggists have told me, they have cut back, not supplying them with the same amount of the brand drug, but supplementing with generics – as I added, “Generics, each one different, each one doesn’t work.”

The cancer fighting drugs are not new drugs, and they too are going through similar paths of destruction, all about greed on the part of the drug companies.   Top executives are not thinking of you, only themselves when it comes to profit – they are not thinking of the children in a hospital with parents praying for the drug to keep their child alive.
New generic drugs are taking their place – placing our children and our lives at odds while the Pharmaceutical companies are making more and more, and placing a hold on production, limiting the amount of the brand name drug manufactured each year.

From my own experience I posted to you the ordeal I continue to go through due each month, or every three months, searching one drug store after the other, keeping my fingers crossed – so if I am doing it, so are others.

A few months ago I mentioned drugs were limited and replaced.  Why do we have to replace something that works – to experiment and obtain government funds for further research.  All well and good, if it is needed.  I ask –  “What do these people do when they no longer have their medication that works?  They don’t have it because the companies are getting less money.

Something has to change.

Greed, the main reason the original company who manufactured the brand name now links with two to at least three other companies to make changes to the original brand – normally the brand name would drop down in price, but it doesn’t happen, and the generics are nearly identical in price.

When you know the generics are NOT the same and do not work for you, you would continue with the brand name or suffer, and it would be your loss. But when we are aware of this happening in America to its’ people – why keep it silent?

A patient receives a script from their doctor, it does not say daw.  Only one generic and it was obvious it was not the same drug.  A new script, this time d.a.w., and after the first morning it was easy to understand this drug was doing the opposite of the brand name.

So onto Generic number two, the same, only more side effects, and different company.  Finally, down the line the last horrendous duplicate which could bring patients backward instead of being on an upward pace.  All this, and each druggist gives you a different reason – until I told them the reason, and no one has denied it – doctors to druggists, and of course patients.

Visiting several drugstores and talking to many pharmacists who declared they were not the same, and understanding my concern.  All the way to the fourth generation of generics, nothing compared or touched on the reason I was taking it in the first place.  The doctor writes a permanent note – do not give such and such generic it causes adverse reactions.  “The manufacturer has made a limited supply of the brand name drug, as it runs out it is substituted with a generic.  You did notice “a” generic.

So the limits are placed and the patients are wondering who will get the last batch? Unfair in this society of ours, unfair to sick patients, and those fighting for their life, those who are being used out of greed.

If a patient has a drug that works, has taken it for years, tried the others, the original drug should not be limited in any way, unless it was proven harmful, which was not the case. Learning along the way – the name brand is now being made by three to four different “large” companies, changing something in each generation of the generic, causing patients adverse reactions, in many cases, and causing more harm than good.

I know, I have been through four generations of generics when the drugs were out of stock and not to be manufactured again until the first of the year.

I am tired of the closet meetings, closed mouths, secrets, and untold stories.  We vote these government officials into office, they can at least listen to the problems floating around the country, sometimes so severe it causes death, needlessly.

Go to the top of the list, start with direct cause and reason.  Everyone is aware of what they spend these days, so point out that this is yet another IMPORTANT part of Health Care, perhaps one of the most important for some to survive.

Ask; why they had to change the medication, especially with generics at near cost of the name brand?   And, remember to ask, is that only the name brand is appropriate for your situation, how can you ensure the drug is not going to disappear, leaving many individuals without the right medication?

I am sure in your mind you believe generics are cheaper?  In the past, all of that was true but look closely at changes happening with generics that are the most needed, and more expensive.

Recently, while trying four different generic drugs, as I repeat the important issue over and over, I continue with phone calls to specialists and notes written on scripts – explaining why the name brand is needed, I learned the cost of this generic was as expensive as the name brand – right on down to the fourth generation.

If a patient receives a cancer drug, or long-term use of a drug to stabilize a condition, the cost is higher to begin with, and most will do anything to get the drug they need.  Cost of the drug doesn’t matter, it’s all about living.  That is with the exception of a deductible which placed one drug close to one thousand dollars.

With this the loss of control once again, regarding health care, pricing, limits, and most of all the quality of life.  Controlling a tried and true drug from children with cancer, and adults with cancer is something to shout about.

Limited quantities for people, who need a certain drug to maintain a stable life, giving the most each day at work, home, etc. due to proper care and medication, are now the new errors in health care. These individuals are suffering while the company sits back and counts their earnings.

These companies know what they are doing, teaming up to produce more, change a little, charge the same price, and letting the customer at the drug store believe it is a generic, cheaper but does the same thing.  FALSE.  The slight change in the little blue pill with the number xxx, or the green pill with the large S, or the white pill, thinner, are proof.

What I have shared, I hope travels around the country and reaches many homes, these are the facts, only a couple right now, but true facts which we all should know about.  I want to protect you and your future.  Be your own advocate and examine your medical records, co-pays, or deductibles – Keep a folder – file away any health care reports, even save online news concerning drugs.

We are now using many generics which were known to save us money, they now cost almost equal to the brand name and this happened to show up with my own medication and people I know because the original was out of stock – like a loaf of bread.  You may find out the brand name changed so often its counterparts have different reactions.

If this is Health Care in America today, imagine Health Care in America tomorrow.

Nothing is perfect, but no one took the time to speak with the voters, the needs of the people.  One drug may seem like a small regulation, but it is several, and it has been going on for as many years without any control.  Would you want to be the person without your medication?

Speak out for your own life and your family.