Relief For Prescription Drug Prices
Hi, thank you for coming back for the latest edition of Beyond Primary Care’s blog- relief for prescription drug prices. In Beyond Primary Care blogs we highlight healthcare news, advice for medical conditions, and how membership for care works! Beyond Primary Care is an insurance free, membership based family medicine clinic. Beyond Primary Care is the highest rated Direct Primary Care clinic serving patients in Ann Arbor and throughout Washtenaw, Livingston, and Wayne counties giving families and employers peace of mind about healthcare costs by providing affordable and accessible primary care services.
The primary purpose of the blog is to introduce healthy lifestyle concepts and answer common questions we receive from patients that we believe are important. We want to start discussions that will help educate, benefit, and improve your well-being.
In this blog post, we want to educate our patients and any prospective patients about us and ways we provide relief for prescription drug prices.
Relief For Prescription Drug Prices
The majority of people have health insurance that includes coverage for medications. Yet, this doesn’t mean that these people can afford the specific medications physicians prescribe to them. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation 2021 tracking poll, 29% of people have not taken a prescription medication as directed because of costs. A NPR poll showed that despite wide insurance coverage, insurers are not paying for some drugs that physicians are recommending and patients think they need.
49% of lower-income adults were denied coverage, and 51% of those earning less than $35,000 per year did not fill prescriptions.
32% of middle-income adults were denied coverage, and and 48% of those earning between $35,000 and $99,999 per year did not fill prescriptions.
41% of highest-income adults were denied coverage
It is very frustrating having insurance and not being able to get the medication you need. If health insurance companies were actually focused on getting people healthier and the right treatment, they would facilitate a conversation with patients and physicians and work towards meaningful and expeditious solutions, not simply sending a denial. Asking for more information is appropriate, but prior authorizations have unfortunately became the de facto norm.
Affordable Medications
Beyond Primary Care is a Direct Primary Care clinic. As part of our mission to make our patient’s healthcare affordable, we stock thousands of medications and continue to do so with better prices than other pharmacies and greedy entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban. We don’t carry every medication like box pharmacies do, but we do carry a great amount of what the vast majority of people need.
We contract with medication wholesalers, the same wholesalers who big box pharmacies such as RiteAid, Walgreens, or CVS may use. However, unlike retail pharmacies where selling medications results in the expected mark-ups (100-250%), our clinic sells the exact same mediations to our patients at wholesale prices. Below is a sample list of some of our great pricing.
Medication for Diabetes
Beyond Primary Care offers diabetic medications at wholesale pricing.
Medication for Cholesterol
Beyond Primary Care offers cholesterol medications at wholesale pricing.
Medication for Blood Pressure
Beyond Primary Care offers blood pressure medications at wholesale pricing.
Medication for Mental Health
Beyond Primary Care offers mental health medications at wholesale pricing.
Medication for Migraines
Beyond Primary Care offers migraine medications at wholesale pricing.
Medication for Allergies
Beyond Primary Care offers allergy medications at wholesale pricing.
Doctors Who Care
Drug pricing has been rising, and life-saving medications like insulin- used to treat diabetes- are rising faster than paychecks and inflation. Then, there are times when people struggling may not be able to afford the high prescription cash prices. A while back we wrote about a patient of Beyond Primary Care who couldn’t “afford BlueCross” and was about to take ‘fish antibiotics’ to deal with an ear infection. Not getting needed medication is not good news.
We recognize that cost-containment for life-saving medications such as insulin and antibiotics is a human right. We also recognize that at Beyond Primary Care we must work towards meaningful solutions for our patients.
Thank you for reading
Dr. Jeff O’Boyle with Beyond Primary Care
