4 ms·

This is just drug drop shipping, this will only save you money if you are already using an expensive pharmacy.

josefresco 4y ago
I think you underestimate the number of people who don't realize that "drug drop shipping" is a thing. In the US at least, you go to your doctor, they send your prescriptions to your local pharmacy, and then you hope/pray it's cheap (depending on your insurance) when you go pick it up. There is no discussion of "where" to send them and what is an "affordable" pharmacy vs "expensive". Is my local CVS an "expensive pharmacy"? No clue, but before Cuban's website I didn't even consider that these type of businesses could help lower my drug costs even below what I pay WITH insurance. There's also a huge disconnect between people who occasionally need prescriptions, and those that rely on prescription medication daily. If you get one script a year it probably doesn't matter, but if your disease requires a drug that costs $5K/month, you get very informed, very fast.
- elzbardico 4y ago
  Yeah, this was a shock to me. Never understood the reason for that, TBH. It is more work for the doctor office.
yunohn 4y ago
And in your well informed opinion, what would you say is the ratio of people who use normal pharmacies versus drug drop shipping?
- bearjaws 4y ago
  har har. Except I work in industry, both specialty and retail pharmacies. For any chronic disease (the ones this program benefits most), most doctors will get you setup with the cheapest option for your insurance / PBM. As cost of treatment is the #4 indicator whether people will fall off treatment in the United States[1]. Additionally, in a retrospective study, cost was cited as the main reason for non-adherence in 17% of cases, making it the #3 leading cause[2]. This number is as high as 55% depending on age / demographic... Doctors working in chronic diseases know this and have to deal with it like any other adherence issue. For one off treatments, people usually just go to their grocery store or local pharmacy. Are there patients who are over paying? Absolutely. Is this a cash grab by a multi-billionaire because its not actually addressing the issues resulting in expensive drugs? Absolutely. [1] adherence to refills and medications scale [2]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3934668/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3934668/
  - yunohn 4y ago
    Your response is quite confusing. On one hand, you’re proving my point that consumers are overpaying regularly. Medicine prices are a meme at this point, and if it were easily solved we wouldn’t hear about it as leading causes for non-adherence. > Are there patients who are over paying? Absolutely But then, you dismiss all of that by implying this is a useless exercise because patients who need low cost meds are getting them. Which one is it?

I think you underestimate the number of people who don't realize that "drug drop shipping" is a thing. In the US at least, you go to your doctor, they send your prescriptions to your local pharmacy, and then you hope/pray it's cheap (depending on your insurance) when you go pick it up. There is no discussion of "where" to send them and what is an "affordable" pharmacy vs "expensive". Is my local CVS an "expensive pharmacy"? No clue, but before Cuban's website I didn't even consider that these type of businesses could help lower my drug costs even below what I pay WITH insurance. There's also a huge disconnect between people who occasionally need prescriptions, and those that rely on prescription medication daily. If you get one script a year it probably doesn't matter, but if your disease requires a drug that costs $5K/month, you get very informed, very fast.

elzbardico 4y ago
Yeah, this was a shock to me. Never understood the reason for that, TBH. It is more work for the doctor office.

yunohn 4y ago

And in your well informed opinion, what would you say is the ratio of people who use normal pharmacies versus drug drop shipping?

bearjaws 4y ago
har har. Except I work in industry, both specialty and retail pharmacies. For any chronic disease (the ones this program benefits most), most doctors will get you setup with the cheapest option for your insurance / PBM. As cost of treatment is the #4 indicator whether people will fall off treatment in the United States[1]. Additionally, in a retrospective study, cost was cited as the main reason for non-adherence in 17% of cases, making it the #3 leading cause[2]. This number is as high as 55% depending on age / demographic... Doctors working in chronic diseases know this and have to deal with it like any other adherence issue. For one off treatments, people usually just go to their grocery store or local pharmacy. Are there patients who are over paying? Absolutely. Is this a cash grab by a multi-billionaire because its not actually addressing the issues resulting in expensive drugs? Absolutely. [1] adherence to refills and medications scale [2]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3934668/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3934668/
- yunohn 4y ago
  Your response is quite confusing. On one hand, you’re proving my point that consumers are overpaying regularly. Medicine prices are a meme at this point, and if it were easily solved we wouldn’t hear about it as leading causes for non-adherence. > Are there patients who are over paying? Absolutely But then, you dismiss all of that by implying this is a useless exercise because patients who need low cost meds are getting them. Which one is it?