The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: Texacon on January 31, 2025, 07:20:35 AM
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https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219965685
22-Year-Old With Chronic Asthma Died After Inhaler Price Went From $66 to $539: Lawsuit
Last edited Thu Jan 30, 2025, 08:03 PM - Edit history (1)
HuffPost
By Pocharapon Neammanee
Jan 29, 2025, 08:22 PM EST |Updated 5 hours ago
The parents of a 22-year-old Wisconsin man who died after an asthma attack have filed a lawsuit against Walgreens and UnitedHealth Group’s pharmacy benefit manager after they said the price for his medication suddenly rose from $66 to $539.
Cole Schmidtknecht, 22, had lived with asthma since he was a baby, but he was able to manage his symptoms by taking Advair Diskus, a preventative inhaler, every day, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court last week. Since 2023, Schmidtknecht had health insurance through his employer that covered his medication, which cost him no more than $66.86 each month.
However, when Schmidtknecht went to his local Walgreens pharmacy on Jan. 10, 2024, to fill his prescription, he was informed that his medication was no longer covered by his insurance, according to the lawsuit. Advair Diskus would now cost Schmidtknecht $539.19 out of pocket, and the pharmacy allegedly told him there were no cheaper alternatives or generic medications available to him. The lawsuit also says the pharmacist failed to contact Schmidtknecht’s physician or insurance company to seek an alternative.
A spokesperson for Walgreens told HuffPost they could not comment due to the pending litigation.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cole-schmidtknecht-lawsuit-inhaler-walgreens-optumrx_n_679a92aae4b09f65216c9280
Note: I also got faced last year with the huge price increase on this inhaler. Luckily my doctor and CVS worked things out with Cigna and put me on the generic Wixela. Now I'm using a no-name fluticasone inhaler. I paid zero for a three-month supply just a few days ago, and I wonder if President Joe Biden's effort to lower drug prices had something to do with the no-cost prescription
samplegirl
59. Some crazy bitch
11 hrs ago
Is telling me Biden was president then. On January 10
There you go. Smartest people in the Internet.
KC
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1. On Amazon, the average insurance price is $5.00. Without insurance, the price is $200.20. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=advair+diskus+inhaler+250%2F50&crid=UK1UZ7Q3F0ZP&sprefix=Advair+Diskus%2Caps%2C332&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_13 (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=advair+diskus+inhaler+250%2F50&crid=UK1UZ7Q3F0ZP&sprefix=Advair+Diskus%2Caps%2C332&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_13) Also, Wixela is a generic for the Advair, and the w/o insurance price on Amazon is much lower than for the Advair, https://www.amazon.com/s?k=wixela&crid=FZMIG2L97ZHD&sprefix=Wixela%2Caps%2C112&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_6 . So, the lawsuit's premise is dubious.
2. Much as DUmmies want to blame the Bad Orange Man, this happened on Jan. 10, 2024. So for all samplegirl's whi-i-i-i-i-iiiiiining, LIEden was indeed President when this happened.
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I just checked GoodRx. $81.87
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I just checked GoodRx. $81.87
Worst case; Primetine inhaler is still available over the counter (it wasn't for a while when the EPA outlawed the medicine's propellant) at $60 or less.
I've had chronic asthma since I was 10 and it's about as effective as your prescription Albuterol. (YMMV, of course.)
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I just checked GoodRx. $81.87
As with much published by Progs, there probably is something missing from the HuffPo story and lawsuit. At the least, Schmidtknecht was very much less than diligent when it came to price shopping and researching alternatives. Given his age, his parent(s) seem not to have been either. If one of my meds suddenly became unavailable through ______, I'd be on the horn to the relevant doctor, Amazon, Costco, and other pharmacies. You know, be minimally responsible.
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My knee jerk thought is, it's January. Deductibles and out of pocket costs just reset. Plan changes also typically go into effect in January.
Really sucks that this happened, there are massive issues with our healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, but none of them are simple "blame the government right now" problems, especially when the government the moonbats want to blame wasn't even sworn in yet when this happened.
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The cause-of-action in the complaint supposedly happened in 2024 at a Walgreen's. I wonder if - or how many - there is security camera footage of what was said and done at the Walgreen's pharmacy ... and whether it will hurt the plaintiff's or defendants' cases.