Another Victory for Government Healthcare

Government Healthcare has won another great victory. This one has to do with the cost of prescriptions under the various savings plans that appeared in the last few years. About two years ago, Walmart announced that it would sell about 400 different prescription medicines for $4 for a month's supply or $10 for a three month supply. CVS followed suit a short time later. The CVS deal was for $9.99 for a three month supply so long as one joined the program for $10.00 per year. These programs allowed people with chronic conditions to get their medicines for a substantial savings over the cost under normal insurance. Further, for those with a maximum annual limitation on their prescription costs, the programs allowed the patient to save his allowable amount for higher cost pills when they were needed.

Now, in steps the government. This morning at CVS, I was informed by the pharmacist that the program had been changed so that the annual fee went up by 50% and the cost per prescription went up by 20%. The coverage also apparently has been reduced, although I have not seen the new list of covered medicines, so I am just repeating what I was told. When I asked why CVS was raising these prices by so much, I was told that the government had insisted on the higher prices. It seems that the CVS program was allowing individuals to buy medicines at too good a price when compared to what the government paid for the same medicines supplied to those on medicaid. The government insisted that it get the lowest price of all. As a result, the government also insisted that CVS raise the price for everyone else.

So for all those folks struggling to pay for their medicines, the government has stepped in to require that the cost of the medicine be increased. Only is the world of government bureaucracy could someone think that it serves the needs of the people to force a price rise on them for medicine. Only the government could believe that it was more important for medicaid to get a clearly lower price than everyone else than for everyone buying medicine to get that lower price.

According to Obama, half the cost of Obamacare is going to be paid for by getting rid of waste and fraud in medicare and medicaid. If this latest move is an indication of how well the government deals with waste, we are all in big trouble.