One of the frustrating aspects of medical practice is trying to divine if the medication I am prescribing is covered by the patient’s insurance company. Even with the advent of electronic medical records, which should be able to determine this, we are often left to hope and pray. Here’s how it works. Individual insurance companies have formularies – lists of approved drugs – that they encourage patients and their physicians to use. Of course, this is all about the money. There’s nothing evil about an insurance company making a deal with a particular drug company that gives them a price break. The drug company will be delighted to offer the insurance company a discount in return for an anticipated high volume of prescriptions. You can easily picture an insurance company negotiating with several different GERD medication representatives watching them each lowering their bid trying to get the contract. Nexium Guy: We’ll only charge you $.67 a pill Prevacid Gal: We’l
MD Whistleblower presents vignettes and commentaries on the medical profession. We peek 'behind the medical curtain' and deliver candor and controversy in every post.