American Pharmacy Costs

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

it's even worse in Korea.

but yeah, many drugs, mostly name-brand prescription drugs, are ridiculously riDICulously overpriced in the States. Costs the pharmaceutical companies a dime to make a pill and they charge 5-50 dollars for it, just stoopid. Some drugs are reasonably priced in the States, though, really not sure why there is such a glaring discrepancy. and like I said, it is worse here in Korea. I've seen bottles of Vitamin B in drug stores here for $80.

 

[transformer_99]

cost $580. a month and would not include dental.
I would rather see a system where payments made for medical coverage would actually give medical coverage, rather than taking the money and running.

Exactly, a car payment for poof, nothing. I got pretty good healthcare because of the affiliation with the healthcare community. Then again they started raising copays, lowering the annual ceilings. I paid for it for two years, elected a PCP, don't know where the doctors office is, for that matter never met the doctor. My dental is the same way. After copays, you've paid for what the service was really worth. And if you have children in this same plan, the cost per month isn't any better than what you quoted, even with the benefit of being in the business. I figure as long as I'm healthy and take decent care of myself, who needs the doctors. I get cancer, well, too bad, so sad for me. I saw my aunt get turned down for experimental drug programs. She had good insurance too. Tells me all I need to know about the system. Some are on the gravy train, others are there to support the gravy train. Like the retirement thing, I don't fool myself into believing I'm better off than I really am. We all die sooner or later, later is preferrable, but not at the cost of living miserably.

 

[rubberwilli]

How non-profit is it really?

I tried to upload their 2005 IRS form 990, non-profit tax return, but it was too big for LPSG to handle. You can get it at Guidestar.org which was formed in 1996 as a non-profit organization to bring more transparecny and accountability to the non-profit sector. With a simple registration you have access to most major non-profit organizations and their tax returns for free. However, If you'd like, send me your email address in a PM and I can zip over their 2005 990 to you if you'd like.

In the form 990 you can see exactly how much money they brought in through donations and grants and how much money they spent and how that money was spent, as well as the compensation for their CEO (~$225K) and other highest paid directors. Compare her salary with that of Eli Lilly's CEO's. I know they make tons more than that in stock options alone. Non-profits don't have stock options to give out.

It is a non-profit organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Service and it's mission is consistent with a non-profit research institution. (I worked as a fundraiser for a non-profit children's hospital that also had an aggressive research center as well, and so this is my area.)

As for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, they have defined the focus of their philanthropic efforts in several different areas, including Global Health and Global Development. Thus their contributions to the Institute for One World Health are consistent with their stated priority areas. They also have priority areas in America most notably in Education and Libraries.

I don't know how much more non-profit you can get or what exactly you are referring to when you say "how non-profit is it really?"

 

[FBAnder]

You got your info from a different place than I did. You work in the pharmaceutical business by any chance? If this is so why the big difference from the Costco pharmacy to most others? How did a local pharmacist start out 20 years ago and now own 3 pharmacies and just build a new house that cost $500,000? Complete with a heated indoor pool. All while paying off college debts at that. I went to high school with this guys sister. His family wasn't wealthy. Pharmacies jack prices up by 2, 3, even 4 times or more. All sounds pretty lucrative to me. I am tired of working my ass off for nothing to support these gougers.

By the way I do have health insurance at work. The copays and deductibles go up almost ever year. My salary isn't keeping pace.
I even have to pay part of the cost now. I say in 10 years, 15 at the most and poor working people like me won't have any insurance at all.
With no insurance we can't afford health care.

As far as blaming somebody else...who would you suggest I blame?
What other options? I guess I could move to a foreign country then immigrate back in and get everything free. Hmmm...wonder if that would work?

Any decent pharmacy doesnt jack up prices 2,3, or even 4 times. Sorry but the pharmacist you are dealing with sounds like a very greedy man. Yes, I work in the industry and I see first hand what drugs cost, and what the pharmacy charges/what insurance pays. Suffice to say, the GP% on most prescriptions is just over 20%. No where near 2,3, or even 4 times their cost.

 

[Dave NoCal]

Well, one of the medications I take costs around 500% of what it costs in Cananda. It's the exact same thing made here in the U.S. and shipped there. The U.S. price is about 1500% of the world market cost for generic. We are talking about a Korean War vintage pharmaceeutical antique. It's criminal, or should be.

 

[rubberwilli]

Compare her salary with that of Eli Lilly's CEO's.

In follow-up to my earlier post - check out the CEO of Eli Lilly's Annual Compensation package for 2006 as determined by the compensation committee of the Eli Lilly Board of Directors, (IE: His friends and colleagues on the board.)

From page 30 of the Lilly DEF14A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available via EDGAR.

Mr. Sydney Taurel
Chairman of the Board and CEO
Eli Lilly and Company

Year: 2006
Salary: $ 1,650,333
Stock Awards: $ 5,400,000
Options Awards: $ 3,805,333
Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation: $ 2,764,308
Change in Pension Value: $ 1,417,434
All Other Compensation: $ 192,409
Total Compensation: $ 15,229,817

Note: Mr. Taurel's "All Other Compensation" line item alone is ~76% of the total compensation for the CEO of the Institute for One World Health (which is ~$255,000 not $225,000 as I posted earlier.)

The total compensation for the top 5 individuals at Eli Lilly was
$39,345,385. AND THAT'S ONLY THE TOP 5 PEOPLE WHO ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT THEIR COMPENSATION! That's $9 million dollars more than the total amount of public support recieved by the Institute for One World Health in 2005.​

​

 

[transformer_99]

I tried to upload their 2005 IRS form 990, non-profit tax return, but it was too big for LPSG to handle. You can get it at Guidestar.org which was formed in 1996 as a non-profit organization to bring more transparecny and accountability to the non-profit sector. With a simple registration you have access to most major non-profit organizations and their tax returns for free. However, If you'd like, send me your email address in a PM and I can zip over their 2005 990 to you if you'd like.

In the form 990 you can see exactly how much money they brought in through donations and grants and how much money they spent and how that money was spent, as well as the compensation for their CEO (~$225K) and other highest paid directors. Compare her salary with that of Eli Lilly's CEO's. I know they make tons more than that in stock options alone. Non-profits don't have stock options to give out.

It is a non-profit organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Service and it's mission is consistent with a non-profit research institution. (I worked as a fundraiser for a non-profit children's hospital that also had an aggressive research center as well, and so this is my area.)

As for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, they have defined the focus of their philanthropic efforts in several different areas, including Global Health and Global Development. Thus their contributions to the Institute for One World Health are consistent with their stated priority areas. They also have priority areas in America most notably in Education and Libraries.

I don't know how much more non-profit you can get or what exactly you are referring to when you say "how non-profit is it really?"

All nice textbook definitions, but look at the sources and really scrutinize them objectively, for there to be goodwill and non-profit (I interpret that to be lower profit) there has to be profit. The equation is Revenue - Expenses = Net Income. Expenses can be whatever someone wants to make them be. For example, you cite salaries, those are best offers of employment, it's why some people make $ 60K per year vs why other's get $ 40K per year for effectively the same job/identical productivity. I work for exactly what you've defined as a non-profit, there are discrepancies and preferential treatments in that system just the same as you'd find in any profit organization. My point is that each organization serves differing target markets and the capitalistic model makes it the same for non-profit just the same as for profit sector in terms of competition, optimal supply size and so on. If "for profit corporation X" is the grant source for a program, just because the money was "laundered" as a grant, doesn't in reality make it a non-profit program. Would it have made a difference whether the money to fund the NPO had a more equitable distribution of cost in the first place ?