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Wow. I first wrote this while I was still working
as a pharmacy tech, way back before 2009 when I had my car accident. I wrote it as an intro for my new blog which
never panned out the way I thought because I ended up writing my novel MEDS and using most of the material in
the novel. So I'll include the blog here
and now. There are some interesting
points.
Hi Everybody,
I know I’m a horror writer,
and while I strive to keep this blog informal and chatty, kindof a get to know
the writer behind the stories and novels thing, I also find that I’m stressing
out about a lot of issues in my life outside of Owl’s Nest.
Since the moment I set foot
in the pharmacy where I work, I’ve hated it.
The work isn’t actually that bad, but there are issues about the drug
industry that make my job a living hell.
And I want to address some of them here, in a public forum and get some
of it off my chest and into the public eye.
I may actually submit some of the blogs as essays to various magazines
and newspapers, but I want to run them by you first.
And it’s not just pharmacy
situations. There are topics that
passionately interest me, and I want to get it all into the blogs/essays. I usually try to address issues in my novels,
through my characters, but then I risk getting preachy in my books, and that’s
not good. And one subject per novel
would leave me taking a whole slew of shit to my grave with me, even if I live
to be 115 years old.
That leaves me blogging. And that’s okay.
So that’s why, on occasion I
will be writing about issues, not just personal updates and chit-chat.
You’re in for it now!
***************
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m
a pharmacy technician, and I work for a major retail pharmacy, which I may have
mentioned before, but I’ll try, for purposes of not getting my ass sued off,
(though, since they don’t pay me a livable wage, they wouldn’t get much!) to
not blatantly mention the store in direct connection with any activity that
could be considered negligence. When I
leave this job, it’s going to be at the time I choose, after telling middle
management to shove it, not because they fire me and sue me for libel.
And what goes on in my
pharmacy goes on in most retail pharmacies, more or less although I hear our
chain is being watched closely by the Board of Pharmacy.
And there’s a lot that goes
on that customers have absolutely no clue about. Some of it is the pharmacy’s fault, most
not.
I guess the most recent, and
ongoing issue is Rx insurance. This is a
whole world that I live in part time, and it’s totally screwed up.
Most people bitch about their
prescription coverage no matter what.
Just on principle. Everybody has
at least one little snide comment to make about the price of drugs, and how
sucky insurance is that it doesn’t just cover everything across the board.
However there is another
perspective from which to look at this picture, and see a whole new
meaning.
Think about this:
In this age of sue-happy
everybody, where you pretty much have to sign and notarize a waiver to step
into your shower in the morning, how confident does the insurance company have
to be to say that a drug is unnecessary, or that the brand isn’t a whit better
than the generic? Pretty damned
confident, I’d think.
I also hear the comment on a
daily basis that customers resent their insurance company practicing medicine
and deciding what their doctor can and cannot prescribe.
But what this patient doesn’t
realize is that doctors are inundated with new products from drug company sales
reps every day, given free samples to give out, and offered incentives to
prescribe their drugs.
Insurance companies hire
doctors to judge effectiveness of various medicines that come on the
market. They complete surveys and have
data that tells them whether the medicines are worth paying for.
So really, who do you want to
manage your health care, your doctor being influenced by drug company sales
reps, or your doctor being influenced by other doctors working for the
insurance companies?
In the long run, you can look
at what your insurance company says about a particular drug and learn about its
effectiveness and whether or not the risks that drug presents (and they all
have some sort of risk) is worth it for the benefits it brings about.
Medicine, for the most part
has become a greed-driven industry instead of an honored profession. In many ways, insurance companies can be used
by the consumer as watchdogs.
Mind you, it can go the other
way. Insurance companies cut their
formularies to the bone. Sometimes a
drug is necessary and unfortunately expensive.
But though it’s incredibly tedious and time-consuming, it’s not totally
unreasonable for the insurance company to ask the doctor for a reason (asking
for the dreaded prior authorization).
The asking is not the problem.
It’s the time-consuming process to get the doctor to call and give the
reason and the drug company to enter the authorization into the system that’s
the issue.
Perhaps if the system wasn’t
bogged down with getting prior authorization for the expensive, useless drugs,
the authorizations for expensive, worthwhile drugs could be processed more efficiently
and rapidly. Serious weeding out is in
order. And there is also the variable of
everyone's system reacting to drugs differently, and some patients having
multiple disorders that conflict. Medications
and treatments are one huge gray area.
Nothing is simple.
Okay. So much for my first pharmacy blog. Hopefully it wasn’t too painful. I’ll know it was if sales of Ibuprofen and
Tylenol go up at the pharmacy counter.
Stay healthy and take care…
Ooky Ter
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