Score one for politician provided health care.

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,268
126
Well I'll never know if Mr. Dead Man walking ever will get his meds. The guy who owns the pharmacy in the medical center has had enough and he quit Medicaid. He called me to know his decision. Apparently he's turned away a great many people and he's just sick of it. He has enough to retire or work elsewhere part time.

He did over 85% medicaid, and the reimbursement cuts combined with how they're treating everyone caused him to rethink things.

Sucks for the medical center though. They and three other centers won't have anyone in house that will be providing service.

Wally World will suck em up.
 

MotF Bane

No Lifer
Dec 22, 2006
60,801
10
0
And yet, despite the debacle that is NY's Medicaid system now, people still believe that the government can not only improve the healthcare system, but make it cheaper and more efficient as well.
 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
513
126
My boss's dad was a Pharmacist. Through some pressure by a local politician he was barred from accepting Medicare\Medicaid prescriptions for a year. He made so much money he didnt know what to do. And never accepted another medicare patient after that.
 

woolfe9999

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2005
7,153
0
0
Oh the travails of the NY state Medicaid system, and why it consclusively proves the oh so nuanced conclusion that government + health insurance = bad, and the necessary corallary that health insurance in the hands of corporations = good. Unfortunately, it looks like this bill is going to pass. And to think, if they had only listened to that pharmacist guy, we could have avoided this obvious disaster.

- wolf
 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,268
126
And yet, despite the debacle that is NY's Medicaid system now, people still believe that the government can not only improve the healthcare system, but make it cheaper and more efficient as well.


I like to think of politicians and health care as a bunch of 4 year olds with shotguns.

The comprehension level and destructive potential are just about right on in that analogy.

Ahh well, I can find another place to pick up hours, but I liked the atmosphere. It was nice to be able to help out the docs when something tricky came up, which in a poor neighborhood is fairly common.

It's not been so bad at other places but providing care for inner city residents is what's taken a hit. It's a lot of poor black barely literate (often not literate at all) folks who have no alternative. The state owns them and they aren't concerned with people.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
Government health care is failing and far over budget in every state that has it. If we had fifty states mandated to provide universal health care, I think we could work out the bugs and come up with the best possible system, free market or government or mixed, to do this and make it work. Instead it appears that we are the man who, losing money by buying apples at $1 each and selling them for $10 a dozen, can only think to buy a bigger truck.

I like that analogy of 4 year olds with shotguns. P.J. O'Rourke wrote that giving money and power to Congress is like giving liquor and car keys to teen-age boys; I like that one too.
 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,268
126
Oh the travails of the NY state Medicaid system, and why it consclusively proves the oh so nuanced conclusion that government + health insurance = bad, and the necessary corallary that health insurance in the hands of corporations = good. Unfortunately, it looks like this bill is going to pass. And to think, if they had only listened to that pharmacist guy, we could have avoided this obvious disaster.

- wolf

Why of course you'll get your bill, there's no question. We've heard how bad private insurance is and how great the government solution is. Since no one really bothered to figure out what's needed first, we'll just wing it.

Now I understand that the government is your preferred solution. I haven't one, because I haven't seen health care addressed. Some insurance shuffling and control gained.

So forgive me when I have concerns because people with good intentions promulgated rules that cause people to be harmed or indeed die.

That's not important, because politicians don't need to plan. They just need a bully pulpit and apologists.

Isn't it nice that you don't have to look people in the face and tell them their kids can't use the insurance they're supposed to have?

Doesn't matter really, because I have no doubt that someone can quote some statistic about how this isn't happening.
 

MotF Bane

No Lifer
Dec 22, 2006
60,801
10
0
Oh the travails of the NY state Medicaid system, and why it consclusively proves the oh so nuanced conclusion that government + health insurance = bad, and the necessary corallary that health insurance in the hands of corporations = good. Unfortunately, it looks like this bill is going to pass. And to think, if they had only listened to that pharmacist guy, we could have avoided this obvious disaster.

- wolf

So you are perfectly happy to pass a bill to enforce this poorly-executed lunacy to all citizens? No, that is not the answer.
 

shira

Diamond Member
Jan 12, 2005
9,500
6
81
Well I'll never know if Mr. Dead Man walking ever will get his meds. The guy who owns the pharmacy in the medical center has had enough and he quit Medicaid. He called me to know his decision. Apparently he's turned away a great many people and he's just sick of it. He has enough to retire or work elsewhere part time.

He did over 85% medicaid, and the reimbursement cuts combined with how they're treating everyone caused him to rethink things.

Sucks for the medical center though. They and three other centers won't have anyone in house that will be providing service.

Wally World will suck em up.

So your first cost-control reform would be to raise medicare payments for medications?

Ha ha ha ha ha.

You really ought to hitch a ride with PJabber on the double-talk express.
 

woolfe9999

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2005
7,153
0
0
Why of course you'll get your bill, there's no question. We've heard how bad private insurance is and how great the government solution is. Since no one really bothered to figure out what's needed first, we'll just wing it.

Now I understand that the government is your preferred solution. I haven't one, because I haven't seen health care addressed. Some insurance shuffling and control gained.

So forgive me when I have concerns because people with good intentions promulgated rules that cause people to be harmed or indeed die.

That's not important, because politicians don't need to plan. They just need a bully pulpit and apologists.

Isn't it nice that you don't have to look people in the face and tell them their kids can't use the insurance they're supposed to have?

Doesn't matter really, because I have no doubt that someone can quote some statistic about how this isn't happening.

If government is my preferred solution then I probably hate this bill, since the core of the bill is a mandate for the uninsured to buy into private insurance, and no new government insurance programs are created.

I am not concerned with arguing that government=good, per se. I am simply responding to your use of anecdotal evidence to support the opposite. You're a scientist right, so you understand that using anecdotes to prove a point, doesn't prove the point, right? I'm not defending the dems using individual cases of insurance company abuse to prove their's either. Those anecdotes are not why I support the bill. We can go on all day with examples of NY Medicaid imcompetence, followed by counter-points showing where insurance companies drop people right after they get sick. However, two logical wrongs don't make a logical right.

- wolf
 
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Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,268
126
So your first cost-control reform would be to raise medicare payments for medications?

Ha ha ha ha ha.

You really ought to hitch a ride with PJabber on the double-talk express.


What the hell are you talking about?
 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
35,555
9,791
136
And yet, despite the debacle that is NY's Medicaid system now, people still believe that the government can not only improve the healthcare system, but make it cheaper and more efficient as well.

What we are suffering through is a false dilemma.

The mask behind government empowerment is the illusion that we must act and do so in a centralized manner. As if to take no action is a sin and to act is our patriotic duty – damn the consequences.

We convince ourselves that government must act on our behalf to relieve ailments. Nevermind that there will always be aliments. This dilemma is stuck on an infinite loop, always revolving around taking more money (power) from the people and using it to fill the coffers of our benevolent rulers.

Our founders gave us a wonder of the world. Rights for the people against their rulers. We’ve gone and s*** all over that. Will people realize the monster they championed before it is too late? Can they ever?
 

theeedude

Lifer
Feb 5, 2006
35,787
6,197
126
The problem is the cost of drugs, not Medicare reimbursement limits. I know you are gonna BS me with oh, it's funding the research, but these companies spend more on marketing than R&D.
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
Walgreens is cutting off the entire state of Washington.


http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/03/walgreens_cuts_off_new_medicai_1.html
SEATTLE -- Walgreens has told state officials that as of April 16, it no longer will fill prescriptions for new Medicaid patients at its 121 Washington pharmacies because it isn't being reimbursed enough by the state.

In a news release, the Deerfield, Ill.-based drugstore chain said it will continue to serve its existing Medicaid patients, but it can't take on additional losses due to reductions in the state's payments.

Walgreens had planned to stop filling Medicaid prescriptions in February at 64 of its stores in Washington, but held off while negotiations with the state Department of Social and Health Services continued.

The chain said the state reimburses it at less than its cost to break even on nearly 95 percent of brand name medications it dispenses to Medicaid patients.

"Obviously, we're disappointed that the alternatives we've suggested have failed to achieve a compromise," said Kermit Crawford, Walgreens executive vice president of pharmacy. "We intend to continue our commitment to serving our existing patients, but we simply cannot take on additional losses."
 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,268
126


Government always works from cutting reimbursements. It usually does nothing to alienate those who fill their coffers the most.

Senseamp finally said something I agree with. From a cost perspective things are awful. The amount of inventory needed to stock a pharmacy has gone up tremendously, while the amount of money gotten back has declined. Inventory has to be paid for, and that eats up profit to the point where it's a negative. Many things are sold at less than actual acquisition, because Medicaid likes to wait as long as possible before updating their files. That way they can have prescriptions paid based on obsolete costs.

We know that. Nothing new, but it's gotten to be a negative thing.

I expect that at some point pharmacies are just going to have to drop Medicaid and the states will have to institute a mail order program. States can operate at a loss by increasing taxes. Just how it is.

I think a lot of people are missing the main point though. It's not much more than break even in this fellow's situation (maybe not even that) but he can't help those who need it most and he's being paid nothing either way.

He couldn't do his job and that was the straw.
 

ProfJohn

Lifer
Jul 28, 2006
18,161
7
0
Watch Walgreens profits and customer satisfaction go up in Washington state.

Medicaid patients are the worst type of patients to work with in nearly every way.

Since their medicine is free many of them are on multiple drugs that they may not actually need.
They are poorly education and can be very difficult to work with because they don't understand how things work, especially compared to higher educated patients.
They are more likely to steal or be disruptive in the store. They are much harder on the stores themselves, they mess isles up more, their kids run around causing trouble more often etc etc etc.

Spend some time in a Walgreens or CVS in a nice part of town and then in a bad part of town and see how different the environments are.

By pushing the unprofitable and high maintenance poorer folks out of their stores Walgreens should see positive benefits.
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
Medicaid patients are the worst type of patients to work with in nearly every way.

nice of you to lump all poor people into one group.

Since their medicine is free many of them are on multiple drugs that they may not actually need.
And who prescribed those drugs ?


They are poorly education and can be very difficult to work with because they don't understand how things work, especially compared to higher educated patients.

Having worked around both kinds of people I'll take the poorly educated. The higher educated as you call it never listen to anyone because they think they know it all.


They are more likely to steal or be disruptive in the store. They are much harder on the stores themselves, they mess isles up more, their kids run around causing trouble more often etc etc etc.

poor does not mean sub-human


Spend some time in a Walgreens or CVS in a nice part of town and then in a bad part of town and see how different the environments are.

According to you they don't exist because they have been stolen from, parents are fighting inside, isles are wrecked and kids have taken over.


By pushing the unprofitable and high maintenance poorer folks out of their stores Walgreens should see positive benefits.

The only benefit they will see is in profits. They are still keeping current customers on medicaid, just not adding new ones. Guess they better break out the national guard to defend the stores from those savage medicaid people.
 

ProfJohn

Lifer
Jul 28, 2006
18,161
7
0
^ how many drugs stores have you worked in??

I have worked in both high end neighbor hoods and poor ones, I'll take the rich people any day for multiple reasons.

That isn't to say that many poor people aren't wonderful because most of them are, but the few that aren't are the ones who ruin it for everyone else.

Compare a typical Walmart to a typical Target and you will know exactly what I am talking about.