I remember growing up in my hometown. It was a small town. The pharmacy was a couple blocks from my house.
I would ride my bike to the pharmacy a couple times each week. I would go to the comic book rack and read for a while, then buy a candy bar and a soda and head home. While I was in the drugstore, the pharmacist would be back behind the counter working. In between patients, he would run out and vacuum the carpet. The people in town used to make fun of Harry and his obsessiveness at keeping the store clean.
I can still hear the sound of that vacuum cleaner.
Today a hear a similar sound, but it's not coming from the drugstore. It's coming from Washington DC. Why, you ask.
The United States Senate just passed legislation to
expand health insurance coverage to three million more low-income children. It's an extension and expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. President Bush proposed $5 billion to continue the program. The Senate version is for $35 billion. The House passed a bill that called for a $50 billion expansion. Now the bills just need to be reconciled.
So why is this grabbing Pharmacy God's attention? Guess where the extra money to fund this is coming from?
Drumroll please.....................................................
Decreased government payments to Medicare
HMOs.
Which means decreased reimbursements to retail pharmacies. The CNN article doesn't specify that the cuts will be made to the
HMOs that include Medicare D plans, but we all know that the pharmacist lobby is nothing compared to the physician lobby in Washington DC. When push comes to shove, the pharmacist lobby turns and runs. So now we can expect to see our Medicare D dispensing fees slashed and patient
copays increased. And we get to take the crap from the old folks about their drug prices.
But we already know what we are going to see in Drug Topics, Pharmacy Times, etc....
A representative from XYZ Pharmacist Org stated, "We are pleased that the government has extended coverage to these three million children who would otherwise slip through the cracks and not receive adequate medical coverage". What a load of BS. The money isn't going to come to the pharmacies. It's going to go to the physician offices and
ERs. Remember how Medicare Part D was supposed to be so great for pharmacies? How many independents have had to close down since Medicare D rolled out?
The only response I have is
BOHICA. (Bend Over, Here It Comes Again)
And the clatter that you now hear in the vacuum is the 50 cents they just removed from your dispensing fee.
I would ride my bike to the pharmacy a couple times each week. I would go to the comic book rack and read for a while, then buy a candy bar and a soda and head home. While I was in the drugstore, the pharmacist would be back behind the counter working. In between patients, he would run out and vacuum the carpet. The people in town used to make fun of Harry and his obsessiveness at keeping the store clean.
I can still hear the sound of that vacuum cleaner.
Today a hear a similar sound, but it's not coming from the drugstore. It's coming from Washington DC. Why, you ask.
The United States Senate just passed legislation to expand health insurance coverage to three million more low-income children. It's an extension and expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. President Bush proposed $5 billion to continue the program. The Senate version is for $35 billion. The House passed a bill that called for a $50 billion expansion. Now the bills just need to be reconciled.
So why is this grabbing Pharmacy God's attention? Guess where the extra money to fund this is coming from?
Drumroll please.....................................................
Decreased government payments to Medicare HMOs.
Which means decreased reimbursements to retail pharmacies. The CNN article doesn't specify that the cuts will be made to the HMOs that include Medicare D plans, but we all know that the pharmacist lobby is nothing compared to the physician lobby in Washington DC. When push comes to shove, the pharmacist lobby turns and runs. So now we can expect to see our Medicare D dispensing fees slashed and patient copays increased. And we get to take the crap from the old folks about their drug prices.
But we already know what we are going to see in Drug Topics, Pharmacy Times, etc....
A representative from XYZ Pharmacist Org stated, "We are pleased that the government has extended coverage to these three million children who would otherwise slip through the cracks and not receive adequate medical coverage".
What a load of BS. The money isn't going to come to the pharmacies. It's going to go to the physician offices and ERs. Remember how Medicare Part D was supposed to be so great for pharmacies? How many independents have had to close down since Medicare D rolled out?
The only response I have is BOHICA. (Bend Over, Here It Comes Again)
And the clatter that you now hear in the vacuum is the 50 cents they just removed from your dispensing fee.