Dan Weissmann
Prices for brand-name medication within the U.S. are 3 times what the identical medication value in different international locations. And in a current KFF survey, 3 in 10 adults reported not taking their medication as prescribed in some unspecified time in the future previously 12 months due to prices.
“An Arm and a Leg” is collecting stories from listeners about what they’ve carried out to get the medication they want when dealing with sticker shock.
If you’ve ever confronted troublesome decisions in an effort to afford your medication, “An Arm and a Leg” would love to listen to about it. If you’re keen on contributing, you’ll be able to learn more and submit your tales using this form.
Dan Weissmann
Host and producer of “An Arm and a Leg.” Previously, Dan was a employees reporter for Marketplace and Chicago’s WBEZ. His work additionally seems on All Things Considered, Marketplace, the BBC, 99 Percent Invisible, and Reveal, from the Center for Investigative Reporting.
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Emily Pisacreta
Producer
Claire Davenport
Producer
Adam Raymonda
Audio wizard
Ellen Weiss
Editor
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Transcript: How Do You Deal With Wild Drug Prices?
Note: “An Arm and a Leg” makes use of speech-recognition software program to generate transcripts, which can include errors. Please use the transcript as a device however examine the corresponding audio earlier than quoting the podcast.
Dan: Hey there–
So, first: Whoa. There is a LOT occurring. I’m recording this on January thirtieth. I’m not gonna attempt to summarize what the Trump administration has been doing up to now on well being care — as a result of by the point you hear this, I don’t know what else might need occurred.
Oh boy. We will certainly have rather a lot to speak about as this 12 months goes on. And within the meantime, all of the issues we’ve been speaking on this present … they’re nonetheless taking place.
So, we’ve bought a venture cooking, and I want your assist with it. It’s about how freaking a lot we pay for medication. And what we will perhaps do about it.
This drawback is one thing that hits a variety of us. A giant current survey requested: Have you skipped a medicine within the final 12 months due to value? 1 / 4 of individuals answered sure.
And we all know {that a} ton of individuals spend every kind of time and power making an attempt to verify they don’t need to go with out meds that value greater than they will afford, or go broke paying for them.
Looking for coupons, haggling endlessly with insurance coverage, ordering medication from on-line pharmacies — even pharmacies in different international locations. And in some instances, enterprise every kind of epic adventures.
One of the very first episodes of this present was about Laura Derrick, of Austin Texas. And how she turned her life the wrong way up in 2011. She had simply began a brand new drug.
A drug which will have saved her life. And then, virtually instantly, two issues occurred. Thing one: Laura came upon what that drug value.
Laura Derrick: I used to be lined by insurance coverage. So this isn’t what I paid, however the first invoice was over $55,000.
Dan (speaking to Laura): And that is for like a month provide
Laura: A month’s provide.
Dan (speaking to Laura): And how a lot was your share of that?
Laura: Um, my share was about $20.
Dan: And then, factor two: her husband was recognized with most cancers. Late-stage most cancers. He wanted intensive remedy, which meant he couldn’t work. Which meant, he was about to lose his insurance coverage.
And this was earlier than the Affordable Care Act was carried out. If you had a pre-existing situation, and also you didn’t get insurance coverage out of your job, you principally couldn’t purchase insurance coverage.
So Laura Derrick wanted a job. She knew individuals who had been keen to rent her, however there was a catch.
Laura: My, my daughter’s final 12 months of highschool, my son’s final 12 months of faculty. I left our household with my husband in most cancers remedy as a result of the one job they might provide was in Ohio.
And it provided us an insurance coverage coverage with a zero deductible that value $20 a month for the entire household and lined the whole lot we would have liked. But it meant I needed to be gone for nearly a 12 months and a half.
Dan: That job, by the way in which, was with Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election marketing campaign. Laura was decided to win — so the ACA may get carried out, so that folks, together with her — and her household, may get insurance coverage with out going fairly so far as she did.
But to say the least, having insurance coverage doesn’t imply having no issues. For some individuals, getting their meds — it could not imply taking a job far-off from household — however combating with insurance coverage can develop into a really irritating part-time job of its personal.
When I talked with Lillian Karabaic, in 2022, she was grinding away: making an attempt to keep away from a crushing invoice for Enbrel. That’s an costly rheumatoid arthritis drug she’d been taking for years.
Lillian is a monetary journalist, who teaches monetary self-help to millennials. So, as you’ll be able to think about, she’s very organized.
And as we talked concerning the journey she was on at that time, she pulled up the time-tracking software program she makes use of:
Lillian Karabaic: Okay, so it has been 9 hours and 32 minutes previously two weeks that I’ve spent on healthcare admin, which is usually being on cellphone calls.
Dan: What kicked off all these cellphone calls had been a impolite awakening. Literally. From her cellphone.
Lillian: I simply bought abruptly a textual content message from my specialty pharmacy saying that I’ve a $3,000 co-pay. That’s not a textual content message that anyone desires to get up to.
Dan: When we talked — two weeks and virtually ten hours of cellphone calls after that textual content message — Lillian was … giving up on getting out of that three-thousand greenback copay. And attending to work on determining learn how to pay it.
Lillian: But I’m form of delaying the inevitable at the very least lengthy sufficient to use for a bank card that has an honest level signup bonus. So at the very least I can get one thing out of this whole state of affairs.
Dan: So, sure: We understand how robust this may be. Has been. Is.
I’ve a sense you could know a bit about this too. Like, you could not have gotten a textual content message saying you owe three thousand bucks.
But you positively could have been within the state of affairs of asking, “Holy crap, I’m supposed to pay THIS MUCH for my meds? What?”
— and THIS MUCH might be 1000’s of {dollars}, or a whole lot of {dollars}, or 60 {dollars}. If it’s rather a lot to you, it’s rather a lot. And that’s why I need your assist:
If you’ve been in that state of affairs, what have you ever carried out? And what did you be taught? Maybe you realized a method that truly labored for you. Maybe it was, “Man, I learned about a new way I’m getting screwed.”
However issues went — nonetheless they’re going: What did you be taught that you really want different individuals to know? It doesn’t need to be an enormous secret. Just one thing you’d inform a pal about in the event that they requested.
But I’m fairly certain there are methods not sufficient individuals know sufficient about. I’m additionally fairly certain there are new methods we’re getting beat up.
And the extra we find out about these, the extra we will work collectively to do one thing about them. So I’m asking you to share all that with me.
By the way in which, I do know that you could be not be doing this for your self, to your personal meds. You could also be doing this for a member of the family, or perhaps you’re a well being care employee making an attempt to assist a affected person — or sufferers. Or an advocate or a social employee.
You’ve been engaged on this? You’ve been studying one thing the remainder of us ought to learn about? I wanna hear about it. I’d like it in the event you head over to https://armandalegshow.com/drugs/ — and inform me about it. You can preserve it transient, or go lengthy.
That’s https://armandalegshow.com/drugs/. We’ll have a hyperlink wherever you’re discovering this, and you’ll simply click on that.
And in the event you HAVEN’T been on an journey like this- – effectively, one: Good. I really would love to listen to about that too. I don’t thoughts listening to excellent news about good individuals. Not the whole lot must be a nightmare.
And I might like it in the event you handed this request round. Because most likely, anyone you understand has a narrative we must always hear about.
Please encourage them to convey that story proper right here. A narrative with a lesson or a query. Like, “Can they freaking DO that?!? Is there anything I can do about it? Is there anything SOMEBODY can do about that?”
Over the subsequent month or two, we’ll dig into the whole lot you convey us. We could name you for extra particulars. And we’ll name some specialists to get solutions to a few of your questions.
Then, this spring, we’ll begin sharing what we be taught. The place to convey it’s https://armandalegshow.com/drugs/.
We’ll have a hyperlink wherever you’re listening. Along with a hyperlink to some sources you would possibly discover useful. Thank you SO a lot!
Meanwhile, I’ll catch you in a number of weeks with a brand new episode. Till then, handle your self.
This is An Arm and a Leg, a present about why well being care prices so freaking a lot, and what we will perhaps do about it.
An Arm and a Leg February 3, 2025 Season 13, Episode 2 p.5
An Arm and a Leg is produced by me, Dan Weissmann, with assist from Emily Pisacreta and Claire Davenport — and edited by Ellen Weiss.
Adam Raymonda is our audio wizard. Our music is by Dave Weiner and Blue Dot Sessions. Bea Bosco is our consulting director of operations. Lynne Johnson is our operations supervisor.
An Arm and a Leg is produced in partnership with KFF Health News. That’s a nationwide newsroom producing in-depth journalism about well being points in America — and a core program at KFF: an unbiased supply of well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism.
Zach Dyer is senior audio producer at KFF Health News. He’s the editorial liaison to this present. We are distributed by KUOW, Seattle’s NPR News Station.
And because of the Institute for Nonprofit News for serving as our fiscal sponsor.They permit us to just accept tax-exempt donations. You can be taught extra about INN at INN.org.
Finally, thanks to all people who helps this present financially. You can take part any time at armandalegshow.com/help/.
And thanks for listening.
“An Arm and a Leg” is a co-production of KFF Health News and Public Road Productions.
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