[NPInfo] Medicare and changes

[Jeff and Linda Bocchetto]

I agree with your frusteration, also a patient told me last week that all of 
the $4 generics at Walmart come from India. She noticed it on her pill pack 
and asked the pharmacist at Walmart and she said yes all of them have been 
manufactured in India.  I wonder just how good the quality control is on 
these cheap meds.

Re: Medicare D; when you look at how well our federal goverment has screwed 
up this failry simple part of health care, it terrifies me to think what 
they could do with universal health care. I have been in health care for 31 
years and a NP for 17 years and every time the feds have tried to regulate 
something in healthcare they have simply made it more complicated and less 
accessable. I think the system needs fixed, but I don't think the feds will 
do anything but make it worse.
Linda B, NP

>From: MIRONNYE at aol.com
>Reply-To: NP Info <npinfo at nurse.net>
>To: npinfo at nurse.net
>Subject: [NPInfo] Medicare and changes
>Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 23:35:31 EST
>
>Hi
>My name is Dee and I am FNP in South Carolina.  Has anyone had the
>frustration I have had with Medicare changing all the patients' medicines?  
>  I work
>with indigent patients and they cannot afford some of the medicines when
>Medicare changes their drug programs.  They are being changed every year  
>and I spend
>most of the first new year visits changing their medications so they  can
>afford them.  At first, I was happy with this Medicare part D, but  after I
>started getting calls from pharmacies about changing the medicines  because 
>they
>weren't covered on part D, I began to get weary.  Sometimes I  have to 
>change to
>medicines that don't help as well and I feel it is the patient  that 
>suffers.
>  A lot of my patients don't take all of their medicines  because they 
>can't
>afford them.  I had one patient tell me one of her  medicines was $65 and 
>she
>probably will not be getting it. She absolutely  refused to use Crestor as 
>it
>would cost her $111 a month.  And her  cholesterol is well controlled!  She 
>has
>already had stents placed twice;  so I was not too crazy about changing her
>medicine.  Lipitor was even  listed as a tier 3 which would have been $65 
>or
>more.
>
>Also, I just realized I could not order home health for my patients.   I 
>work
>in a nurse practitioner run clinic.  I do have MD who can sign for  this, 
>but
>she never sees these patients-I do.   Now I'm getting forms  saying I can't
>sign for diabetic shoes or equipment.  Am I just being  overly sensitive?
>
>Anyone else feeling this frustration??
>
>Thanks for letting me vent.
>
>D. Devlin, FNP
>Columbia, SC
>
>
>
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