Drug companies have discovered a new way to price-discriminate. From Through Charities, Drug Makers Help People – and Themselves:
Nancy Oliva hadn’t paid much attention to her insurance plan’s requirement that she pay half the cost of prescription drugs. Then the cashier at ShopRite told her she owed $636 for seven pills.Ms. Oliva, 60 years old, was diagnosed with a rare type of brain tumor earlier this year. She was prescribed a new drug to be taken in combination with radiation. The retail price of a one-week supply of the pill, called Temodar, is $1,272.
Ms. Oliva, who earns about $40,000 a year managing a clothing store in Long Beach Island, N.J., pulled out her American Express card that day in September and paid, unsure where she was going to find the money for the next week’s supply. Fortunately, the nurse at her doctor’s office found help for her from a charity, Patient Services Inc., which picked up her drug co-payments — $3,800 for a six-week course of treatment.
The twist: The money for her co-payments came from Schering-Plough Corp., the drug’s maker.