In yet more evidence of the broken American healthcare system, turns out no one is able to tell us how much a specific medication would cost unless we’re actively enrolled in the plan, including both the insurance carrier themselves (Anthem) and the pharmacy provider they work with (CVS Caremark).

My wife is prescribed Vyvanse for ADHD, she’s tried other medications and none of them work nearly as well for her. Vyvanse, even the generic brands, is incredibly expensive without insurance coverage (goodRx helps but still $80/month). I’m considering a job offer but there are some significant differences in the available health plans there vs what I have now, and this + other potential medication costs add up to be a non-trivial factor in whether or not the offered compensation will be sufficient.

And yet, speaking on the phone with the insurance representative and the pharmacy provider themselves, no one is able to say how much a medication will cost under a plan in which I’m not enrolled. WHAT??!?

If goodRx can figure it out, what’s the problem here!!?!

ABOUT NSP

National Single Payer is a national, grassroots organization that organizes locally in the struggle for national single payer health care.

We are united by the common principles that health care is a human right, must be free from corporate profit, and must be achieved through national legislation.

We are a 501(c)(4) under the fiscal sponsorship of Americans for Democratic Action. Your donations keep our work alive!

OUR PRINCIPLES Health care is a human right, and nothing less than the enactment of a national, not-for-profit, single payer program can make that right a reality in the United States.

Coverage must be inclusive of all needed medical care with everybody in and nobody out and that all people deserve the highest level of quality health care.

The health care crisis calls for urgency in building a broad, powerful, bold, and nonpartisan movement that can make possible the enactment of national single payer legislation.

We maintain hope based on our nation’s history of building dynamic movements to abolish slavery, expand voting rights, establish unions, and take on corporate power.

Neither a state-by-state nor an incrementalist strategy is an effective approach to winning national single payer.

Private equity, venture capital, insurance companies, and all profit-making entities must be banned from health care because profit is the cause of high costs, delays, denial of care, poorer quality of care, and premature death.

Conversion of for-profit hospitals and medical care facilities into non-profit entities is critical to serve the needs of people and communities.

Public funding must be progressive, shifting the burden from workers and those with modest incomes to the wealthy.

Inequities in health care based on race, ethnicity, religion, immigration status, class, gender (including pregnancy & gender identity), sexual preference, detention or incarceration, disability, age, and geographic location must be abolished to assure social justice in health care.

Physicians and all health care practitioners must be able to practice free from corporate control and that patients have the right to choose their physician and other health care providers.

A just transition with jobs, education, and income provided for those workers whose work is eliminated by the establishment of a single payer system is imperative.

And, we welcome the discussion of a national health service and the possibility that such a plan can be placed on the nation’s agenda.