I thought this might be a pretty good post to have by itself because it would carry different comments compared to the other thread, but the reason that so many drug ads are on US television compared to anything else is because the US and New Zealand are the only countries that don't outright ban direct-to-consumer drug advertisements. This ban was lifted under Bill Clinton's FDA in 1997 under the caveat that the ads list all the side effects, but of course they didn't realize how much they'd advertise.
Advertising directly to doctors was never banned, which is how Purdue Pharma, run by the Sackler family, members of the Triple Parentheses Gang, were able to outright lie to doctors about how OxyContin was non-addictive, resulting in its over-prescription and the current opioid epidemic.
https://jheor.org/post/2674-with-tv-drug-ads-what-you-see-is-not-necessarily-what-you-get
Some drugs are surprisingly affordable out of pocket and drug companies often have programs for people who can't afford their meds. Insurance can refuse to pay but they can't stop you from filling a prescription by other means.
Make sure that you don't tell the pharmacist what your insurance is before attempting to buy it because once they know you have insurance, they are legally bound to charge you the insurance-dictated prices.
And insurance-dictated prices are frequently higher than out-of-pocket.
This isn’t entirely true, they’re also trying to force insurance immediately tied to name and id because of this. We’ve regulated healthcare into a corrupt, unsustainable money pit and their only answer at Washington is forcing people dumb enough to buy working class insurance to pony up the dough.
I mean the pharmacy is happy to take your money. Just tell them not to run it through insurance if you think/know denial will be an issue. Your second sentence is completely correct.
True, but most are expensive