The Editor:
I want to share information about having an alternative to having to pay too much for prescription drug medications.
The NBC series “Side Effects, NBC News Investigating Drug Pricing” featured Mark Cuban who has started his own company called Cost Plus Drugs that makes prescription medications very affordable. He can do this because he bypasses the insurers and middlemen. An example is for the leukemia drug Imatinib, which retails at a pharmacy chain for more than $2,500, according to Cost Plus Drugs website. With insurance, a typical co-pay is $30. But at Cost Plus Drugs the same leukemia medication is $19.40 a month with no insurance needed, and so no co-pay either. Another example is the drug Albendazole, which has an average retail of $430, but at Cost Plus it is only $38.
Mark Cuban is on reality TV-show “Shark Tank” and is worth billions of dollars. When asked why he started his company, he said, “It’s the right thing to do. I have money.” In the 10 months since he started the company, he has about 1.5 million customers who can choose from about 350 generic medications. He says, “Transparency is the key.” On his bills, the customers see what Cost Plus paid for the medication, along with a 15 percent mark up, a $3 pharmacy fee and a $5 shipping fee. That’s it.
A young girl, Christina Costa, uses Cost Plus Drugs and created an Instagram video to share her experience. She has epilepsy and brain cancer, and anxiety. She quoted Mark Cuban, “Everyone should have safe, affordable medicines with transparent prices.” She’s never met Mark Cuban, but by using Cost Plus Drugs, she is saving 90 percent on her medications every month.
It is worth going online (costplusdrugs.com) and seeing how much you can save on your prescription medications.
Cindy Kisska
Birch Bay
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