LETTER: Rx Refill Cost $3.10. Complexities Brought Bill To $2,643.80

3-05-10

To the Editor:
Last September, my COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) flared up. 
I had received a temporary prescription for Prednisone, which relieved the symptoms.  Unfortunately, my prescription expired on Oct. 10, a Saturday, the start of a three-day weekend. 
I phoned my prime care doctor’s number at Bassett Hospital and explained to the nurse on duty that I needed a temporary refill of the Prednisone.  She told me there was no one available in Prime Care and that I would have to go to the emergency room. 
I called the ER and explained my predicament and was told to come in and someone could help me.  On arriving, I told the ER receptionist my need and she referred me to the triage nurse, to whom I also explained that I needed a temporary renewal of my Prednisone prescription. 
She said a doctor in the ER could help me and I was sent to an examining room in the ER where I again explained my problem to the ER nurse, who checked my vital signs until a doctor could see me. 
I again explained to the ER doctor that all I needed was a temporary renewal of the Prednisone, showing him my empty pill bottle.  He insisted that some extra tests were necessary because I was short of breath.
To make a long story short, three hours later I was given a prescription for Prednisone and sent home.  But that is not really the end of the story.
When the final bills came to me (courtesy of the Center for Medicare Services) there were 24 charges totaling $2,643.80.  While Medicare took a haircut on some of those charges and my Medigap insurance paid the deductibles, I was not out of pocket for any of it, but Medicare and the Medigap insurance companies paid an extraordinary amount of money so that I could get a $3.10 prescription refilled. 
My daughter is a healthcare professional at Rhode Island Hospital.  I asked her why the system was so inefficient.  She said that there are certain protocols that ERs have to follow in order to avoid medical malpractice issues.  The trial lawyers are calling the shots on medical procedures.
From what I have read of the two pieces of health care legislation that have passed in Congress, neither has addressed the medical inefficiencies or the legal obstructions that are endemic in our health care system. Congress prefers to demonize the insurance companies rather than reduce the costs of health care. 
Your government, and mine, at work
WILLIAM DORNBURGH
Cooperstown