Is our pharmacy system collapsing? This morning, I went to my local pharmacy to pick up a prescription. There were three giant new signs over the register and behind the counter that weren't there before:"NEW ORDER RESTRICTIONS FROM THE MAJOR DRUG COMPANIES encourage customers to call 5 DAYS IN ADVANCE to ensure your prescription refill is here and waiting when you are ready to pick it up. We apologize for this inconvenience and look forward to a future of providing your every healthcare need."
I called the manager over. "What's happening?" I asked. Her response scared me.The drug companies are no longer shipping drugs to the pharmacy on a timely basis because they're no longer getting paid on a timely basis. Over the past few months, as fiscal troubles have gripped the country, payments for prescriptions have stopped flowing. Your health insurance, your drug coverage, Medicare, Medicaid, state-funded assistance companies -- most of them have slowed down the speed at which they're paying the drug companies for your prescriptions.
......My pharmacist told me that the system by which our prescriptions are paid and delivered is seizing up. She said that many pharmacies are unable to front the money required to make sure their customers get their drugs as quickly as they used to, and banks aren't giving loans even for this purpose, so they have to go with the new demands from the major drug companies. Correction: You do. You have to wait up to a week for your drugs now.
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