Holy Cow! Go ahead, try to tell me big pharma isn't screwing us over.

[Liberal Veteran]

2. There could be a couple of things going on.

1. The person was completely uninsured (which sucks, but does happen).

2. He (or his doctor) requested brand name medications for which a generic is available. A lot of insurances will not cover brand name medications if their is a generic equivalent. I've known this to happen where a person would have a reasonable copay at generic (the usual 10-50 dollars) and demand only brand name medication.

3. He has a super high deductible for prescription medication and since it is January, new deductible.

4. The insurance company screwed up and showed him as not covered when he should be (or he changed insurance and didn't give the new info to the pharmacy).

I won't argue that prescription medications are extremely overpriced in the US. You wouldn't want to know how much my medications cost if I was paying out of pocket. (HIV meds aren't cheap and sadly most are branded in the US with no generic available).