Happy Tuesday!
Today, I have been learning a little bit about the pharmaceutical industry. It started yesterday when my pharmacy told me they would no longer be carrying a prescription medication for diabetes that I use (there have been supply issues with this medication and under another name it is used for weight loss also) and that I would need to find another pharmacy for the medicine. They encouraged me to contact my political representatives to support HR 9096, a Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) Reform bill potentially being looked at by Congress.
I did not even know what a PBM was or how the system worked so, I assumed it was something on my insurance providers end but, it wasn't. From what I'm understanding, in the United States, pharmaceutical companies are not allowed to direct sell their products to pharmacies, it has to go through a broker who sets the market price of the medicine that they are selling to the pharmacy. Quotas on how much of the medicine can be provided are also set, in some instances. I'm not sure if these quotas are set by PBM's or the pharmacies at some level, or both.
So, this particular medicine that I am prescribed does not provide enough profit to the pharmacy or potentially even a profit loss so the pharmacy that I am using indicated that it was losing money and that corporately, it was decided to no longer carry that medicine by their pharmacy and I would need to get the medicine somewhere else.
My third try I found a pharmacy that would work with me. All the pharmacies I have contacted have indicated they could not guarantee supply of the medication.
If supply or pharmacy issues continue I will need to talk with my doctor about potentially changing to another medication or figure out something different to help manage my health issue.
And this afternoon, I am canning. I have 12 pint jars of vegetable soup base in the pressure canner. It's a 50/50 mix of garden and store bought produce. The thought is to use the pints as a starter for different soups such as hamburger soup, stew, and ministrone. I thought I was done with canning for the season but, I'm still getting a bit out of the garden and I went out and bought more jars as it was enough that I didn't want it to go to waste.
I was also able to jar up a half gallon jar of refrigerator Bread and Butter pickles. When life gives you cucumbers, you make pickles, right?
