Mounjaro/Zepbound Insurance Companies Contributing to High Cost in US

hello everyone my name is Jenna I've been on mroz Bound for about 7 months I have lost uh over 80 lbs I am very excited about this medication and um it's giving me my life back I am so excited to be here at this time where these medications are available um I only wish that they were around sooner or I knew about them sooner uh would have saved me a couple years of dieting heartache but uh anyway I have I pay out of pocket my insurance does not cover gp1s any glp1 so I pay F the $550 with the Eli Lily coupon I do pay out of pocket for these medications but um a couple months ago I started looking into how much the these medications are costing around the world and honestly whether we are talking about um Zep bound or W GOI they are significantly more expensive in the United States and you know I'm starting to really wonder why there has got to be a reason that these medications are so expens what goes on in the United States that does not go on in other parts of the world that make these medications so so expensive I have heard um Bernie Sanders and in previous videos I've talked about him questioning why are wovi why is this so an OIC why are they so expensive what is going on why can't you lower the prices and and you know all these things what's going on some people said hey it's demand people want it they they are not making enough to keep with demand there's shortages I mean some people say oh it's research and development even though the United States government and our tax money has going into a lot of research and development for these medications but you know what truly is making them so expensive so I found out digging going down this Rabbit Hole of our current system in the United States I found out some things that are more interesting I may be looking down at my notebook because I have some notes written down here um because I want to give you this information accurately as I hear it if you um if I say something and you know something to the contrary please comment down at the bottom I you know would like to know because honestly I would like to be wrong and think that what I've learned is incorrect because it's very um it's a it bothers me it's uh sort of upsetting so there are people who typically were like um book they kept paperwork kind of like book bookkeeping previously uh called Pharmacy Ben benefit managers pbms and traditionally that's what they were they were book Keepers they kept paperwork um just about for for patients and the pharmacy they kept paperwork um I get on you know the cost all that kind of stuff that's basically what it was it wasn't a huge thing they were behind the scenes didn't have you know a huge I mean they kept records but you know then Along Comes Obamacare and and you know I don't want to get into the debate whether it was good bid or otherwise but in Obamacare um it the rule was first of all well let's start here first of all insurance companies stood to make more money because it made it so every American had to have health insurance so obviously the insurance companies were going to make more money getting more um people insured getting those premiums every month but their um earnings were capped um that 85% of the money had to go to Patient Care they could only make 15% had to be the um I guess the amount of of money they could make they had to spend 85% 85 cents on the dollar that they were making had to go to Patient Care and that was to keep you know things kind of in check with those insurance companies well the insurance companies apparently were not happy with that um and we're wondering what can we do to sort of skirt this because you know they're a business they're out to make money what can we do to sort of skirt this and there was no cap on pmbs what they could make um so they changed the PMB into like distributors or middlemen um and Etna merged with CVS um siga made bought Express strip Express Scripts to make money on these medications so you know they're working together they so now the insurance companies are making money from uh not only your premiums but they're also making money by owning these um pharmacies that you're filling your scripts from the pharmaceutical that is selling these drugs has to go through the PBM to be able to sell these the these medications in the United States because basically the insurance companies are you know deciding what's going to be covered and and in order for um these Pharmaceuticals to sell their drugs in the United States they are forced to pay a rebate to the PBM if they refuse to pay the PBM rebate the insurance will say all right cool we're just not going to cover your medication so good luck to you they also are forcing the Pharmaceuticals to give rebate or to give money the that billions and billions of dollars to sell their medication in the United States which obviously is going to drive the price up and by the way the money that goes to the pbms it's a trade secret we have no idea um how many millions and that's actually in the billions it's you know sounds like billions of dollars that they are given we have the public has no right to know how much Pharmaceuticals are are giving to these pbms um in order to sell or these medications in the United States um and just when you look at it KARK for example they are in the top 40 companies making the most profits these these companies are making higher profits than um Ford than these auto companies I mean these profits are tremendous um and to be honest uh I get I believe it was the Attorney General of Ohio was saying this is costing consumers billions and billions of dollars and they add these middlemen the Distributors the pbms now are adding l no value they are just jacking prices and costing money and there's really no value other than they are negotiating I guess with the pharmaceutical to get um these medications and you know get I guess getting them to us for insurance to cover them but it's really another way for insurance companies to make even more money off of us when it was capped at they could only make a 15% profit you know they have to make Wall Street happy and I guess this is the way they chose to do it so it's just to me that is just another layer into why in the United States we are paying so significantly more and I mean you know 10 times more than they do in England Germany Australia I mean we are paying tremendously more money for these medications and honestly not that I've looked into it but I'm I'm assuming a lot of other medications if every drug has to go through these pbms to be covered it's it's just another reason that these medication costs are so high for us in the United States and it was sort of eye openening to me that it's not just the pharmaceutical who is charging these prices and saying research and development and all these things they have other costs to take care of such as basically what you know for all intents of purposes no I don't know everything that goes into the pharmaceutical negotiations with the pbms or the insurance companies but kind of to me sounds like a payoff it it sounds like a payoff off and they have to you know I mean they have to make that money up so the so the United States is just causing these medications to Skyrocket maybe wovi or noo nordis can't afford it because of the money that they have to give to these pharmac or to the pharmacy and to the insurance company so if all what I'm saying and what I cuz I've been researching this for about a week if all of the if you guys know something different or something more and I hope I've I've explained this the best way that I could which is bottom line the pbms have turned into distributors or middlemen who are collecting a fee from the Pharmaceuticals for the insurance companies to cover the medication the issue there is is that the insurance companies like Etna and siga own the pharmacies that are doing this so um I don't really feel bad for the insurance companies anymore putting out all this money because they're getting it in the back door they are making out regardless they are getting they are getting their fair share I mean I talked before the CEOs people getting millions and millions of dollars a year while we're sending in Pas begging for medication that we need and you know the they donate to Washington they donate to our Senators and representatives so of course um our lawmakers have to keep them in the back of their mind they want to keep them happy they are the people that are paying campaign fees and all or for the their campaigns and they want to keep them happy so the American people again are gouged and are paying ridiculous prices for things that we that really could be a lot simpler and a lot cheaper I used to not be for Universal Health Care um just to keep that like being able to choose your doctor and what insurance company you use now just looking into things and seeing how these insurance companies are scamming us it really makes me maybe re-evaluate those thoughts about um continuing the system we have so that's it for today um if you want to add to this or know anything please make a comment down at the bottom I appreciate you stopping by thank you and I will see you next time bye-bye