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Mark Cuban's pharmacy started with a cold email

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Re: Mark Cuban's pharmacy started with a cold email

#61

Post by CamperBob2 »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #38
cjbgkagh wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d pay $5 not to drive. Plus could the shipping be amortized over number of items.

> I’d pay $5 not to drive. Many normal pharmacies also have mail-order options. My neighborhood pharmacy includes free shipping, whereas Mark Cuban charges an extra $5. I'm baffled that so many people are consuming Mark Cuban's marketing/PR without questioning if it's really the cheapest option. It's like everyone read the press releases and just decided it sounds correct.

Many normal pharmacies also have mail-order options.

Which are often very annoying to use. I have tried many times to get my pharmacy to deliver by mail. It typically works for a few months, then they stop bothering, or fail to request a refill until I call them, or mumble something about the drug not being legal to ship even though it was successfully delivered earlier by this pharmacy and by other mail-order pharmacies I've tried.

There always seems to be some reason why it's necessary for me to drive down to the pharmacy, stand in line with a bunch of other customers during a pandemic, and grope around with various pens, styluses, and touchscreens that were previously handled by someone with who-knows-what infectious condition. Funny how that works. This business is well past ripe for disruption.

It's like everyone read the press releases and just decided it sounds correct.

Do you have any stake or interest in the pharmacy trade? It's like you're making the most negative possible assumption at every step of your argument, so turnabout seems to be fair play.

Re: Mark Cuban's pharmacy started with a cold email

#62

Post by aaaaaaaaaaab »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #42
elliottinvent wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m from the UK > Except nobody should actually be paying $22.80 for generic Prozac. You can drive to any local Walmart and get it for $4 and they will bill your insurance, which will count toward your deductible. FWIW I thought this meant that it was $4 because of “your insurance” or “deductible” but I think you meant it’s $4 for people that aren’t insured? And people that are insured get it for free?

> FWIW I thought this meant that it was $4 because of “your insurance” or “deductible” but I think you meant it’s $4 for people that aren’t insured? And people that are insured get it for free? No, it's $4 retail at Walmart. $10 for a 3-month supply. People with insurance might also pay the $4 if they haven't reached their insurance deductible (same concept as car/home insurance deductible). Insured people still pay…

>Insured people still pay some co-insurance, up until their out-of-pocket maximum.

I honestly don’t know what this sentence means, and I’m glad I don’t need to deal with such things in the UK.

Re: Mark Cuban's pharmacy started with a cold email

#63

Post by jcims »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #7

On one hand, we should obviously applaud anyone doing anything to bring down drug prices. On the other hand, I'm increasingly uncomfortable with just how much free marketing and PR is being applied to the "Mark Cuban Pharmacy" without much critical examination of what's going on here. Taking one of the examples straight from their homepage: They will sell you 30 Prozac tablets for $3.90: https://costplusdrugs.com/med…

It's basically the Spirit Airlines of pharmacies.

>Mark Cuban's pharmacy, however, refuses to deal with your insurance

I would say this is a net good. It significantly reduces their costs.

Also there are many, possibly the majority of, cases where their prices are substantially cheaper than Walmart.

https://www.walmart.com/cp/4-prescriptions/1078664

https://costplusdrugs.com/medications/

Re: Mark Cuban's pharmacy started with a cold email

#64

Post by akomtu »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #7

On one hand, we should obviously applaud anyone doing anything to bring down drug prices. On the other hand, I'm increasingly uncomfortable with just how much free marketing and PR is being applied to the "Mark Cuban Pharmacy" without much critical examination of what's going on here. Taking one of the examples straight from their homepage: They will sell you 30 Prozac tablets for $3.90: https://costplusdrugs.com/med…

Your walmart link is quite a discovery for me. I've always been suspicious when my pharmacy congratulates me on saving whopping 200 bucks on my generic meds, but I couldn't have imagined that a one year supply of this stuff can be had for under 40 bucks at walmart. In other words, my pharmacy's markup exceeds 50x of the original price (probably 100x since they buy it in bulk).

Re: Mark Cuban's pharmacy started with a cold email

#65

Post by pc86 »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #7

On one hand, we should obviously applaud anyone doing anything to bring down drug prices. On the other hand, I'm increasingly uncomfortable with just how much free marketing and PR is being applied to the "Mark Cuban Pharmacy" without much critical examination of what's going on here. Taking one of the examples straight from their homepage: They will sell you 30 Prozac tablets for $3.90: https://costplusdrugs.com/med…

Well, if you need something shipped to you, you're probably paying for it if it's not a loss leader/cost-of-business for the shipper. Buy something from Walmart and they're charging you shipping if you're not having it sent to one of their stairs. So you can't lump in shipping on one end and ignore it on the other.

Your entire criticism seems to be "there may be specific circumstances in which this isn't actually cheaper, and that's bad because Mark Cuban."

Re: Mark Cuban's pharmacy started with a cold email

#66

Post by indymike »

ALittleLight wrote: post #52
indymike wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Except nobody should actually be paying $22.80 for generic Prozac. You can drive to any local Walmart and get it for $4 and they will bill your insurance, which will count toward your deductible. Except people can, and do, all the time. Source: they lady in front of me at the pharmacy counter today, who didn't want any "risky generics".

Is the lady who didn't want any risky genetics going to buy a generic from Mark Cuban's online pharmacy?

She might think that Mark Cuban is "that nice boy from Shark Tank" and trust his generics more.

Re: Mark Cuban's pharmacy started with a cold email

#67

Post by jcims »

refurb wrote: post #16
jeromegv wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you aware millions of Americans don’t have such insurance?

But as to the OP’s point, Mark’s pharmacy is still more expensive for those drugs .

Look at the prices yourself, Cost Plus is cheaper for most of them.

Re: Mark Cuban's pharmacy started with a cold email

#68

Post by gruez »

derefr wrote: post #56
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deplore the medication rebate racket as much as anyone, but it's not a kick-back. A kick-back would go to the doctor or pharmacist for pushing the customer toward a medication. The problem in this scenario is the monetary incentive to mislead the customer. With medication rebates, the customer is getting the drug one way or another. The rebate just discounts the effective price and sends the discount to the custome…

> A kick-back would go to the doctor or pharmacist for pushing the customer toward a medication. Why is it not a kick-back if the customer’s insurance company is the one being paid to push the customer toward a medication, via differential coverage/co-pays/etc?

AFAIK the illegal part of the kickback is when you're abusing your position to enrich yourself (the agent), when you have a duty to act in the best interests of the principal. You buying a widget, and then the manufacturer sending you a rebate (aka. a "kickback") isn't illegal because there's no conflict of interest. However, if you're in charge of buying widgets for a company, and the manufacturer is paying the rebate directly to you instead of the company[1], then it is illegal.

In the case of the drugs, it's fine because the person ultimately paying for the drugs is the insurance company, which also happens to be the entity receiving the "kickback".

[1] https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/former-netflix-executiv...

Re: Mark Cuban's pharmacy started with a cold email

#69

Post by cjbgkagh »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #38
cjbgkagh wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d pay $5 not to drive. Plus could the shipping be amortized over number of items.

> I’d pay $5 not to drive. Many normal pharmacies also have mail-order options. My neighborhood pharmacy includes free shipping, whereas Mark Cuban charges an extra $5. I'm baffled that so many people are consuming Mark Cuban's marketing/PR without questioning if it's really the cheapest option. It's like everyone read the press releases and just decided it sounds correct.

I assume Mark Cuban is operating for narcissistic reasons, but if his ego is fueled enough by accolades then perhaps he will deliver a low cost alternative.

In anycase, it's generics and price comparisons online are pretty easy. Iff it is cheaper I'll buy from them, if not I won't.

Re: Mark Cuban's pharmacy started with a cold email

#70

Post by fastball »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #7

On one hand, we should obviously applaud anyone doing anything to bring down drug prices. On the other hand, I'm increasingly uncomfortable with just how much free marketing and PR is being applied to the "Mark Cuban Pharmacy" without much critical examination of what's going on here. Taking one of the examples straight from their homepage: They will sell you 30 Prozac tablets for $3.90: https://costplusdrugs.com/med…

Isn't that exactly the problem? When you factor in the cost of health insurance, Americans pay a buttload for healthcare compared to the rest of the developed world. A big proportion of this is because when people see expensive drugs they just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and say "my insurance pays for it". All this once-removed cost makes it hard for people to reason about what they are overpaying for as an individual so as a society we end up overpaying for everything. This is the same reason hospitals in America have incredibly convoluted and confusing and opaque billing practices – the harder it is to parse the true price you're paying for something (esp. in advance), the harder it is to vote with your wallet.
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