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Comment by lettergram | Hacker News Reader

Having multiple deadly allergies and needing to purchase EpiPens regularly, their price doesn't seem outrageous to me.

I pay about $10 a pen, insurance pays about $100 per (even after the price increase). That being said, people rarely use this drug. $100 to save your life once a year or so kind of seems like a fair trade.

This seems more like the media is outraged as opposed to the country. All my friends don't even know about this price change, I only know about it because I read the news more often.

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"I pay about $10 a pen, insurance pays about $100 per (even after the price increase)."

You don't have your facts straight and seem unaware of the more recent increases. The price for a set of 2 pens was:

$103.50 in 2009

$264.50 in July 2013

$461.00 in May 2015

$608.61 in May 2016

Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/08/22/epipen-price-rise-s...

You say you + your insurance pay $110 per pen, so $220 for a set, so you seem to be paying the price as of right before May 2015, and you haven't bought a pen since then. You might be in for a big surprise next time you have to buy one.

>you seem to be paying the price as of right before May 2015, and you haven't bought a pen since then. You might be in for a big surprise next time you have to buy one.

Express scripts co-pay has only gone up $0.45 in that time.^1

>Express Scripts says it has been able to hold costs steady for its members: its commercially insured population has seen their co-payments for EpiPen go from $73.05 in January 2015 to $73.50 in July 2016, even though the price of EpiPen rose by 51% over that period of time.

[1]http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2016/08/30/the-con...

How much does your insurance plan cost you per year? If your employer pays it, ask them how much they have to pay.

Part of the reason it is so expensive is because of monopolistic pricing on many drugs and treatments.

You are paying way more than $100

Also you have to buy more than one because they expire.

It's entirely possible that their PBM has negotiated a price of $100 per pen.

Mylan is happy to give people $300 coupons to get them to use their insurance, it wouldn't be weird for them to agree to sell the pens to an insurer for $100.

You don't need to ask, it's on your W2.

yep. Look for "code DD in Box 12 of W-2". That is the total cost you and your employer paid together.

You need to purchase EpiPens, and you happy how your insurance pays most of the price. Somebody else on your insurance plan needs some other drug that is overcharged, but subsidized by an insurance. You both think that you've got good deal, but actually you both (or your employer) paying for your drugs (almost) full price anyways - through insurance premium. Or you think the premium will stay same if drug prices keep increasing?

...says the guy with (good) insurance.

works on MY machine!

You should care

You (and everybody else) pay the increase in increased premiums

Regulation prevents (cheaper) alternatives from reaching the market

Not to mention $100 for an Epipen is just a ridiculous price

"I pay about $10 a pen"

Now let's say you got fired tomorrow when you go to work. Aah, this changes EVERYTHING, doesn't it.

The point is not what you actually pay for a Pen. The point is that SOMEONE is paying for it which is not reasonable. Your employer is paying most of the premium so you may not realize. Lose your job and try buying insurance out of pocket. You will know what it really costs. Oh and don't forget to learn all about the various cryptographic terms such as deductible, co-insurance, co-payment, in-network, out of network, PCP referral required...

If you have an extreme sensitivity you'd probably be happy to pay $5,000 a year to save your life.

The question is, why don't we operate our regulatory system in such a way that companies making a product that costs ~$30 only make a hefty profit, say 100%. The only answer is because we are stupid.

You mean the only answer is because we are all temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

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