Over a beer recently, a friend volunteered he’s taking Synthroid (underactive thyroid).

Not talking about the Brewers or Packers? That’s for yous Whippersnappers!

Anyhoo, Mr. Smarty-pants countered that for the same condition, I was switched to Levothyroxine - a generic alternative - decades ago. It costs 27 cents/pill; Synthroid's $1.77. That translates to either $27.48 or $158.94 for a typical 90-day/100 mcg prescription.

Sources estimate 5 of every 100 Americans over age 12 have hypothyroidism; that’s roughly 13 million people. 

Stay with me. (This is more ‘fun’ than tracking Peralta’s ERA or Love’s QBR.)

Extrapolated, if everyone took Synthroid, the total annual spend would be about $8.3 billion; if the generic equivalent, ‘just’ $1.5 billion. 

Now the penultimate punch line.

My doctor is independent. My buddy’s doc is a captive employee of a local Health System, where they also conveniently fill prescriptions. 

Ya don’t s’pose PHARMA and ‘MEGA-HEALTH’ have some ‘arrangement?’

“Shut the front door!” 

Oh, and according to the FDA, there are 20,000 other prescriptions available to consumers.

My calculator just exploded.

Finally. Using Tiered Co-Pays and new transparency Apps, our “greedy, for profit” insurers try and help us be savvy consumers. But Dr. Welby always knows best!