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The 1200% Increase in my Prescription Drug Costs

2011-01-25 · Hank · watch on YouTube · Health · advocacy activism

Lower-confidence wave

2011 videos did not pass the QA gate (17 %); their analysis is shown but less reliable.

Hank, furious that the price of his ulcerative-colitis drug Asacol HD jumped from $50 to $620 a month when a patient savings card lapsed early, asks viewers to write civilly to Warner Chilcott's CEO and argues this must be fixed for everyone, not just him.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting: Hank is very pissed off and reorganizes his bookshelf to calm down

  • ★ Hank is very pissed off and reorganizes his bookshelf, one of the few things that calm him, while explaining why. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ The description asks viewers to write a nice letter to Roger Boissonneault asking why the price rose so much, why the programme expired four months early, and why his doctor was not contacted. — 00:00:00 · Nerdfighteria

00:00:11 — Ulcerative colitis, Asacol, Apriso and Asacol HD's patent extension; the pharmacy tells him the price rose from $50 to $620

  • ★★ Hank has ulcerative colitis, a chronic illness with no known cure, and has taken the medicine Asacol for about five years. — 00:00:11
  • ★★ Asacol's price kept rising; then Apriso, basically the same drug and significantly cheaper, came on the market, so Hank switched to it. — 00:00:25
  • ★★★ Hank says Asacol's maker then created Asacol HD just as Asacol was about to go generic: basically the same drug under a name different enough to extend its patent. (playful) — 00:00:37
  • ★★ Asacol used to cost Hank $300 a month; Asacol HD was offered to him at $50 a month. — 00:00:56
  • ★★★ After three months on Asacol HD, the pharmacy told Hank the price had gone up: $620 for him, which he calls a 1200% increase in one month. — 00:01:02

00:01:26 — The savings card's April Fools' expiry, a full 1-800 mailbox, and what people who can't afford it will do

  • ★★ Hank's patient savings card, which let him get the drug for $50 a month, lists an expiration date of April 1st, 2011 (April Fools' Day), yet already expired before then. — 00:01:26
  • ★★ Calling the card's 1-800 number, Hank got a long-wait message and then a mailbox that was full. — 00:01:50
  • ★★★ Hank can afford it and has medication left over, but asks what people who can't afford it will do; there is no reason the price of medication should go up. — 00:02:13
  • ★★ Hank says it is the same medication the company has been making for twenty years. — 00:02:25
  • ★★ The company did not try to contact Hank's doctor before the colossal increase, and the April Fools' expiration date was obviously just made up. — 00:02:28

00:02:39 — Hank contacts Warner Chilcott's CEO and asks viewers to email him civilly; make Warner Chilcott a curse word

  • ★★ Hank spent much of the weekend finding ways to contact Warner Chilcott, the drug's maker; he found its CEO's phone number to call him, and emailed CEO Roger Boissonneault. — 00:02:39
  • ★★★ Hank puts the CEO's email address in the description and asks viewers to think about the situation complexly, be civil, and tell him how they feel about what his company has done. — 00:02:59
  • ★★ If Warner Chilcott does not change the policy, Hank thinks John and Nerdfighteria should make 'Warner Chilcott' a new curse word; he later uses it as a verb. (playful) (hedged) — 00:03:10 · Nerdfighteria, John Green
  • ★★ Companies will only stop doing 'BS like this' if people stand up to it and say it is not okay, Hank says. — 00:03:20

00:03:29 — Asks John to help him think complexly; not a 'me issue', fix it for everyone; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank asks John, in his next video, to help him understand the situation complexly and stop being so pissed off; there are much greater injustices in the world. — 00:03:29 · John Green
  • ★★★ Hank stresses this is not a 'me issue': he can be fixed, but it needs fixing for everyone, telling companies it is not okay to treat people like this. — 00:03:41

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