I take a pill every day, one of a class of drugs called Protease Proton (thanks, Frank) Pump Inhibitors (PPI), for acid reflux (really wicked-bad heartburn). There are a lot of different ones — Nexium, Prilosec, Aciphex, and so on — but they all do the same thing: keep me from being in intense pain for more than half my waking hours. They’re also all horrendously overpriced — $3-5 a pill. I have health insurance, but my monthly co-pay is $25/month, and every single time I refill my prescription my asshole insurance company gives me some kind of run-around: I have to call them, call my doctor, whatever.
Today, I saw a Canadian doctor who recommended that I try Pariet, a very cheap new PPI from Janssen-Ortho. Like all the other PPIs, these pills make acid reflux go away. Unlike all the other pills, these ones are CHEAP. Like, $0.50 per. I.e., less than my insurance co-payment.
Screw American health care and the FDA and screw Big Pharma and its outrageous, hyped-up, over-advertised Nexium. I bought 200 Pariets. Looks like a lot of Canadian pharmacies are willing to ship Pariet south of the border, too. If you’re on PPIs, this might be the thing you’ve been looking for.