Columnist: Lack of Choice Is ‘Price We Pay’ for Insurance
In a Los Angeles Times opinion piece, columnist David Lazarus writes that as of Jan. 1, 2013, Anthem Blue Cross members who require "specialty medicines" for complex health conditions must either buy their drugs from a mail-order pharmacy or "pay full fare at a retail drugstore." He writes that although some members might think the change in policy is unfair, "the practice of an insurer dictating terms to patients is the price we pay for an employer-based insurance system under which for-profit companies negotiate terms to keep costs down."
- "Lazarus: Patients' Choices Narrower, Yet Cost of Insurance Rises" (Lazarus, Los Angeles Times, 11/30).