I just got back from picking up two prescriptions. The clerk said that they cost $120. Shocked, I said to forget it, and I left. Then I thought to myself ” Do I really need those medications? How am I going to pay for them?” My co-pay with Blue Cross eight years ago for the same prescriptions would have been $12. Today is was $120.

Two blocks from the pharmacy I turned around and returned. While waiting for my prescription to be filled, I turned to the dozen or so people in line at the desk and said, “It is outrageous what we have to pay for medications in this country. This is immoral. And any of you who voted for Republicans in the last election have only cut your own throats. No other western industrialized country lets drug companies squeeze every penny out of their citizens like the United States does.”

According to Fortune 500 magazine, Anthem, the insurance carrier for thousands of Mainers, had a rise in profits of 51 percent last year. An article in the New York Times said that the top executives of Wyeth, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly,and Merch met recently to discuss what they expect to get from senators and representatives for the more than $30 million that the drug companies spent to help get their allies elected to Congress. They bought the Congress. Now they want a return on their investment.

Gerald Oleson

Bangor