Taclonex Salve

Another reason for some kind of health care bill. My dermatologist, after looking at my legs yesterday, gave me a prescription for Taclonex, a topical salve to apply once daily to my disgusting looking legs. You see, I’m now suffering from plaque psoriasis in exactly the same areas that had been afflicted by the squamous lesions I’d fought for nearly six years. Dr. Flynn didn’t think there was any relationship between the two, but I don’t see how that’s possible. Almost immediately after my last surgery for another of the many squamous cell cancers, these patches of psoriasis began to bloom on both legs from mid-calf to ankle. No more squamous lesions, but more and more psoriasis patches. From the literature I’ve studied, this is a disease of the immune system. The disgusting red patches are a result of my system producing about ten times as many skin cells as normal but shedding only ten percent of them (the normal rate). Thus, I get these expanding red areas of thickened skin with a tannish silvery material on the surface, stuff that flakes off or can be peeled off in chunks from tiny to half-dollar size. Really a pleasant mental image, right? Okay, back to the beginning, the Taclonex salve. I went to CVS to pick up my 60-g tube of the stuff and the pharmacist said she was about to call me . . . about the cost. I said, “Just give me the number.” I was already prepared for an excessive amount. She said, “$457.” I wasn’t prepared for an amount quite that large, although my earlier experience with Efudex had demonstrated the stupidity of some pharmaceutical charges. I then asked her if she stocked Taclonex in 100-g tubes. She said no, it was too expensive to carry. The day before, I had phoned a Taclonex number offering a savings card that would allow me two 100-g tubes for no higher than $50, but they had to be 100-g. I got my prescription back from CVS and went to Walgreen’s. They had a 100-g tube and they would honor my savings card and I got the prescription for that still too high price of $50, but much better than the $850 price the pharmacist told me it would have been without the card. Thus, my earlier statement that we need to pass a health care proposal that would disallow pharmaceuticals from charging these totally unreasonable prices. And the drug companies are just one side of this ever-growing triangle of medical costs—the hospitals and doctors complete this obscene figure.