In article >,
"jmcquown" > wrote:

> "Ed Pawlowski" > wrote in message
> ...
> > On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:11:09 -0700, sf > wrote:
> >
> >>On Sat, 5 Nov 2011 18:53:05 -0400, "jmcquown" >
> >>wrote:
> >>
> >>> What happened to the days when hospitals had pharmacies?
> >>
> >>You must be in a red state. My hospital has a pharmacy.
> >
> > Every hospital has a pharmacy. They won't sell you drugs though. Of
> > the six or so hospitals I'm familiar with you won't get an aspirin
> > unless you are an in-patient. (that is in two blue states too)
>
>
> Exactly! The hospitals dispense drugs to in-patients. Not to patients who
> have checked out of the facility. For those you have to go to a drug store
> or other places that have pharmacies.

Seems a little odd to me, but I'm sure there's a reason. Nearly
everybody who leaves a hospital needs drugs, at least that's my
experience. Why not pick them up at the hospital? When it's time to
leave the hospital, my wife is there to give me a ride, so she actually
goes down to the pharmacy.

I've belonged to the same HMO for 40 years. They have hospitals,
clinics, pharmacies and labs. They have doctors, other medical folks
and support people. It's all very easy and streamlined. I present my
card, they swipe it, I pay any copay and I'm on my way. There is almost
no billing.

And yes, I can get an aspirin (or a bandaid) at any Kaiser pharmacy, at
a pretty good price (but not as cheap as Costco). In fact, I was at my
local (3 miles away) Kaiser pharmacy just this week to pick up a
prescription and some alcohol wipes, and as I was waiting in line I saw
a tub of aspirin bottles. They were the baby aspirin for adults, 81mg
coated tablets. Looked like a good price.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA