a brief medical update

I'm supposed to get a long overdue gastrointestinal (GI) exam on Friday morning next week in the wee early hours, before dawn. I already bought all of the things I need for the "cleansing" beforehand, except for the magnesium citrate solution. There wasn't any at the Cub (grocery) pharmacy. There wasn't any available online at CVS or Walgreens. I called this morning to ask the GI team at the hospital what I should do. They said they would send a prescription order for it to the Cub pharmacy. I said that it wasn't on the shelf, because I already was there physically and looked. Apparently these days, pharmacies keep magnesium citrate in stock behind the counter. Sure enough, I picked up the prescribed solution at the grocery this afternoon. The pharmacy even handed it to me "at no cost". That's right, zero.

I have no idea what's going on with that zero cost. Even my monthly blood pressure medication cost $0.16 at the counter, definitely but barely above zero. I even asked the lady at the checkout counter for my groceries, showing her my bottle with the prescription label on it. "They said it was zero cost?" "Yes, that's what they said." "Then it really is. I don't need to ring it up."

Does anyone know if magnesium citrate is an ingredient in some kind of unhealthy or illegal street recipe for some other drug? Why would nobody have stock for it, but it's still available by prescription, when it's clearly a non-prescription product?

Entirely separately, while checking online to find the GI team's phone number to ask about the missing magnesium citrate, I found that I had a bill for my sleep study a few weeks ago. That bill amounts to $2,013.00.

*cough*

My parents left a nice gift check for me during their visit, so I don't have to dip into my savings to cover the cost, but it's certainly a lot more than I was expecting to pay. And I still have the GI exam in a few days. And I still need to get my dental guard replaced, which is a custom fit thing.

At some point, USA costs become so prohibitive that medical tourism becomes a necessity. Take an airplane to a clinic in another country, get the work done, and immediately fly back. Still cheaper than healthcare in the USA.