So they're gonna undercut pharmacies until they corner the market and then jack prices back up, but higher than before and reep all that profit. Right?

Not only will it give Amazon a new market to lord over, but more data on its customers. Knowing what illnesses a person has will help them sell other items by advertising things that will seem tantalizing. Bipolar makes you impulse buy? Amazon will know that. Depression makes you crave sweets? Amazon can sell that. Bezos doesn't care how predatory this business practice is because he's a monster and all of humanity is his prey.

I work retail pharmacy. My specific job title is Inventory Technician, which means that my job in addition to the regular duties of a technician (inputting prescriptions, filling prescriptions, navigating insurance issues, ringing out patients for their prescriptions, ensuring paperwork is filed, ensuring confidentiality laws are adhered to, etc.) I’m also in charge of ordering medicine, as well as ensuring that expired medicines are disposed of and recalled medications are pulled from our shelves and waiting bins.

Now, the reason why Amazon is able to undercut the prices of Pharmacies is because basically, they are going directly from the manufacturer to the patient, which allows them to bypass the standard issues that we at retail have to deal with with insurance (basically in the US when your insurance pays for your drugs they pay a certain amount to the manufacturer, a certain amount to the vendor, a certain amount to the Pharmacy, and then the rest is usually your copay.) Since they are the vendor and pharmacy, they can just go directly from price of purchase from manufacturer to patient. But there’s another issue I see here. Amazon is probably sourcing their drugs from a cheap market. And let me tell you something, I have had to deal with a lot of Class I and Class II drug recalls this past year that my pharmacy was unaffected by because we didn’t use the “cheap” suppliers.

Amazon WILL cut corners to maximize their profits on this, they WILL use the lowest bid supplier for their drugs and there WILL be class I recalls on their medication, and at that point the users will have to what? Mail it back to Amazon and have them send a replacement?

I also know how much of an issue prescriptions can be when a Doctor sends in ambiguous scripts, but Amazon isn’t going to care about clear instructions. Hell, I doubt they’re really going to actually have someone go through and type up the clear instructions, it will probably just take the escript data and type it up exactly as it came in and send it to billing and filling. So be prepared to get a shipment from Amazon containing a single insulin pen that’s supposed to last a month because the doctor put a dispense quantity of 1 box, but the escript said 1 pckge and the computer interpreted a package to be a single pen.

Now technically PHI law states that Amazon is legally not allowed to use your health profile to market items to you. Practically that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. I already have had one person tell me that they abandoned setting up an Amazon profile because they were worried about the personal questions being asked.

However one of the biggest concerns is that they’ll offer a system “for conveniences’ sake” where if your credit card is attached to your Amazon profile that they’ll just automatically fill, bill, and send your medications to you. And that this system will bypass all insurance and DUR issues. Doctor sent a $300 rx for eyedrops? Yup, that comes to you no chance to say “can we call my doctor for a cheaper alternative?” You have a peanut allergy and they sent in a prescription for Progesterone? Sure, here you go. Patient is on Suboxone and the doctor sent in an RX for Norco? Have at it buddy!

And when something inevitably happens, they’ll just shrug and go “oh well, we’re not liable because reasons!”

The $300 eyedrop situation is real. There are multiple very good and common eyedrops out there that sometimes copay for $10 but sometimes end up costing $600. And sometimes we don't know which one it will be until the patient shows up at the pharmacy. I always, ALWAYS tell my patients not to pay more than a certain amount of those drops and have the pharmacy call me if it ends up being more. Amazon will not do that. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, as the above comment says. Also, not only will Amazon be able to undercut prices because of cutting out middlemen and using inexpensive sources, but they can literally afford to sell at a loss. A lot of large corporations do this to destroy their competition and then, once they're the only option left, they jack up the prices again. But Amazon can afford to lose money on prescription drug sales for a few years while it corners the market. Bezos is the richest man in the world. A few million in losses over a few years to secure the American pharmaceutical market is completely worth it to him. And the profit he'll make down the road will pay him back for those losses and then some. Private pharmacies will never be able to compete, and even other large pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS won't be able to keep up unless they find a way to stay a step ahead of Bezos. Amazon needs to be broken up. It is monopolizing our entire market, every corner of it. And healthcare needs to be public so everyone gets drugs for the same price regardless of where you're getting them from.

no but if you can't explain what end you're hoping for when you ask someone to read or engage ‘critically’ with something you should actually keep your mouth shut

a lot of people say “think critically :)” and mean ‘you must end up hating this (and perform your disgust and shame to the public)’ when ideally it should mean ‘there's a lot here to unpack and discover, and you might come away with different thoughts than you started with, so it'd be a valuable process’ but they don't actually want you to think. they just want you to hate it and feel bad.

hating a thing isn't synonymous with having thought critically about it. sometimes you think about stuff and come away loving it more. if that never happens to you then idk what to tell you but you certainly aren't qualified to preach at others

“Hating a thing isn’t synonymous with having thought critically about it” is especially true when you realize that most people experience an emotional reaction and THEN create a rationale to back it up rather than vice versa.

I honestly don’t understand why there aren’t more people who, when given the platform to discuss minimum wage, don’t simply distill it to the simplest of facts:

Always reblog.

Hey guys,

I’ll make this short. Today a racist idiot burned our car completely. It can only be sold for scrap because the motor, brain and sensors are fried.

We’re a family of black latine immigrants. we did not get any stimulus checks. I was forced to drop out cause I can’t pay for college so I’m using my shop to sustain my family, and without a car this is just so, so much more difficult.

I beg of you. If you’ve ever used these:

Please. please consider boosting and/or donating. I’m in complete shambles over this. 

http://paypal.me/mothcharm  http://ko-fi.com/swordknight  https://mothcharm.bigcartel.com

Thank you ♥

catholic pez

no idea if this is true, but it feels true

I heard an interview, can’t remember the psychologist, but he was explaining this idea and encouraging people to stop and take a deep breath and literally drink in small moments like you’re a dryass plant when something is ever satisfactory, positive, mildly successful, randomly joyful so your brain can code and integrate that experience because our natural lizard brain will quickly tape over it with mostly unnecessary negative survival shit. Sounds dumb and dorky but sometimes I remember this when I’m feeling good about a moment because our cave brains are still catching up with modern life without sabertooths. I like that it’s not just a pollyanna gosh just be more positive thing but more of a legit brain wiring phenomenon can be gradually hacked through small behavioral changes.

Another super important one: Take the time to tell yourself, when something you did or bought or decided works out “That was a good decision and I’m glad I made it! Go me!” 

Seriously, it can have a huge impact. suddenly you go from remembering nothing but bad decisions to adding in a series of Excellent Choices You Feel Good About, and it makes things so much better. 

#we’re all running happiness software on survival hardware and we gotta do our own firmware updates   from @galwednesday 

It is true. This is one of the fundamental tenets of learning theory. That’s why it takes many more positive experiences to outweigh a negative.

Dear tumblr, have we heard about the sweeping reforms announced by the new LA DA?? Because I read a thread by the guy this morning that actually made me weep.

Here it is if you haven't seen it yet:

I legitimately didn’t think these changes would be made anywhere in the country in my lifetime.

This is still one of the best executed jokes I’ve ever seen

the human stress response seems so maladaptive!

To be fair 99% of our evolutionary stress response was meant to deal with far more immediately conclusive scenarios than the tedious bullshit we put up with these days.

very very slow tigers are chasing me

not to leave a serious comment on a silly post but one of the best pieces of advice I ever got about stress was to SLEEP but secondly, when overwhelmed, lay in a bed and intentionally hold all your muscles clenched. clench EVERYTHING. hold it for a few seconds, then let go. It tricks your animal fight-or-flight monkey brain into thinking it had, and won, a fight, and some of the stress response will leave you

#turn a slow tiger into a fast tiger with this fucked up trick

enrichment speedrun

NO ONE is more disappointed that Aubrey Plaza didn’t end up with K Stew more than Aubrey Plaza herself

Criminal is not a category of person!!!! How do people go through their whole lives never questioning the validity of “criminal” as a noun!!?! “Crime” I can get my head around, okay, but “criminal”???? What does that MEAN? Does it mean “person who has committed a crime” because that’s EVERY PERSON!!!!!!!! Have you jaywalked ever in your life! Okay then you’re a criminal! If you DON’T think you’re a criminal, the word means some OTHER, MAGICAL thing to you, and for the love of whatever god or spirit or principle or eldritch entity you base your moral compass on, PLEASE think critically about WHAT THAT IS!!! Because 9 chances out of 10 it’s “someone the government has told me isn’t really a person and i decided not to question it”!!!

Women should NOT be forced to feed their babies in a bathroom, all because we live in a misogynistic, porn-warped society that’s been brainwashed to believe that female breasts used for anything other than male pleasure is “indecent”. Support public breast feeding and end the porn culture.

Forever reblog

No. I’m eating. I don’t wanna see you hang out your goddamn tits while I have food. My kids don’t wanna see it. It’s not some misogynistic ideal, it’s fucking public indecency. Can I take my cock out under the table and feed my wife/girlfriend? No? Fuck you

i genuinely cannot believe that you just compared a blowjob to breastfeeding oh my fucking god 

getting a blowjob is a sexual thing and it also does not ‘feed’ anyone whereas breastfeeding is literally not even a sexual thing a baby is having food that they need to live like it’s nowhere near on the same level as getting a blowjob omg

if you are uncomfortable seeing a woman breastfeeding then that is your problem because you have oversexualised breasts so much that you can’t even stand seeing them being used for their actual purpose and also you’re an idiot

go eat your dinner in a public bathroom, you trash bag

End skeevy dudes who compare whipping out their dick in public to breast feeding 2k15

DO YOU FEED YOUR CHILDREN SEMEN? SHOVE A TRASH CAN UP YOUR ASS

Pediatric anthropology student, here.

1.) Breasts as sexual fetishes is a (largely Western) cultural construction. Yes, it’s a fetish – anything you are sexually attracted to that is not the genitals of an adult is a fetish, or paraphilia. My professors have met non-Westerners who think our men are “like babies” because they are attracted to breasts.

Breasts ≠ genitals. Scientifically, they are considered secondary sexual characteristics – same category as facial hair. They can be sexual in a sexual context, just as necks and feet can be. But their primary purpose is reproductive.

2.) Breastmilk is not a “bodily fluid.” It is FOOD.

It is not categorized by the CDC as a biohazard, and so no you don’t need to freak out if your coworker wants to store her milk right next to your Lunchables.

MOREOVER,

Breastmilk is not just protein and vitamins. It is a living, dynamic substance that BUILDS HUMANS.

It has hundreds of ingredients (<— actually that list needs to be updated because they’ve discovered more already). There is a lab at the University of Washington St. Louis, where they have written all of the ingredients of human milk on the wall – They have run out of room on that wall. Among those ingredients:

These ingredients change hour-to-hour according to the baby’s needs. It will even add more water on hot/dry days. Fuck, breastmilk kills cancer in a petri dish. Breastmilk. is. not. a. bodily. fluid. It. is. liquid. gold. 3.) When you tell a woman to go to the bathroom to breastfeed, you are perpetuating the notion that it is dirty and shameful and needs to be hidden away. This idea is the biggest barrier to achieving breastfeeding goals in the United States. Because women feel ashamed, they often stay isolated at home when they should be spending time out and about with friends and family and having, like, a life. This isolation can contribute to postpartum depression. From the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding: Women may find themselves excluded from social interactions when they are breastfeeding because others are reluctant to be in the same room while they breastfeed. For many women, the feeling of embarrassment restricts their activities and is cited as a reason for choosing to feed supplementary formula or to give up breastfeeding altogether. And since we have this culture of shame and privacy surrounding breastfeeding, young girls and women don’t see it enough to learn what is normal/not and how to do it, so they often give up when they run into problems because they don’t realize there’s an easy fix. Moreover, an infant needs to be integrated into society in order to develop properly. He/she needs to see faces and hear voices. Isolating them – or throwing a blanket over their head – takes this important component of their development away. It also often annoys them because they are understimulated. 4.) YOU NEED TO SEE IT. That’s right, YOU. Even if you are a dude. Maybe you aren’t a parent, but you probably have loved ones who are. Or you might become one yourself someday. And if you are American chances are you have no idea how breastfeeding actually works, because you never fucking see it. It’s messy and complicated, and hard. It used to be a part of everyday life, because there weren’t any alternatives – So we learned how to do it by being around it all the time, NBD. The whole sexualization/modesty thing surrounding breasts wasn’t a thing until like the mid-20th century. Check out this 1871 drawing of a woman breastfeeding IN FUCKING CHURCH:

She’s covered head to toe, in accordance with modesty standards of the time – except for her breast, about which the people around her give zero fucks. More from the Surgeon General: In American culture, breasts have often been regarded primarily as sexual objects, while their nurturing function has been downplayed. Although focusing on the sexuality of female breasts is common in the mass media, visual images of breastfeeding are rare, and a mother may never have seen a woman breastfeeding. Mothers need to see it. Future mothers need to see it. Future fathers need to see it. Family members need to see it. Everybody needs to see it. SO THEY FUCKING GET USED TO IT. So, no, I’m not gonna go to the bathroom to feed my kid. If you don’t want to see it, then DON’T. FUCKING. LOOK.

T

Reblogging for that ABSOLUTE scientific combo!

Breastfeeding is literally the way humans evolved to feed babies. It should not be seen as something sexual or compared to anything sexual, and far more accommodations should be made for breastfeeding than currently exist. 

Some companies/locations are adding breastfeeding rooms for their employees who are breastfeeding, but then their coworkers use them for naps, personal calls, or workspaces, then tell the people who actually need the space for its intended function to wait until they’re done with it, which is painful for the people affected by their inconsideracy. (if the link insertion doesn’t work bc tumblr is a dumpster fire here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/09/men-using-lactation-rooms-breastfeeding-at-work ) 

In the US, it was normal until the mid 20th century, when, during the 1950s (because of course it was the 1950s) baby formula became popular and advertising campaigns convinced the US public that breastfeeding was primitive, poison for the baby, and that baby formula was far healthier (my grandmother remembers this information being spread about and told me about this herself). 

-FemaleWarrior 

my LGBTQA+ friend group call that mixed fruit

And my mentally ill friend group call that mixed nuts

being LGBTQA+ and a mentally ill friend group call that trail mix 

change your name and gender at least twice a year for security reasons

using a gender manager so I don't have to memorize what gender I'm currently using for which accounts

“Man” and “Woman” are commonly used genders. To make yourself more secure, try to come up with a unique gender that only you know.

TWILIGHT (2008) THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY | “Öga for Öga” (2020)

Malcolm In The Middle (2000-2006)

Good Omens (2019)

every week in 2020

being able to teleport must suck ass when you have adhd

“why the FUCK am I in nevada”

You’re there to help count votes.

Just want to say how proud of i am of america right now. Removing a dictator during a dictatorship is near impossible (typically it takes civil war or a death/ power vacuum) but for four years you’ve been fighting back and now you’re fighting a heavily rigged, horribly unfair election and not giving Trump that “landslide victory” dictators typically get. I want you to know that many of us across the world, see those 50/50 looking results and don’t see america as half and half but 30% cultists who were given an easy vote and 70% people who’s vote was very hard to get out (we saw the lines, we saw the fake ballotboxes) and often outright thrown away. We hear that more people voted for Biden than have ever voted for a candidate before. We see your judges fighting to have every vote counted and the diverse new congressfolks you’ve voted in. The narrative of a close race omits that one team had skates on a downhill road and the other had an obstacle couse littered with dirty needles, fences to break through, barbed wire to crawl under and rabid dogs blocking the way.

I really needed to hear this, actually.

I didn’t ask to be born here. It’s nice to hear someone notice we’re trying.

I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS REAL

HOOOOOOOOOOOLD the phone it’s real

it’s reeeeeeeeal