Healthcare Hullabaloo: Highlights

For me, as a youngster, the best part of going to the Doctor was reading those “Highlights” magazines in the waiting room. They usually featured great picture puzzles that would keep me entertained and distracted until I was called back into an exam room where I would wait, cold and naked, to get a needle jabbed in my butt and a thermometer rammed into an orafice that was designed to be an exit and not an entry.

One of my favorite picture puzzles was where they would present two pictures, side by side, and the reader was asked to determine ‘what is the difference between these two pictures’. For the sake of recreating that medical office fun, I’ve decided to recreate that little game, right here in my blog.

Are you ready for some fun? I hope so!

Here we go:

Picture ‘A’ is a photo of Athlete’s foot vream that my wife purchased at Walmart.

Picture ‘B’ is a tube of Athelete’s Foot Cream that I bought at the local CVS.

So, my eagle-eyed viewers, what are the differences between these two photos?

Give up? Well, just turn your computer monitor upside down and read the fine print bebeath the photos – or just read on.

Difference 1: The Walmart tube is smaller than the CVS tube. In fact, the CVS tube contains almost 3 times as much cream as the Walmart tube.

Difference 2: The WalMart cream says to use it once a day for 4 weeks. The CVS cream says to use it twice a day for 4 weeks.

Difference 3: Picture ‘A’ is a GENERIC drug – basically the non-prescription version of Lotramin. Picture ‘B’ is a name brand prescription drug..

Picture ‘A’ cost my wife 77 cents for the tube. So, for the same amount of cream as Picture ‘B’. It costs a whopping $ 2.42. I don’t really know what Picture ‘B’ costs since I have a prescription plan. However, a Google search shows that I can but the same tube of cream from a website called ‘Cheapo Drugs’ for $ 821.25.

Aren’t these side-by-side puzzles fun?

Both creams have a lot in common as well. Both have a proven track record of curing athelete’s foot. Both do it in about the same amount of time (although the prescription version has to be applied twice a day vs. Once a day for the Walmart cream. But there are more differences between the 2 products that escape the eye.

For instance, Walmart never buys my Podiatrist lunch, or gives him fancy tote bags. They never visit him at his office to extol the virtues of their 77 cent tube of ceam, or scold him for not writing enough prescriptions for their cream.

Oh yes – I just thought up another difference. That tube of Walmart cream costs almost the same amount of money as a cup of McDonalds coffee (and my local Walmart has a Mc Donalds right inside their store. This means that if you were down to your last dollar, you can choose between being sleepy or having itchy feet).

On the other hand, the CVS prescription cream costs more than I paid for my first car.