Hacker News Reader

Prescribing doctors don't get 6% of the cost unless they're also supplying it. Lucentis is injected with a needle into your eyeball, so you probably want your ophthalmologist to do it in their office.

My doctor injects medication into me every few months. I go to the pharmacy to pick it up first, and then go to the doctor to get it injected.

It's actually 4% now that sequestration is in effect.

They get a 6% margin to account for all the other overhead associated with stocking the product. Someone has to order the drug, receive the drug, stock the drug, retrieve the drug and ready the drug for administration.

If they don't get that 6%, they lose money each time they administer the drug.

I don't see an interpretation of what was said in the article where reimbursement of the cost goes to a pharmacy and 6% goes to the doctor, though admittedly I skimmed.