Would You Steal Medication if You Needed It?

If you didn't have the money to pay for medication you needed, could you ever come to the point where you'd steal it?

Something similar occurred in Oak Grove on April 27. A 52-year-old man from the North Druid Hills-Briarcliff area walked into at 2781 Lavista Rd. and tried to fill a Lipitor prescription, DeKalb County police said.

But when it came time to pay, the man and the pharmacist began arguing over a $25 coupon for the medication. The man asked to see the medication, and when the pharmacist went to help another customer, the man was gone, the police report said. 

The medication is worth about $160, but because he had health insurance, the suspect was only required to pay a $42 copay.

Is this an interesting anecdote in the larger healthcare debate? Granted, this man has insurance, and many do not. But, depending on the duration of the prescription, $42 can be considered a lot to pay, and it's more serious when the drug is designed to keep your cardiovascular system from seizing on you.

What do you think when you hear about a man stealing his medication from a pharmacy? And does this, in any way, tie into the larger health debate in this country? Tell us in the comments section below.