I Can Hear the Heart's Voice of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Chapter 489 - 206: The People Aren’t Sick, the Medicine Is

The elderly man spoke, pulling out an empty medicine box from his pocket and showing it to the staff.

Worried that the other person might not have seen it, he raised the empty box and pointed at it: "This is the one."

The staff only glanced at it, pretending not to see, and continued to chatter away: "Sir, if you don’t want to buy this medicine, that’s fine. We have another medicine here, which has similar ingredients to the one you mentioned, but it’s specifically for your symptoms. Why don’t I get it for you to take a look?"

"I just want this one. If you don’t have it, I’ll go check at other pharmacies." Thinking about his limited budget, the old man looked unusually firm.

"Sir, the medicine you’re talking about isn’t covered by insurance, and its effectiveness isn’t as good as these two I mentioned. I’m doing it for your benefit—these two medicines can be reimbursed by insurance, whereas the one you’re asking for has to be paid out of pocket, and ends up costing more than these two."

"I just want this one."

"Do you have it or not? If not, I’ll leave."

The staff at Huian Pharmacy clearly didn’t expect to meet such a stubborn old man, feeling a bit helpless, nodded: "We do have it, but we don’t sell much of it now, so we don’t stock much. I don’t even know where it’s kept; it’ll take a while to find it. If you’re in a hurry, I can get these two medicines for you."

The old man said nonchalantly, "It’s fine, I can wait."

The staff was truly at a loss this time. Although they couldn’t sell the two medicines they wanted, the customer couldn’t be let go just like that. So, they had to turn back and search for the medicine for the old man.

In no time, the clerk came out holding a box of medicine: "Sir, is this the one?"

The old man glanced at it, compared it with the one he had, and seeing that the medicine boxes were identical, he broke into a delighted smile: "Yes, yes, this is it. How much is it?"

"13."

"It’s even a yuan cheaper than the last time I bought it."

The old man happily paid the money and was ready to leave with the medicine.

"Sir, your medicine isn’t as effective as this one." But before he could turn away, the staff called him back.

The old man extended his hand to show them: "Didn’t bring enough money."

Staff: "..."

Watching the old man walk out the door with the medicine, the staff felt like crying without tears, realizing that after all this persuasion, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to buy, he just didn’t bring enough money. Why didn’t he say so earlier?

Had they known that, they wouldn’t have wasted all that breath.

After talking for over ten minutes, with a dry mouth, they didn’t even have time to drink water.

Seeing the pharmacy staff at a loss from the old man, some couldn’t help but laugh.

However, despite wanting to laugh, they felt an indescribable discomfort inside.

They wondered, if the old man had enough money, would he have ended up buying the medicine he didn’t want and not getting the one he originally intended to buy?

Spending money but not getting what you want, is this really a good thing?

Moreover, the medicines reimbursed by insurance are generally expensive, even shockingly so.

For example, a medicine that typically sells for ten yuan could sell for fifteen or even twenty once it’s covered by insurance; some medicines even double in price.

To be honest, the old man who didn’t bring enough money really saved quite a bit.

But while this old man was lucky, there are those who aren’t so fortunate.

Many come to buy medicine but end up not buying what they intended.

Knowing that commonly used medicine is relatively cheaper, they end up being tricked into buying the expensive ones.

Watching this unfold, Lu Xuan suddenly thought of a phrase often seen online:

"No price drops," "drop in price and perish."

Once a particular medicine is priced low, pharmacies immediately remove it from shelves, manufacturers stop production, and you simply can’t get the cheap option.

Isn’t this akin to the depraved capitalism during economic crises when milk is dumped into sewers?

Supply, demand, price, profit margin are all dictated by them, making it easy to make money.

Pharmacy merchants have lost their conscience, but what about ourselves?

Lu Xuan thought of a word.

It’s "cheap."

The more developed society becomes, the cheaper it gets.

Raising kids always calculating, lacking calcium? Lacking zinc? Lacking selenium? Might as well eat the entire periodic table.

Lu Xuan himself was fortified and refined in such a way in his youth. Later, when it didn’t feel right anymore, and after Lu Guoquan opened a clinic, hearing about some things, he stopped all that supplementation. Basically, he didn’t supplement anything, just ate fish and shrimp, gnawed on big bones, ate vegetables and fruits, drank milk, and ended up not only healthy but in great shape.

However, he also knew that this couldn’t be said to be one’s own fault, but rather that buyers can’t outsmart sellers.

Those selling medicine hope folks get sick; how can they not fall ill?

"What’s wrong with this society?" Ji Xiuwen gazed at the pharmacy ceiling, although he had seen such things before, yet this time, he felt even more emotional.

"Always feel like everyone’s sick!" Lin Yongzhen thought aloud.

Lu Xuan looked at both of them solemnly and uttered: "People aren’t sick, the medicine is."

The two were momentarily puzzled, then exchanged glances.

People aren’t sick, the medicine is.

There shouldn’t be more pharmacies than grocery stores. Issues with medical reps, medicine mark-ups, over-treatment of minor ailments, all need fixing.

Once these are sorted out, the medicine will naturally get better.

But, everyone knew, saying it is simple, getting it done is incredibly difficult.

The reason being, there are too many vested interests.

Regulating this industry, you offend too many people. This road isn’t just hard to walk, not only is the resistance tremendous, but ahead on this road, there’s a wall of steel with unknown length, thickness, and height.

Can’t get around it, and it’s impossible to get through.

Heavy-hearted, a group walked into the pharmacy.

The woman who didn’t manage to push the sale earlier still had traces of disappointment on her face, not sure whether it was because the old man didn’t bring enough money, or because her pitch failed to persuade him.

But as she was about to turn and leave, the appearance of Lu Xuan and his group rekindled her hopes, with a habitual smile she came forward, voice preceding her: "Are you here to buy medicine?"

"Is something uncomfortable, or..."

"We have professional licensed physicians here who can recommend medications tailored for you."

Underneath the professional smile was ceaseless persuasion.

Having just experienced that relentless chatter, Lu Xuan and his group showed no surprise on their faces.

"Can you prepare traditional Chinese medicine here?" Lu Xuan disregarded the thirty-something woman’s pitch and directly stated his intention, to avoid getting other medications promoted to them.

"Prepare Chinese medicine?"

Hearing this, the staff’s tone paused, and said: "Yes, we do. Do you have a prescription? Without a prescription, we can’t just mix up medicine."

There is indeed such regulation.

This is also to prevent pharmacies from randomly giving medicine for profit, leading to improper treatment despite buying the medicine, ultimately worsening health due to taking wrong medication.

This kind of thing has indeed happened.

As there’s a saying online, behind every bizarre regulation, there are some bizarre stories, or else such regulations wouldn’t exist.

However, there are countermeasures to policies.

Not randomly dispensing medicine is right, and requiring prescriptions is correct, big pharmacies often have a licensed physician on staff who can provide prescriptions as needed.

"Brought one, but it’s handwritten." Lu Xuan took out the prescription and handed it to the staff.

The staff took a look, frowned: "This won’t work, it needs to be a doctor-written prescription, or one of those electronic printed slips from a hospital."

Having said that, cautiously glanced at Lu Xuan.

The more successful the pharmacy, the more cautious they are about such matters, fearing that Lu Xuan might be a spy from another pharmacy. Once they dispense according to this prescription, a report afterward would definitely check out.

This point cannot be overlooked.

Lu Xuan also knew many pharmacies fear being reported, so some money isn’t earned if it risks penalties. Otherwise, being penalized is not a trivial matter, potentially costing tens of thousands, if not resulting in suspended operations for rectification.

So, under the staff’s wary gaze, he pulled out his practicing physician certificate.