Yes, insurance prices are going up due to the number of prescriptions people 
need, the drug companies have learned how to educate doctors so people do 
need them.  The following is from "MEDSCAPE's Diabetes and Endocrinology 
MedPulse"

<QUOTE>
TREND OF THE MONTH: DRAMATIC INCREASE IN DRUG SPENDING LARGELY
ATTRIBUTABLE TO FEW COSTLY MEDICATIONS
From
<A HREF="http://diabetes.medscape.com/SCP/DBT/public/journal.DBT.html">Drug Benefit Trends</A>®

Trend of the Month
Dramatic Increase in Drug Spending Largely Attributable to Few Costly 
Medications

[<A HREF="http://diabetes.medscape.com/SCP/DBT/public/archive/2001/toc-1307.html">Drug Benefit Trends</A> 13(7):6-7, 2001. © 2001 Cliggott Publishing Co., 
Division of SCP/Cliggott Communications, Inc.]Spending on outpatient retail 
prescription drugs rose 18.8% from $111.1 billion in 1999 to $131.9 billion 
in 2000. An increase in the number of prescriptions overall and a shift 
toward the use of costlier drugs continued to be the central forces driving 
up this spending (see cover), according to a study issued by the National 
Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM).The rising volume of 
prescriptions is due to an increase in population, the aging of the 
population, an increase in the number of persons being prescribed a drug, and 
an increase in the number of prescriptions per person (Figure 1). The average 
number of prescriptions per person in the United States rose from 7.3 in 1992 
to 9.6 in 1998, according to a Kaiser Foundation study. The NIHCM study 
indicates a further increase to 9.9 prescriptions per person in 1999 and 10.4 
in 2000.    Figure 1. (click image to zoom) The number of prescriptions has 
been rising steadily, with the latest annual increase from 2.7 billion 
prescriptions in 1999 to 2.9 billion prescriptions in 2000. 
The bulk of the 1-year spending growth was attributable to increased 
expenditures among a relatively small number of drugs and categories of 
drugs. About half (51.4%) of the $20.8 billion increase in retail drug 
spending in 2000 occurred in just 8 categories of medicines -- those to treat 
high cholesterol, arthritis, chronic pain, depression, ulcers and other 
stomach ailments, high blood pressure, diabetes, and a predisposition to 
seizures    
.
<UNQUOTE>

Anybody see anything above not likely to be caused by low thyroid that's not 
treated properly?  Well, maybe the stomach ulcers aren't a direct thyroid 
problem, but I've said that before and turned out to be wrong.  

Skipper Beers

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