Are Prescription Drug Prices Too High?

Imagine this: you are tragically diagnosed with a chronic life-threatening illness. Your only hope to survive is through medication to treat your disorder. The medicine is pricy but you can work out the costs each month. One day, you go to fill your prescriptions and realize the cost of a $13 pill has jumped to an astounding $750. You need this patented medication to survive and to afford it you end up losing your home, filing for bankruptcy, and sleeping in your car. This story sounds fictional but it is the reality for many Americans who can no longer afford their grossly overpriced medications.

As we advance in our healthcare system and continue to find cure for the deadly diseases we are also faced with prescription drug prices rising much faster than they were a few years back. Drug prices are increasing at an unmaintainable rate without any sign of reduction. People who are heavily affected by this rise are mostly elderly citizens and also the poor of this country because they can barely afford these expenses. These people either have no money to pay for their copays or no health insurances at all.

The prices of prescription drugs in the United States are by far the highest in the world. [1] On average, Europeans pay 40% less than Americans for the same medications. [2] Consumers have been resorting to several ways, sometimes putting themselves in harm’s way, to alleviate the burden of high prescription drug costs. Some buy their medications online or cross the borders to neighboring countries so they would be able to afford buying their needed medications. Others have resorted to the illegal act of selling their unused medications in online forums just to recover part of their expenses. Many factors contribute to the increased drug prices in the United States including research and

This topic is important because I stated before there are other human beings out there that are dying and instead of getting the treatment they need they are forced to live with the disease until they die, and pharmaceutical companies are now charging an arm and a leg. Take the medication Daraprim, a medication that is given to AIDs patients it used to cost a dollar a pill something that most individuals could pay, that was until 2010 when the company CorePharma bought the rights and started charging 13.50 a pill. (CNN Money) This amount is still semi reasonable for individuals in America, while those in Africa well if they couldn’t pay for it before then they certainly won’t be able to buy it now. (CNN Money) CorePharma was once lead by Martin Shkreli the man who is now awaiting sentencing because he was charged with fraud and conspiracy (Business Insider). This same man raised the medication again from thirteen dollars and fifteen cents up to seven hundred fifty dollars a pill, that is a five-hundred percent increase. (CNN Money). They then dropped the price in half so now pill costs

The cost of health care has been at the forefront of politics for years. It is one of the most talked about topics not just in political venues but also country wide. Every American has an opinion on how our economy can be fixed and they are passionate about health care reform. The price of insurance alone causes many Americans to not have coverage. For those that can afford coverage, the struggle to pay co pays is immensely crippling their bank accounts. Of these burdens on Americans today, the most frightening fact lies in the cost of prescription medications.

Shortages of prescription drugs in the United States are a serious threat to our nation’s health and safety. At first blush, this problem appears fairly simple and straight forward to solve. In reality, there is a complex web of causation with a number of root causes contributing to drug shortages. The aim of this paper is to answer the question: How do we mitigate prescription drug shortages? This discussion is written from the standpoint of advising the current presidential administration how to address this crisis. This essay begins with a discussion regarding the background of the issue. Next, the landscape, including stakeholders in this matter is identified. Following, political, social, economic, and practical factors surrounding

When it comes to health care, cost is one of the biggest problems. Something needs to be done in order to make it possible for patients, families, and businesses to be able to afford health care. US does not always spend health care dollars in the most productive way. The cost of cancer treatments alone can cost up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the only way to pay for that is to raise the cost of the insurance to the patients. Cost is defined as the “price” of healthcare. The “price” or cost can come from various places such as, the physician’s bill, the cost of prescriptions, as well as what the employers pay to cover their employees. The cost of treatments, emergency room visits, medicines, the cost of newest technology and etc. is what is making our increase in cost rapidly. The rising costs leads to becoming a financial burden to families, even the ones that have health insurance, which can typically result in individuals not receiving the health services that they need.

In 2014, the average cost for an individual rose to $5,615. For those that have an income over $200,000 have to pay a higher tax. This tax is called the Robin Hood redistribution and was set to begin in 2014 with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. For the employers of companies, on average, they would have to pay around 30% for their employees to be covered with healthcare and insurance whereas in 2010, they only had to pay around 10%-20% of their healthcare and insurance. Currently, Americans have higher health insurance premiums, increased deductibles through their health plans, and the highest prescription drug costs our country has ever had. The costs in prescription drugs drastically rose between 2010 and 2014. Since 2010, the average cost for a patient to fill a prescription drug through commercial plans have risen by more than 25%. Drug companies put a higher cost on their drugs in 2014 as they saw the rise of those acquiring health insurance and healthcare. However, in states such as Kentucky and Arkansas, in 2014, people who skipped paying for their medication due to the cost being so high, dropped by 15% from roughly 43% to 28% due to Obamacare. Although, with Medicaid expanding, this puts more pressure on the middle-class population in the country as well as healthcare professionals as many physicians have to pay nearly half of what they earn to the

We in America tend to take medications for almost any problem we have, from headaches to gastrointestinal pain, to more serious chronic disorders such as depression and attention deficit disorder. While many of the uses of such medications may be necessary and legitimate, many are not, and due to this fact, many people become dependent on medications, mentally, and or physically. This problem is not simply the fault of the individual; in fact, the blame can also be placed upon the medical community, and the pharmaceutical companies who produce the drugs. How often can one turn on the television to see advertisements for Claritin, Aspirin, Pepto-Bismol, or even Zoloft or Ritalin? The pharmaceutical industry is motivated by monetary

In the beginning of last year my twelve year old sister was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, which is the same concept as Crohn's. Every six weeks she has to go into the hospital to get an IV drip of the chemo drug Remicade or as all the nurses call it “Liquid gold.” They call it that because every dose that the patient gets is roughly $10,000. Each and every person all have a different view on the topic, from what the problem actually is, what is causing the high rise is pharmaceutical drugs and what the right solution would be. What we do know is this is becoming a colossal issue in today's world. It mostly is seen in the United States, where there are no laws against a free market for drug pricing; or in other words there are no rules about how to price prescription drugs. The prices of prescription drugs are rising at an very alarming rate, due to the fact that there are a lot of drug shortages and the money the companies spend on making the drug are so high. There are many different solutions to help fix the issue it all depends on what your stance is on

The rise in costs of prescription medicines affects all sectors of the health care industry, including private insurers, public programs, and patients. Spending on prescription drugs continues to be an important health care concern, particularly in light of rising pharmaceutical costs, the aging population, and increased use of costly specialty drugs. In recent history, increases in prescription drug costs have outpaced other categories of health care spending, rising rapidly throughout the latter half of the 1990s and early 2000s. (Kaiseredu.org, 2012).

In The Cost of Living, Stephen Hall discusses the astronomical prices of cancer drugs, from those that are proven to save lives, to those that may provide only another month and a half of decent life. In America we have this idea that you cannot put a price on life, and this is the idea that Hall is trying to throw out the window, in the most humanitarian way possible.

In the business of drug production over the years, there have been astronomical gains in the technology of pharmaceutical drugs. More and more drugs are being made for diseases and viruses each day, and there are many more drugs still undergoing research and testing. These "miracle" drugs are expensive, however, and many Americans cannot afford these prices.

Prescription drugs all around are very expensive, but without out them some of us would not be able to say we are alive. We can still see the price of these prescription drugs go through the roof as we speak. Although most of low-income workers can barely afford medicine and drugs, one way or another, we make it work because without it we would be dead. Although having insurance covers a lot of our medical health expenses, such as medical bills, prescription bills, hospital bills and things of this nature. As the cost of prescriptions keep going up, sometimes our insurance companies cannot cover the cost because they have hit their Cap of money able to spend. Some insurance companies have Cap for a person or a cap for a whole family it can be yearly or annually it just depends on the “deal” you worked out with your insurance provider. Most families, like my own make due to cover the cost of having insurance, yet we have to still be able to cover what remains of the prescription cost if we want to live. Money sometimes is very tight and meeting these necessary financial situations get tough.

A lot of people, particularly the patients who need them, are beginning to wonder why American drug prices are so high. It makes sense why the pharmaceutical companies are selling at the prices they do: they are a business; and they want to, above all else, make a profit. But the real question is: what are all of the