Pharmaceutical Cost Research Paper

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.

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

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.

The rise in drug prices is causing the public to ask why this is so and why there isn’t anything being done, or what the reason could be for sky high prices. Some of the reasons include pharmaceutical companies setting their drug prices

This is a serious long-term concern, and needs to be addressed. Some methods to ensure medications are lowered and kept at prices Americans can afford, is to create policies to demand transparency from pharmaceutical companies, allow generic drugs to be created, and remove the ban on Medicare permitting them from negotiating prices on medications.

Prescription drug prices are on the rise in the United States. Currently, the United States does not implement a price control on prescription drugs. Every day the supply and demand for prescription drugs fluctuates. Pharmaceutical companies produce drugs that are necessary for survival. Therefore, it is necessary for research and development to continue in the United States. Those suffering the effects of exorbitant prices must do so until a generic form of a prescription drug is produced. Once approved by the FDA, new drugs will make their appearance on the market and patients will no longer suffer financially. Until then, it is necessary for pharmaceutical companies to price their drugs based on the idea of supply and demand. This produces the profit used to fund research. Price controls discourage innovation. If a price control were set in place, of course the price of prescription drugs would decrease. However, the development of new drugs decreases with it. Today’s generation would benefit from lower prices, while future generations would suffer from the loss of drug innovation.

Many people see the drug price increases made by Martin Shkreli of Turing Pharmaceuticals of the toxoplasmosis drug Daraprim by 5000%, or, the EpiPen’s 400% price hikes as being immoral, unnecessary, and just price gouging, but others and I argue that the increases are well justified and really not detrimental to consumers. Dr. Nitin Damle of the American College of Physicians had this to say on the matter to members of congress, “The research, development, regulatory, and payment systems for prescription medication are deeply intertwined, and the pressing issue of drug pricing and payment will require comprehensive efforts not only by Congress,

The article shows that in the last twelve months drugs prescriptions were really high for about 28 millions Americans and about for millions of them could not get their prescriptions altogether. Some experts think it is based to basic market economics. The point is that there is nothing that puts a stop to it said Lisa Gill of consumer Reports. Companies can charge whatever they want.

Drug cost is very high even if the patient chooses to a generic version of the medication. Although there are similar drugs available to treat the same ailment one would think it would keep the cost low to minimize the competition that has no bearing on pricing medicine. According to Kesselheim, Avorn, & Sarpatwari, (2016), between 2013 and 2015, the cost of prescription drugs in the United States increased approximately 20% exceeding the forecasted amount of 11%. The cost of prescription drugs is undeniably one of the key components that adds to the cost of healthcare. Biologic drugs such as Humira can cost the insurance companies thousands of dollars and still leave the patient to contribute a high portion of the cost. Individuals who

The cost of prescription drugs in America has risen to a level that most Americans could not afford them without the help of an insurance plan. The greedy and capitalistic pharmaceutical companies rely on the United States to fund the future development of drugs with skyrocketing prices. Public health costs are bankrupting individual Americans and posing serious challenges to the city, state, and federal budgets. Some people are even going to Canada and Europe to buy prescription drugs. A numbers of Americans are forced to choose lower-priced drugs rather than expensive prescription drugs as their first line of defense against illness. The FDA is fighting both initiatives saying “they cannot guarantee the safety of imported drugs and challenging both the safety and effectiveness of many dietary supplements”. (by. Wyn Snow)

However the pharmaceutical industry disagrees. They claim that the difference in world prices reflects the cost the companies need to recoup their research, development, and selling costs, not to mention the filing and protecting of their patents. These patents they claim are needed to ensure incentives to develop these drugs in the first place. Drug companies do the research and development work needed to discover the new drugs, and as a reward for this they have free rein to set the

“ The U.S. spends more than $1,000 per person per year on prescription drugs, that is nearly 40% more than Canada (bernie)”. Our government makes trade agreements with international drug companies that allow them to sell drugs in America for a high price, and they will not have generic competition for a long period of time (bernie). For the most part there is no safe way to import medicine because it is considered a crime in the U.S. (Torrey). If the government wants Americans to buy U.S. drugs, then they should bring generic drugs to the market

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.

Although this is not a popular concept in the United States this method is used in various countries around the world. Many critics argue that if it were implemented in the United States, it would have a negative effect on the pharmaceutical industry. It is believed that this would cause investment and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry to cease thus compromising the health of future patients. Although there is always a negative risk associated with such a drastic change it would stop pharmaceutical CEOs from running the industry as if it were a hedge fund operation. There is the high publicized case of Martin Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager turned pharmaceutical CEO who raised the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat AIDs patients, from $13.50 to $750 a tablet

This shows that insurance companies can influence the prices placed by pharmaceutical companies. If all insurance companies unified to stop purchasing overly priced medications and shopped around to cover medications from companies with the lowest price, they could create a drive to pressure pharmaceutical companies to have competing lower prices. They could also demand transparency in the cost of medications, helping bring awareness to the American consumer.