Synthesis Essay On Drug Cost

Healthcare legislation in the United States has been a hot topic for many years now, and the introduction of the so-called "healthcare law has" only invigorated that. While it is important for a healthcare professional to understand the impact of the larger healthcare law, it is also important to know how other bills before Congress impact patients and the economy as a whole. One such bill under consideration by the United States Senate is S.27 designated that "Preserve Access to Affordable Generics" Act (this was previously designated S.369 (Policy and Medicine, 2011)). The goal of this paper is to examine this bill as to economic impact, equity, administrative resources, and the role of the nurse.

One of this health care’s programs objective is to limit the number of uninsured (Shi & Singh, 2015). This controversial healthcare plan incorporates a privately funded insurance which is paid for through employment and solely by the patient and a publicly funded insurance by the government. Medicare is provided for senior citizens 65 and older, and Medicaid is provided for low income citizens. The federal government and state government both partake in the funding of Medicaid. Although insurance is provided to the low income through Medicaid, the United States continues to suffer from cost escalation spending 17.1 percent of GDP on healthcare in 2013, a 50 percent more than the second nation (Commonwealth, n.d.) The high cost and limited coverage continues to spark up the conversation for a

I did not know the government was a major purchaser of prescription drugs. This is how they set and control the prices for Medicaid, Medicare and Veterans Affairs recipients programs. They pay for a certain portion of their medication and this is why some recipients pay nothing or a very small amount for their prescription.

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.

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.

Through the years doctors’ and pharmaceutical companies have become greedy. Doctors diagnose patients, prescribe medications, and send them to pharmaceutical companies that charge high prices for medications that help maintain their well-being. Although over half of our elderly individuals with Social Security and Medicare benefits are already struggling to accommodate their ends. Therefore a reform of both Social Security and Medicare needs to take place before it is too late. Social Security and Medicare funding will be the most important problem that America will face in the coming decade.

As our great country grows we fix and find new problems every day. One of the biggest debates in the country is regarding whether or not the new “Affordable Care Act” is posing a problem to American society and lifestyle. Many actors, sports men, and friendly faces would tell you how wonderful it will be for American medicine once the populace is insured. However “Affordable care is more of a pipe dream in America until we are a more fiscally stable country, as well as a better approach to socialized medicine. For now the only thing we should be doing regarding health care is stapling a limit to make it more affordable for middle and lower class people instead of penalizing people for something they cannot afford.

Under the existing federal Medicaid pharmacy benefit program, fee-for-service reimbursement rates for prescription drugs are based on the actual invoice cost of prescription drugs plus a reasonable professional dispensing fee. Any federal reforms to Medicaid which would allow states to set Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement rates below actual drug acquisition costs could seriously jeopardize Medicaid patient access to Medicaid drugs. Whether in a Medicaid managed care or fee-for-service setting, a Medicaid program that reimburses below actual drug costs raises a barrier that may limit or eliminate access points for patients to utilize their Medicaid drug benefits. Even with a cost-based drug reimbursement floor, Medicaid programs can fully avoid patient access barriers only through the addition of adequate dispensing fees that are more reflective of the cost to provide healthcare services in the

Why are prescription medications so expensive in the United States? This is a fair question considering citizens of other countries pay much less for their medications than those in the US. For example, Jevtana, a medication used to treat prostate cancer costs $8,659 for 30 mg through Medicare. However, across the border in Ontario, the same dose costs $4,618 [5]. In another well publicized case, the price of Daraprim, an antifungal medication, was raised from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill after being acquired by Turing Pharmaceuticals. That is a 5,000% price hike. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that pharmaceuticals are a big business in the US. Yet the question remains. Why are they so expensive?

For almost a year now, prescription drugs continue to be one the pressing issues in healthcare reform. Drug pricing specifically, has made its way center stage as a result of numerous revenue-lifting actions from pharmaceutical companies, the most recent case being the arrest of Turing Pharmaceuticals’ CEO, Martin Shkreli. Shkreli was arrested on federal fraud charges a week before Christmas, but his infamy stems from his company’s price jack of Daraprim, an anti-parasite drug that is pivotal in the treatment of cancer and HIV patients. In at least 14 states, legislators have introduced “drug pricing transparency” bills, which have been designed to gather information from pharmaceutical companies about the cost to manufacture drugs.

The Affordable Care Act is an once-in-a time change to the U.S. social insurance system. It guarantees access to medicinal administrations for all Americans, rolling out new driving forces to improvement clinical practice with a specific end goal to develop better coordination and quality, gives specialists more information to enhance, clinicians and patients more information to make them more regard perceptive buyers, and changes the portion system to remunerate the regard. The Act and the medicinal services information development programs in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act empty various limits to pass on choice care, for instance, trivial administrative multifaceted nature, inaccessible clinical data, and lacking access to fundamental care and joined human services providers (Kocher, 2010).

The health care debate has been a tricky one over the years with legislators ongoing decision on whether rules should be put in place that would even out the playing field between regular folk and health insurance companies. Obtaining affordable health care has been difficult for many and has raised some eyebrows about how these health care companies continue to make billions of dollars a year while people’s health continue to suffer. In 2010, a health care reform, the Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare”, was signed into law which eliminated those obstacles and limitations set forth by the healthcare industry.

However, I feel it is time for the U.S. government to regulate the cost of pharmaceuticals and medical care, possibly by utilizing diagnosis-related groups across all medical services and products. I feel to have a fair and equitable healthcare system everyone should have access to

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.

One topic rising in popularity is the escalating prices of prescription medicines in the United States. There is no denying their importance; they are known for being associated with saving people lives, maintaining people’s health, and improving the lifestyles for consumers.