The manufacturers of Sovaldi drug are also of the opinion that government and public officials do not take into account all the benefits mostly economically which emanate from the prescription of the drug. They argue that the high price is very effective in limiting or completely getting done with other hospital expenses that would be incurred in the long run because the drug is effective in the curing of the disease rather than the management of symptoms over the years and, therefore, savings (Charles, 2015). . Most states that try to limit the use of Sovaldi have received lots of lawsuits that analysts say not the definite solution of the underlying problem with Sovaldi being just the first of many highly effective but expensive drugs that are expected in the market due to the ever increasing cases of chronic diseases. As much as Medicaid being able to cover the costs of other expensive specialty drugs for other diseases such as HIV and cystic fibrosis but the case of Sovaldi is quite different given the fact that a large population suffers from the disease that it treats with the prevalence of hepatitis C among the Medicaid recipients being quite high. There have been several proposed federal solutions including; price controls, the creation of a supply chain where the federal government could buy quantities of the drug at a discount and also to sell the drug to the states at a low price. The issue has not yet been taken by the Congress with states still being given the
Consequently, it become a financial problem where physician sees no improvement in their revenue/profit, and the cost of treatments continue to rise as reimbursement challenges the physician’s charges. There is always a cost to a better health care and coverage, and vast of it comes from taxation. Hospital and physicians function on funding to keep the door open and operating, and majority of the funding are from taxation. For
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
Some studies have shown in recent years that the high cost of health care is due to the high cost of defensive medicine . “Defensive
On the same level from a patient’s perspective, providers are even challenged with increased costs. Even though insurance is becoming more affordable the money, unfortunately has to be recovered utilizing other
1 Kaiser Family Foundation Report on the Uninsured. Available at http://www.kff.org/uninsured/7451.cfm. 2 Danzon, P., et al. “The Impact of Price Regulation on the Launch Delay of New Drugs.” Health Economics, 2005; 14(3): 269-292. Available at http://hc.wharton.upenn.edu/danzon/html/Journal_Articles.htm. 3 The Boston Consulting Group. “Ensuring Cost Effective Access to Innovative Pharmaceuticals – Do Market Interventions Work?” April, 1999. Available at http://www.bcg.com/impact_expertise/publications/files/Ensuring_Cost_Effective_Access_Innovative_Pharmaceuticals_Apr1999.pdf 4 Thorpe, K. et al. “Differences in Disease Prevalence as a Source of the U.S.–European Health Care Spending Gap.” Health Affairs (Web Exclusive) Oct. 2, 2007. Available at www.healthaffairs.org.
The journalist Nadia Kounang further explains the differences between what the U.S pays on drugs and other similar developed countries, in the article Why pharmaceuticals are cheaper abroad. Kounang displays how much American need to pay for Gleevec (cancer medication) which is $6,214 (per month/per customer) whereas in Canada patients only have to pay $1,141 and in the U.K $2,697 (Kounang 1). These prices are the result of different organizations setting different price ranges with drug companies (U.S.A), and these enables American insurance companies to take advantage of it (Kounang 1). While in other countries there are not as many organizations, so this helps to set a deal of a price that benefit both the drug company and consumers (Kounang). Strictly speaking, by having these different medical insurance companies it has made it difficult for patients to afford their medication because there is no singular organization that can set drug price ranges with pharmaceuticals, while in other countries they don’t a variety of different medical insurances which enables the country to provide treatments that its citizens can afford. Thereby, if the government does not fully cooperates with other medical insurances, lowering the cost of medication will be difficult without affecting research and development. And as a result people who can not afford them will still struggle to obtain their required prescriptions.
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.
It causes patients to skip their treatment when drugs are not affordable. It causes patients to have high stress levels. It can eventually lead patients to deal with chronic illnesses when prescription drugs are not taken. It can also affect other issues such as gender inequality, which can eventually lead individuals into poverty. Therefore, the rising cost of drugs has much impact on Canadian and it is important that this issue of drug cost in Canada should be addressed quickly. It is necessary that policy makers should take serious actions to determine the causes of high cost of drugs and should set certain routes that should be done to present price regulations as well as legislation. Overall, government should understand that lowering drug prices could protect patient’s lives as well as having citizens to live healthy. Essentially, patients should have the right to have access to their medication in order for them to stay healthy and live a happy
Anyone who has purchased prescription medications has probably wondered why they cost so much, and rightfully so. Medication prices in the United States have been on a steady increase for decades, however, prices have been drastically increasing as of recent. Pharmaceutical companies have tried to justify these price increases due to the demand, the high cost of research, and the high costs of development and approval. Notwithstanding, the extent to which the prices have increased is not justifiable. Americans should be against these high medication prices and take action because pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of our health care system in order to capitalize from the sick. In order shed some light on this issue, we must examine the magnitude, scope, and consequences of these rises in price.
U. S. citizens pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world. This is an injustice that must be corrected. The "U.S. forbids the import of prescription drugs by anyone other than the original U.S. manufacturer, and even then only when the drugs meet all the approval requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)" (Barlett & Steele, 2004). Prescription drug prices are outrageously high in the United States because of the influence of advertising on consumer purchasing, the misleading statements by pharmaceutical companies about the cost of research and development of new drugs, the manipulation of patent laws, the antiquated laws regarding importation of
Background: Americans pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world. Drug costs increased 12.6 percent last year, more than double the rise in overall medical costs. A new Kaiser Health poll shows that most Americans think prescription drug costs in this country are unreasonable, and that drug companies put profits before people.1 Take the example of albendazole which is broad spectrum anti-parasitic drug. In late 2010, the listed average wholesale price for albendazole was $5.92 per typical daily dose in the United States and less than $1 per typical daily dose overseas. By 2013, the listed typical daily dose price for USA market had increased to $119.58. Medicaid data show that spending on albendazole increased from less than $100,000 per year in 2008, when the average cost was $36.10 per prescription, to more than $7.5 million in 2013, when the average cost was $241.30 per prescription2. Albendazole is a very basic medicine but if we take the case of oncology medicines we are going to realize that oncology drugs have become synonymous with extremely high cost. The average cancer drug price for approximately 1 year of therapy was less than 10,000 per year in 2010 and had increased to $30,000 to $50,000 by 2005. In 2012, 12 of the 13 new drugs approved for cancer indications were priced above $100,000 per year of therapy. With typical out-of-pocket expenses of 20% to 30%, the financial burden would be $20,000 to 30,000 a year, nearly half of the average annual
Effective medication helps with the rising cost of health care. When medication is working, the patient’s visits to the hospital and doctor’s office will decrease. The cost of new medication is exceeding the buyer’s ability to pay for it, and pharmaceutical companies begin to lose money when the drug loses its patent. However, generic drugs become available for the medication, and patients can afford to purchase it to treat their disease or condition. National discussions with providers, payers, and health policy makers have seriously considered various solutions for mitigating drug cost, with the ultimate goal of allowing patients to access appropriate and necessary treatments (Li & Shane, 2017). The government no longer has to decide who gets the medication, and certain therapies because of cost. Insurance companies will now cover the drug in its generic form. On the other hand, the pharmaceutical companies can no longer profit from and generic drug, and are forced to make new and improved drugs for profit. The patient will benefit by getting the medication that is needed to have a better quality of
The rising cost of prescriptions in the United States has become a huge threat to patients and to owners of hospitals. Most pharmacy companies are buying drugs that are undervalued, then they are raising the prices up to gain more profit. Even some companies admit to rising the cost up 212% (AHA, 2015). The more the cost of prescriptions go up, the greater chance there is that people will give up on taking the drugs and just suffer through or buy over the counter medicines. The purpose of this paper is the inform people of the affects and consequences of these drugs beginning to rise in costs. Lives can
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).
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