The Importance Of Prescription Price Controls

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 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

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.

One of the underlying issues of rising costs lies in the hands-off role that the government is given in regards to the price-setting of drugs offered through prescription drug plans (PDPs). The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003 is the essential piece of legislation that created what Medicare Part D provisions (Frank & Newhouse, 2008) are in place currently. While this provision provides low-income older Americans with necessary medications, within the initial bill, the governmental program suffers a loss of autonomy. Under this bill, the government is barred from engaging in negotiations with pharmaceutical companies through the “noninterference” clause (Cubanski and Neuman, 2015). This prohibition

Tens of thousands of Americans are now spending more than $100,000 a year on prescription drugs. So they’re paying somewhere around $1,000 per pill. All across this country people are dying from illnesses that can be treated, only because their medicine is too expensive for them to afford. The cost of prescription drugs should and can be lowered. Just think about all the families that are in debt or have lost a loved one because of overpriced prescription drugs. These major health companies have no concern for the well being of others, they don’t care if people are dying because they can’t afford it. All they care about is making a profit and as long as they get it, they’re satisfied.

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).

Currently, there is coverage in the news regarding high-cost specialty drugs. Who is responsible for paying these high costs? Approximately Seventy-one percent of the public believe new expensive drugs that are recommended by physicians, should be covered by their health insurance; however, seventeen percent believe the individual needing these medications should pay for it themselves (DiJulio, Firth, & Brodie, 2015). Nationwide, individuals with serious diseases are dwindling through the flaws of our nation's healthcare system. Many individuals are unable to afford medications that they are in need of even if they have good jobs and insurance. In the passage below we explore this topic in depth, weighing in on our federal, state, and local

When it comes to the topic of prescription drugs being regulated, most of us will readily agree that this is a big concern for many Americans. Where this argument usually ends, however, is on the question of why do Americans pay some of the highest prices for prescription drugs compared to other countries. Whereas some are convinced that these high costs are set solely for the fact of the amount of money spent on producing these drugs, others maintain that there is an opportunity for medication prices to be regulated and also an opportunity to allow Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceuticals and possibly help bring down those high prices . I agree that prescription drugs should be regulated because there are many people that are victimized

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.

In the United States, about three-quarters of all visits to a physician end with a drug prescription, a number that has not changed over time (Kleinke 2001). Prescription drug costs increased 9.8% in the 12-month period marked by May 2015 to May 2016 (Tuttle 2016). In this same time, the overall inflation rate was just 1% in the United States. In addition, food and alcohol prices rose 2.8% and clothing and accessories rose 5.7%. This was the third straight year that American patients have seen an approximately 10% increase in prescription drug costs. The high medication costs are in turn resulting in high health insurance costs for everyone since each person is subsidizing other people’s high medical costs. Imagine if a company develops a treatment

With the continuous rise of pharmaceutical drugs it not only hurts the pharmacist but also the patient that they are serving. Pharmacists can feel helpless when they tell a patient that their insurance no longer covers the medication they need. Whereas, patients feel stuck when they don’t know how to pay for their rising cost of medication. According to a May 2007 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, medication costs are projected to increase by 148% in 10 years (Scaggs-Oskoui, 2008).

The market for generic drugs has been increasing recently, with a large share of total prescriptions being dispensed in the United States. At the wholesale level, the generic drug market has typically been viewed as very competitive, such that prices approach marginal costs1. Therefore the availability of generic drugs is perceived as beneficial to consumers who have to pay for these drugs. However, at the retail level, generic drug prices seem to exceed marginal cost even by a wide margin1. In the last few decades, “the fraction of drug spending paid for by public and private payers has grown from 34% in 1980 to nearly 80% in 2000, and 92% in 2010. Thus cash-paying consumers currently account for only 8% of payments”1.

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.

Pharmaceutical companies are one of the fastest growing businesses in the United States, because individuals want to be healthy and live longer. In order to stay healthy, individuals are more likely to have multiple prescriptions or over-the-counter medication, especially the elderly. Every month, about half of the population of Americans take different forms of medication such as, vitamins, birth control or antibiotics. These different forms of medication help millions of people in different ways and save lives. The article, “High drug prices,” states that the “U.S. now spends approximately 15.0 percent of its GDP on health care” (Okunade). The prescription drug cost is one of the major concerns in the United States because of the fluctuating prices. Another article stated, “The challenge here is that drug prices are growing astronomically and becoming not only unaffordable to health-care system, but to consumers as well” (Mangan). The cost of medication is not only a burden on the government, but also to individuals that have various medications, and especially those who pay out of pocket cost. There are different reasons to explain the increase in prescription drug cost; the high demand for medication due to the baby boomers, patent protection on most drugs, the use of drugs instead utilizing preventive measures.

Increases in drug prices are pulling attention to an increase in pharmaceutical expenditure on health care institutions. The ultimate goal of innovating drugs is the improvement of patients’ quality of life