Americans use more prescription drugs than any other developed country. Prescription drugs only represent 12 percent of total health care costs in the United States, but the rising prices of those drugs is an issue that keeps reoccurring not only for patients, but for prescribers, payers, and policy makers. There are people that believe that the rise in price of these drugs is appropriate, but if they keep on rising in price, the United States will start suffering not only financially but medically. Despite a lot of other aspects of the economy rising in price, pharmaceutical drugs should be lowered, or should at least be kept at a reasonable rate.
The rise in prices of prescription drugs is an issue that does not seem to be going away …show more content…
There are both clinical and economic consequences if prescription drug prices keep on rising. Although the rising of prices have helped with the costs for employers and payers, they are limiting the access of the drug to many across the country. There are different forms of payment such as the Medicare drug benefit plan and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but cost containment strategies have been a struggle over the past years. Even private insurers are increasing their deductibles and copayments. People are having to pay thousands every year just for their medication. Some have even added a new category to include specialty drugs where the patient has to pay more. All of these factors coupled with the rising drug prices, is making it extremely hard for patients to afford these prescription drugs. There was a poll conducted and almost a quarter out of 648 people said that could not refill a prescription in the past year because of the rise in costs. Those that are prescribed a brand name drug compared to a generic brand were also found not to comply with their regimen, and this obviously causes a decrease in their health outcome. The United States puts so much money into making these drugs that they do not put as much effort into actually making them affordable. Some manufacturers have distributed coupons that will reimburse the patient for their out …show more content…
The United States is actually the only country out of 34 in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development where the government has a shortage of oversight on regulating the prices of drugs. Prices in the U.S. for brand name drugs are also 50 to 60 percent higher than in France and twice as high as in the Australia or the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, that idea is not feasible in the United States and would cause a lot of negative consequences in the drug market, but there other ways that government can help control excessive drug prices. They could authorize Medicare to negotiate the prices of drugs covered under the Medicare part D plan. If they were to do this, it would require some reorganization of the drug benefits covered by Medicare. Medicare price reductions are expected to have an effect on the price of drugs in private markets, so if Medicare and Medicaid both had more laxity on making clinically reasonable drug choices, they could actually make a difference. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that it is going to analyze different approaches to reduce the spending on prescription drugs within the Medicare part B program. Doing this would reduce the the incentives for general markups within the economy that persuade
The rise in prices of prescription drugs is an issue that does not seem to be going away …show more content…
There are both clinical and economic consequences if prescription drug prices keep on rising. Although the rising of prices have helped with the costs for employers and payers, they are limiting the access of the drug to many across the country. There are different forms of payment such as the Medicare drug benefit plan and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but cost containment strategies have been a struggle over the past years. Even private insurers are increasing their deductibles and copayments. People are having to pay thousands every year just for their medication. Some have even added a new category to include specialty drugs where the patient has to pay more. All of these factors coupled with the rising drug prices, is making it extremely hard for patients to afford these prescription drugs. There was a poll conducted and almost a quarter out of 648 people said that could not refill a prescription in the past year because of the rise in costs. Those that are prescribed a brand name drug compared to a generic brand were also found not to comply with their regimen, and this obviously causes a decrease in their health outcome. The United States puts so much money into making these drugs that they do not put as much effort into actually making them affordable. Some manufacturers have distributed coupons that will reimburse the patient for their out …show more content…
The United States is actually the only country out of 34 in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development where the government has a shortage of oversight on regulating the prices of drugs. Prices in the U.S. for brand name drugs are also 50 to 60 percent higher than in France and twice as high as in the Australia or the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, that idea is not feasible in the United States and would cause a lot of negative consequences in the drug market, but there other ways that government can help control excessive drug prices. They could authorize Medicare to negotiate the prices of drugs covered under the Medicare part D plan. If they were to do this, it would require some reorganization of the drug benefits covered by Medicare. Medicare price reductions are expected to have an effect on the price of drugs in private markets, so if Medicare and Medicaid both had more laxity on making clinically reasonable drug choices, they could actually make a difference. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that it is going to analyze different approaches to reduce the spending on prescription drugs within the Medicare part B program. Doing this would reduce the the incentives for general markups within the economy that persuade