Drugs Cost in United States: Discussion Paper.
In the US, spending on prescription drugs is the highest compared to any other country (Bose, 2017). These statistics were revealed by the Journal of the American Medical Association Study. The study also showed that the high medication cost is due to brand-name medication prices, which have been increasing year after year at rates beyond the purchaser price index. A report by NBC News observed that paying for drugs is the most costly out-of-pocket healthcare cost for people living in the United States (Bose, 2017). Drugs Cost in United States: Discussion Paper.According to another report, medication in Britain is three times cheaper than in the United States. Elsewhere the prices of medicine in Brazil is six times lower than in the US. In India, the cost of medicine is a staggering sixteen times lower than in the US. Therefore, it is clear that the drug in the US is overpriced.
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A 2017 Government investigation discovered that money spent on medicine has nearly doubled in the last 25 years (Christensen, 2018). This means that the US spends more on prescription drugs than any other high-income nation. In 2017, prescription medication prices rose by 6% in a certain six-month period, according to GoodRx, a prescription website (Christensen, 2018). Medication prices also rose 10 times the rate of inflation. The legislator’s support is needed to solve the issue of soaring drug prices because;
• No law is in place to regulate drug prices in the US. Drugs Cost in United States: Discussion Paper.
• Pharmaceutical companies have the opportunity to dictate medicine prices.
• Manufacturers claim that good returns are necessary to compensate for high-risk research
• Pricing of medicine is based on market competition.
Drug companies argue that the cost used during research of prescription medication so that that it can be available to the market is a massive sum of money. Thus, the companies have to make up for that cost and still be able to make profits so that the can continue being operational (Hirschler, 2018). This is usually one of the main reasons these pharmaceutical companies claim that the prices need to be high on any medication they manufacture. This is true, but only to a small extent. According to a AARP cover story in May 2017, drug companies are some of the most profitable organizations in the US, even after research investment cost has been accounted for (Hirschler, 2018). Further results showed that 90% of the well-known pharmaceutical companies spend considerably less on marketing than on research. Drugs Cost in United States: Discussion Paper.
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These high prices have specific implications for the patients. There is no denying that better prescription medications are being produced. This helps the patients in managing illness, reducing suffering and prolonging life (Bose, 2017). Second, the patients benefit by witnessing more prescription medicine being approved. More drugs are being allowed into the market when compared to ten years ago. This means that the patients will never lack anytime they visit a drugstore. Therefore, despite the high drug prices, several advantages come with it.
My recommendation would be for the government to intervene and introduce legislation preventing pharmaceutical companies from selling prescription medication above a certain point. The law should be fair to both the patient and the pharmaceutical companies. This is because most of the companies spend more money on marketing, not on research. The second recommendation would be for a policy to be introduced which stipulates that prescription drugs grounded in research done decades ago should not be subjected to any price increments. An editorial by Lancet, a healthcare medical journal which focuses on patent laws reported that patients get frustrated when they pay $600 for 100-year-old prescription medication. Drugs Cost in United States: Discussion Paper.
References
Bose, S. (2017, August 29). The High Cost of Prescription Drugs in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-high-cost-of-prescription-drugs-in-the-united-states_us_59a606aae4b0d81379a81c1f
Christensen, J. (2018, May 12). The 5 most expensive drugs in the United States. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/11/health/most-expensive-prescription-drugs/index.html
Hirschler, B. (2018). How the U.S. Pays 3 Times More for Drugs. Retrieved September 17, 2018, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-u-s-pays-3-times-more-for-drugs/ Drugs Cost in United States: Discussion Paper.