Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
9Obianuju Obi
Prof. Turgeon
UWRT 1101-008
25 February 2017
Lenvima prescription is ready. Your insurance saved you $13,867 the leaflet reads. In
the absence of prescription coverage, Mark would have been dead. This is not a one-
time medication, but rather a monthly medication; he is comparatively buying a new car
every 30 days. Doctors and insurance companies have long been popular targets of
the presence of governmental aid in the cost, there still remains a need for increased
Among the services provided by the market economy, pharmaceuticals hold the
most contentious position. The lengthy time to create a drug and the monumental prices
drugs. Despite the fact that they are constructed by private companies, they distribute a
good for the public that is essential, due to the prevention of epidemics and overall
public health of the populace. The price of medication is unreasonable. There are
drugs, are now turning patients to get the drugs on their own financial terms. This can
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even include chemotherapy medications. The alarming rate in which hospitals are now
hospital setting, demonstrates the severity to save funds, due to high prices. America is
the origin to the worlds substantial pharma, where consumers pay the highest prices to
keep them down for other nations. This refers subsidization of drugs and the that fact
that United States consumers end up covering the high cost of pharma research for
various countries. Even with insurance coverage, many medications are very costly,
causing patients to decline the use of a drug that can potentially keep them alive.
Governmental intervention has had a major impact through its recent programs
such as Medicaid and Medicare, however there are some flaws in the financial
distribution of the programs. In 2003, Congress passed the Medicare Prescription Drug,
ease the burden of skyrocketing prescription prices for citizens 65 and older. (Hastert, 1)
While much of the discussion has focused on the impact on Medicare and Medicaid, the
search for the source of high prescription drug prices has possible benefits for all
patients. Unfortunately, the vast majority of research into this topic focuses only on the
manufacturers of prescription drugs. Congress and federal agencies that investigate the
source of the skyrocketing prices, have not proposed solutions to address the problem.
Some may argue that government intervention in health is the primary source
system, one may consider the statistic according to MedScape of 2002, that local, state
and federal governments spent a combined $718 billion which half the total expenditure.
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account for this new change, the factors considered are inflation, economic failure
resulting in higher pricing and government program such as the Affordable Care Act of
2008 that altered prices for medications and general health care both positively and
negatively. The negative effect of this particular act affects hospitals as well; they must
meet new benchmarks for items such as readmissions or face penalties. Doctors as
well are engrossed in a hasty consolidation and are forced to adapt to updated payment
models. This is out of the ordinary of traditional practices. Ultimately, there is need for a
more effective method of coverage for the average people, ethically and financially. With
huge monopolistic companies such as Mylan with the recent EpiPen epidemic, the issue
was able to be combatted with competition with the new generic form which in turn
forced prices of the brand to decrease. This project to create another form was actually
denied by the company Sanofi, in the efforts to create Auvi-Q, a more affordable form
and avid competitor of the Epi-Pen. (Kass,1) This act of denying other competition is
One must examine the relationship between the wholesale and the actual retail
possibility of yielding profit with lower pricing. This requires research in price per-pill
pharmacy and drug, etc. According to price data, the price arrangement in the pharma
industry is not hierarchical with the manufacturers at the top, wholesalers, and retailers
at the bottom. Instead the industry also has third party payers who exist outside the
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domain of this hierarchy. These third party organizations include Health Maintenance
Organizations, also known as (HMOs) and Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). The
significance of this correlates with the government help programs. It very well effects to
people who do not even utilize the program, focusing primarily on middle class
Americans. (Gryta, 2) Even in the presence of regular health insurance, many policies
do not cover the full amount of the prescriptions, leaving a co-pay for the patient as well
Although the federal government has evaluated the prices of the medications,
some state governments have intervened as well. The most common method of the
state intervention is price pooling which is also known as bulk buying programs.
(Pearson, 1) The idea is that the state purchases prescription drugs in large quantities
from wholesalers and manufacturers. This focuses much on the Medicaid programs in
the state. There are approximately five multi-state bulk purchasing groups. Despite the
noticeable impact this strategy has on patients, the small five groups can be increased
to cover more area of people in need of coverage. The momentum of this program just
Fortunately, third party discount card companies have had a major role in the
assistance of financial coverage for insured or partly insured patients. One major
prescriptions. This promise is not always completely valid however. Like many other
main insurance companies, these third party cards have preferred medications and
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the aid of these companies must be maintained and expanded to the known public. This
is only an indirect step forward. To initiate a larger impact, the issue lies in
congressional action. Changes are created through the democratic nature of the system
that can issue change through petitions, laws, vetoes, etc. This ties into the argument of
natural human rights; the government has a duty to recognize and act on human crisis.
At many times, it is out of the patients control to not be able to afford crucial
medications. As citizens, and as human beings, we have rights to health and should not
Factors that help in the problem of prescription prices and coverage are the
major public backlashes that increase awareness for people to take democratic action.
Awareness holds a major impact that holds the power to sway corrupt industry. Although
this did not occur for many other drugs, companies such as Mylan were able to reverse
the extremely high price for an essential drug. Not only does this benefit uninsured
patients, but it has a direct effect on the governmental aid programs willingness to pay
for them. As stated earlier, the manufacturers prices contribute to the formulary of the
Medicaid and Medicare programs. The solution deals heavily with community citizen
Works Cited
Gryta, Thomas. "What Is a 'Pharmacy Benefit Manager?'" The Wall Street Journal. Dow
Kass, Dani. "Ex-Sanofi EpiPen Alternative Auvi-Q Coming Back In 2017 - Law360."
Law360 - The Newswire for Business Lawyers. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.
National Institutes of Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d. Web.
28 Mar. 2017.
"The New Drugs War." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 04 Jan. 2014. Web.
28 Mar. 2017.
Openshaw, Matthew S. "Medscape Log In." Medscape Log In. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar.
2017.
Pearson, Susan L. A Need for Government Inervention? Thesis. 2011. N.p.: n.p., n.d.
Print.