Inflation. A term typically used to describe the cause of rising gas prices, however, now over the past decade can easily be transferable to describe the rising prescription drug costs.
The bleak reality, as I am sure the large portion of Americans still paying out of pocket for prescription drugs have become brutally aware of, is that the pharmaceutical industry has exhibited an unheard of inflation in the cost of drugs they produce.
The mainstays of treatments for diseases such as cancer, mental illness, hepatitis C and high cholesterol have always been at the forefront of the discussion for the inflating prices of life-altering drugs1. Yet, the pharmaceutical industries are now inflating the prices of older, less talked about drugs, leading to a potentially unsustainable health care system.
Before I get ahead of myself, I do want to note that the process of developing/testing/approving a drug for use in the United States is a very lengthy and expensive process–leading to high prices initially to help offset the cost of drug development (this is normal). If you want to read more about the details of drug development read this… it might give you a better idea why in some instances drugs are expensive, and other cases where drugs are simply overpriced.
Relating this to the theme of microbiology, the drug Cycloserine customarily used to treat multi-drug resistant strains of Tuberculosis, has increased in price from an already expensive value of $480 U.S. dollars to a staggering $10,800 for a one month supply2. This drug was developed in the late 1950’s1, well past its initial need to fund its expenses created during its research and development phase.
I consequently ask you, is there by any means an ethical justification for the increase in prices? With the largest population carrying Tuberculosis endemically being well below the poverty line of their countries, I see this increase as unjustifiable and can chalk it up to nothing but sheer greed.
Alas, I have found that the largest up tick in prices are resulting from selfishness within the pharma arena. If the events play out at continuum, I fear that the legitimacy of the health care system we have in place will fall further into the hole it has already dug itself and the American’s who need these drugs the most will no longer have a viable option for obtaining them.
I see the only potential fix to be a two-fold approach. One, directly regulate the pharmaceutical company’s ability to alter their prices—ultimately to prevent what has obviously become profiteering. Two, revert back to a pre-Obamacare health insurance system to generate competition between insurance companies. This would put an end to the majority of the population paying completely out of pocket (because of such high deductibles) for the medicines they need and disallow lawmakers influenced by big pharmaceutical companies to ultimately decide our fate regarding health care/the drugs that are covered.
References
- Pollack, A. “Drug Goes From $13.50 a tablet to $750, Overnight.” The New York Times. 21 September 2015. Online. Accessed 7 November 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/business/a-huge-overnight-increase-in-a-drugs-price-raises-protests.html?_r=0
- Cycloserine. Drugs.com. Online. 3 November 2016. Accessed 7 November 2016. https://www.drugs.com/mtm/cycloserine.html
I like the fact that you have some specific suggestions. I have a couple of cautions for you to consider, even though I like your passion and think you make a persuasive argument:
The problem may have worsened because of Obamacare, but many of these problems were already happening before Obamacare was instituted.
Be a little careful about accusations in general, like saying that all prices are being inflated for no good reason. While you are right in many cases, people who know of instances where there is good reason may discount everything you say.
I agree with you Kathy , I should have explained further with that point. In the future I will be more careful about making broad accusations. Thank you for your input!
I do think that insurance in general, and especially mandated insurance has a large role in the inflation of medical costs as it takes the decision making out of the hands of the consumer. With insurance, the company can get away with charging huge amounts of money for a treatment because the consumer only sees a little bit of that cost, and a small increase in premiums. Without insurance, increasing the price severely limits the customer base, because many people simply can’t afford those prices, no matter how necessary the treatment is. And people just won’t stand for avoidable deaths.
So insurance has the effect of decreasing accountability for the drug companies and medical system, and skewing the demand curves toward high prices. Which is why I don`t like Obamacare. The sentiment behind it is nice, but I really think it just makes the problem worse.
What do you think the drug companies would argue is going on?
Christina, thanks for commenting! I could not agree with you more. It seems to me, like you’ve said, that Obamacare has only worsened the problem (and many others… but I won’t get into that). As for the drug companies… I find that many say that the rise in prices is a result of paying for the R&D of drugs, yet the revenue that they generate well covers the price of R&D ten times over. At the end of the day, it’s a business, and regardless of what pharma companies may say it’s not so much about the people as it is the money. I don’t want to generalize, as there are some great pharmaceutical companies out there (take Genentech for example) but I find that is the most common theme throughout the industry. Sad but true reality.
I think you put forth a very good argument. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for responding!
It is a great way to start your post by defining the topic that you are going to talk about in this post . I like how you provided the possible solutions regarding the inflating drug prices. I am not really familiar with Obamacare so, is there a link for me to go read more about that?
Hey Mu! So here is an fact sheet of the pros/cons of Obamacare… I would have to say it’s slightly biased, but it does a good job of giving you the basic knowledge. Thanks for responding!
http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-pros-and-cons/
i thought that this was a well written post and over a very important topic that people need to be paying more attention to. The prices of drugs, medical supplies and testing has reached insanely high prices and is making health care or good health care hard to get for many people. one reason i think that prices are skyrocketing is due to the companies that manufacture the drugs and other medical supplies. many companies are the only one that produce a certain drug and so on, so they are able to dictate the price.