According to a new AARP drug price report, in 2006 the average cost of prescription medication increased by 3.6%, just a little higher than the rate of inflation in the U.S. which was 3.2% that year. In 2013, in stark contrast, drug costs were up 9.4% above 2012 with a corresponding rate of inflation of 1.5%. In fact, the average annual cost of popular medications for chronic conditions used by seniors went from $4,140 in 2005 to $11,341 in 2013.
Many of these brand drugs are covered by private and public pharmacy benefit plans, including Part D – but too often they are not, which leaves Americans having to foot the bill out of pocket. Even covered brand name drugs often mean very high co-payments or co-insurance. If you’re paying out of pocket and can’t afford your brand name drug, international online pharmacies have much lower prices – an average of 84% less on a basket of popular medications.
In the past, AARP has been criticized, not surprisingly by the pharmaceutical industry, for just looking at brand name drug prices in its drug price reports and not generics, which help moderate increases. But this latest report measured 622 drugs, a large basket that included brand, specialty and generic drugs. Brand and specialty drug prices were up an average of 12.9% and 10.6%, respectively, compared to a decrease in average generic drug prices of 4%.
AARP’s report concludes that it’s possible, “we can no longer rely on lower priced generics to counterbalance the price trends seen in the brand name and specialty prescription drug markets.” And things appear to be getting worse.
After reading the report, which looked at prices up to 2013, I was curious to find out how much brand name prices increased last year. In 2015, brand name drugs still under patent were up almost 15%, and generics, which tend to get cheaper, had even increased by almost 3% on average [Source]. These drug price increases corresponded with an inflation rate increase of .1%!
With about 30 million Americans still uninsured, many more millions of underinsured with inadequate pharmacy benefits, and drug prices continuing their ascent, tens of millions of Americans will continue to forgo prescribed medication entirely. Fewer will have to make this choice by comparing drug prices among safe international online pharmacies and local pharmacies using prescription discount cards at www.pharmacychecker.com.
Too many Americans are being kept in the dark by the very governing authorities and companies that are meant to protect their health. The FDA goes too far in telling Americans not to buy lower cost medication from outside the country, and Big Pharma spends big money on media relations to generate stories about rogue online pharmacies that wrongly conflate them with safe international online pharmacies.
It’s nice when some light gets in. Money Talks News published a straightforward story and video that tells the truth about saving money on prescription drugs online. It asks the question: Are Overseas Pharmacies Unsafe and Illegal?
It takes time, but the truth often prevails because, after all, it’s the truth.
With its gift of $7.2 million to fund various research projects, the John and Laura Arnold Foundation gave a boost this week to the cause of lowering drug prices in America. According to the Foundation’s press release: “The research projects will focus on analyzing how regulatory policies and programs impact drug pricing, drug development, and patients’ access to medication.”
The lion’s share of the funds will go to the Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center’s Evidence Driven Drug Pricing Project. Led by Dr. Peter Bach, the effort pursues strategies to evaluate the relative effectiveness of medications. The goal of Dr. Bach’s project is to make sure that medications are priced according to how well they actually work. Sounds like common sense, but too often medications that often don’t work are widely prescribed, and very expensive!
The money will also go toward various evidence-based studies looking into the workings of the drug development pipeline, state and federal regulations that affect Medicaid drug purchasing, and alternative Medicaid purchasing models that tie reimbursement to patient health outcomes.
One smaller project caught my eye, because it looks at pharmaceutical regulations and law that affect innovation. The Brigham and Woman’s Hospital’s Program on Regulations, Therapeutics, and Law will receive $748,445 to analyze existing regulations enacted to incentivize pharmaceutical innovation. The press release reads: “Researchers will analyze programs and incentives such as tax breaks, market exclusivity protections, and the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) fast-track approval pathways.”
In looking at regulations and law, the cause of lower drug prices would be well served by a research project dedicated to evaluating the effects of federal restrictions on prescription drug importation. Ostensibly, drug importation restrictions are in place to prevent unsafe and counterfeit medications from reaching patients, but we know that they also curtail access to lower cost, safe and effective medication as well. That’s why millions of Americans buy foreign medication online despite the prohibiting regulations.
New research would help determine a more suitable regulatory framework to protect patient health, but also expand access to more affordable medication through safe personal drug importation. This recent grant by the John and Laura Arnold Foundation is its second in the area of prescription drug prices. Three’s a charm!
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