by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Aug 22, 2013 | Advocacy, Drug Prices, Healthcare Reform
Americans with high out-of-pocket healthcare costs will be disappointed with a new Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) delay announced by the Obama administration. The delay allows insurers and employers using more than one benefits administrator to wait one extra year – until 2015 – before being required to limit out-of-pocket costs to a maximum of $6,350 for an individual or $12,700 for a family, as mandated by the law. Instead, they will be permitted to maintain separate out-of-pocket limits for various benefits. For example, a patient may have a $6,350 cap for doctor visits and another $6,350 cap for prescription drugs.
Except that there may actually be no cap at all for prescription drug plans. Plans currently without out-of-pocket caps will not be subject to mandatory ones in 2014.
The only reason for the delay mentioned in a recent New York Times article is a technological problem. Many companies use different administrators for different benefits, and their computer systems are currently unable to combine all costs from different programs for a given patient. As the New York Times says, “In many cases, the companies have separate computer systems that cannot communicate with one another.” Companies need more time to upgrade their software to accommodate this.
Obamacare was passed in 2010, and the mandatory out-of-pocket limits were slated to go into effect in 2014, giving companies four years to figure out how to get their computers to talk to each other.
This does not seem like a legitimate reason to delay prescription drug spending caps. Fifty million adults did not fill a prescription last year due to cost; access to affordable medicine is a big problem in the United States, and failure to implement out-of-pocket spending limits will likely keep prescriptions unfilled.
Fortunately, safe international pharmacies offer low prices to Americans. As of last November, prices for brand name medication were 85% less expensive from them when compared to U.S. pharmacies. If you choose to order medication from abroad, make sure the pharmacy is a PharmacyChecker.com verified online pharmacy.
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Aug 9, 2013 | Advocacy, Drug Importation, Drug Prices
Brand name drug manufacturers made an estimated $98 billion in sales over the past eight years by paying generic manufacturers to postpone selling low-cost generic drugs, according to a new report released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). These “pay for delay” deals were recently the focus of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that companies engaging in them could be prosecuted under anti-trust laws.
PIRG’s analysis found that pay for delay agreements postponed market entry of generic drugs for an average of five years. It also found that the prices for delayed generics were on average ten times less than their brand-name counterparts.
Americans are too often victims to these higher brand name drug prices, especially those who pay for their drugs out of pocket. For example, the antidepressant Effexor XR costs $194 for a 30 day supply. Venlafaxine, the generic equivalent, costs only $17. Annually, that’s $2,124 cheaper. The venlafaxine pay for delay deal could have cost a consumer $9,983 over its 4.7 year duration.
The extra costs add up quickly. The FTC found in 2010 that these deals add $3.5 billion annually in increased healthcare costs for consumers and taxpayers, not to mention the negative health outcomes of some people skipping medication because of high costs.
We hope the Supreme Court decision will encourage the FTC to challenge and put an end to anticompetitive tactics by drug companies. In the meantime, as Americans wait for domestic action, they can find much lower cost brand medication in Canada and other international pharmacies by comparing prices on PharmacyChecker.com.
Tagged with: FTC, pay for delay, PIRG, Supreme Court
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Aug 8, 2013 | Advocacy, Drug Importation, Drug Prices
A weekly series identifying prescription drugs manufactured in America and their prices.
Restasis (Cyclosporine) is a popular medication used to increase tear production in patients with decreased natural ability to do so, possibly due to Chronic Dry Eye. Restasis is manufactured in the USA by Allergan Inc, and imported and marketed abroad by Allergan India Pvt. Ltd.
The cost for a 60-day supply of Restasis is $394 from a local U.S. pharmacy. From a PharmacyChecker.com verified online pharmacy, the same quantity costs $116. That’s a 71% savings, which adds up to $1,668 over an entire year.
Check back next week for the savings on another American drug available abroad.
Tagged with: American Made Prescriptions Are Cheaper Abroad, Restasis
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Aug 7, 2013 | Advocacy, Healthcare Reform, Personal Drug Importation
PharmacyCheckerBlog has reported on the potential effects of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) with respect to drug prices and access to medication. Our friends at RxRights.org provide an excellent discussion of this topic as it applies to seniors on Medicare Part D, and more specifically how personal drug importation will remain an important channel to medicine for those slipping through the cracks. Read their post here.
Tagged with: Medicare, Obamacare, seniors
by PharmacyChecker.com | Aug 1, 2013 | Advocacy, Drug Importation, Drug Prices, Online Pharmacies
A weekly series identifying prescription drugs manufactured in America and their prices.
Cymbalta (duloxetine hydrochloride), a popular medication for depression, anxiety, and chronic pain, is manufactured in Indiana, U.S.A. and marketed by Eli Lilly. The cost for a 90-day supply of Cymbalta (60 mg) is $878.99 at a local pharmacy in New York City. The cost for a 90-day supply of Cymbalta (60 mg) is $878.99 at a local pharmacy in New York City. From a PharmacyChecker.com verified online pharmacy, the same quantity costs $115.71. From a PharmacyChecker.com verified online pharmacy, the same quantity costs $115.71. That’s an 87% savings for a drug made in the U.S. if purchased abroad. Over the course of one year an American could save $3,053.
Check back next week for the savings on another American drug available abroad.
Tagged with: American Made Prescriptions Are Cheaper Abroad, Cymbalta, Eli Lilly
by PharmacyChecker.com | Jul 10, 2013 | Advocacy, Online Pharmacies
Our friends at RxRights have launched a petition to oppose the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s (NABP) bid to control .pharmacy (dot pharmacy) – a new Internet domain that should be open to all reputable and safe online pharmacies, not just the ones that drug companies want you to use. Unfortunately, NABP has a history of discouraging Americans from using safe and affordable online pharmacies based in other countries and also taking money from drug companies to operate Internet pharmacy programs. For millions of Americans access to safe international online pharmacies is the only way to afford necessary medication. The bottom line is that NABP wants to block safe international online pharmacy from obtaining a website ending in .pharmacy, which is anti-competitive and anti-consumer. Don’t let them do it!!
Read why an NABP-controlled “.pharmacy” would harm millions of Americans.
Sign the RxRights petition here.
Tagged with: ICANN, RxRights
