by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 19, 2013 | Advocacy, Drug Prices
Americans with cancer are two times as likely to go bankrupt than other Americans due to the expense of treatment, including astronomical prices for prescription drugs. As reported by ABC News the alternative to bankruptcy is sometimes death.
This blog’s focus is often on international online pharmacies as a lifeline for high drug prices in the U.S. When it comes to cancer medications, online pharmacies are not always a solution since many can only be administered in a clinical setting are not suitable for mail-order pharmacy. However, some cancer meds are suitable for mail order pharmacy, and can be found for much cheaper prices from an international online pharmacy as opposed to a U.S. pharmacy.
Bristol Myers Squibb’s product Sprycel, which treats leukemia, costs $11,000 (60 pills, 50 mg) at a CVS in New York City pharmacy. The same quantity is available from a PharmacyChecker.com approved pharmacy for $5,509, or 50% cheaper. That’s $60,000 savings a year, a discount higher than the median household income in the U.S., and for some the difference between life and death.
Tagged with: Bristol Myers Squibb
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Dec 12, 2013 | Drug Prices, Pharmaceutical Industry
I’d be pretty upset if the next time I went to the pharmacy to pick up my asthma medication, the pharmacist asked me for $150. Why? Because I usually only pay $15 for it. Unfortunately, Americans all around the country might actually be facing this problem. In parts of Arizona, the price of a medication to treat valley fever rose 1,000%. At some Costco stores, the price of one dosage of Irbesartan jumped to about nine times the price of other dosages.
One person’s lament about the price of Asacol HD jumping from $50 to $600 is shared on YouTube. Fortunately, he could afford the new price and had some extra medication he could take. Unfortunately, not everyone is so lucky.
To quote his video, the “only reason the companies will stop doing B.S. like this is if people stand up to it and say ‘That is not okay!’” Until that happens effectively, you can compare prices at local and online pharmacies to make sure you find the most affordable medication.
Tagged with: Asacol, Irbesartan
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 6, 2013 | Drug Prices, Healthcare Reform, Medicare Drug Plans
Your prescription drugs will never be free under Medicare Part D. The “closed” donut hole under Obamacare does not create a new coverage period under Part D during which your co-pays and co-insurance, not to mention deductibles and premiums, disappear. That’s not a reason to complain. We should shoulder costs for our healthcare, including medication, as long as they are affordable (after all, Obamacare is actually called the Affordable Care Act). So how does Obamacare strive to help you afford your prescription drugs if you’re on Medicare? First, a little history…
In the beginning, Medicare did not offer a prescription drug benefit and tens of millions of seniors paid for their medications entirely out-of-pocket. Let there be light: In 2003, Congress passed the Medicare Modernization Act, which was then signed into law by President Bush. That law gave birth to Part D – a prescription drug benefit available to Medicare enrollees. But there were holes! When Medicare Part D plans first launched in 2006, average monthly premiums were $25.93. After paying a standard deductible of $250, enrollees paid 25% of their drug costs until total drug costs (between the enrollee and insurer) reached $2,250. That’s $250 towards the deductible, $500 in cost-sharing, plus premiums of $311.16 for a total of $1,061.16 per year in out-of-pocket spending. That’s if you stayed out of the donut hole!
Enter the dark days of the “donut hole,” which, in 2006, meant 100% out-of-pocket spending between $2,250 and $5,100 – Ouch! Above $5,100 – an amount called, for good reason, “catastrophic costs” –enrollees only paid 5% of their drug costs. Part D maintained these basic components, except with rising costs in the form of higher premiums and deductibles, and a larger “donut hole,” until the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010 – enter Obamacare (hope and change?).
(more…)
Tagged with: donut hole, Medicare Part D, Obamacare
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Dec 5, 2013 | Advocacy, Drug Prices, Pharmaceutical Industry
A recent blog post on Philly.com by pharmaceutical industry expert Daniel Hoffman, Ph.D., exposes the hypocrisy of pharma’s addictions to high U.S. drug prices and deceptive marketing. Dr. Hoffman asserts that because the pharmaceutical industry is doing a bad job at generating revenues with new and innovative medications, and even flailing in its “me-too” drug business model, it has shifted to “economic hypocrisy and legal sophistry” to protect and generate revenue. Its shift may also be caused by increasing use of generics and compulsory licensing (allowing generic competition in spite of current patents), as well as the flat-out uproar against high drug prices, especially in the U.S.
Dr. Hoffman used data from our “American Made; Cheaper Abroad” series to highlight the incredible price gap between domestic and foreign prices of American made drugs. A price gap should exist; there’s nothing wrong with companies setting different prices in different countries. Poorer countries pay lower prices, and richer countries pay higher prices. The problem is that drug prices are excessively high in the U.S., so much so that they are often unaffordable for tens of millions of middle class Americans. The pharmaceutical industry takes advantage of a global economy and free trade agreements to keep manufacturing costs down and maximize patent terms. Despite reaping the rewards of globalization, the industry continues to try to prevent consumers from doing so, as exemplified by its efforts to stop Maine’s progressive law that facilitates safe personal drug importation. The industry’s bogus safety arguments about personal drug importation failed to stop the law from passing and now the drug and U.S. pharmacy industries are turning to the courts to protect profits.
Dr. Hoffman explains other legal ploys recently used by pharma, primarily to defend against charges of deceptive marketing practices. Johnson & Johnson, claiming its rights of due process were violated, tried to invalidate a request for documents by the City of Chicago in part because the city used an outside law firm that would receive a percentage of any settlement. In other words, J&J argued that by earning a percentage of a potential settlement, the law firm’s incentive to win was too strong and thus unfair to J&J! Facing similar charges, Merck argued against the Kentucky Attorney General’s similar arrangement with an outside law firm. A judge ruled against Merck’s complaint.
To quote the author, “So pharma vigorously seeks justice from the legal system when it tries to prevent foreign countries from exercising compulsory licensing (i.e. breaking patents), while it also claims the public’s representatives shouldn’t be allowed to obtain first-rate legal counsel.” Pharma is trying to create an unfair playing field, both in the legal area and within the global economy.
Tagged with: American Made Prescriptions Are Cheaper Abroad, Daniel Hoffman, Johnson and Johnson, Merck
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Nov 27, 2013 | Online Pharmacies
Mail order pharmacies, including online pharmacies, have their benefits; your medicine comes right to your doorstep, you have more privacy regarding your medication, and, usually, you don’t have to spend as much as you would in a brick-and-mortar pharmacy. A new study of diabetic patients, “Safety and Effectiveness of Mail Order Pharmacy Use in Diabetes,” finds that using mail-order pharmacies may actually prevent negative health outcomes more so than walk-in pharmacies.
The study focused on diabetics because they are at high risk of being prescribed contraindicated medications (ones that would interfere with their normal drug regimens) and often require laboratory work to monitor the effectiveness of their medications. Some may think that patients using mail order pharmacies will experience more negative health outcomes than those using walk-in pharmacies because they do not have face-to-face interactions with pharmacists.
The study found that use of mail order pharmacies “was not negatively associated with patient safety outcomes overall, suggesting that mail order use does not serve as a barrier to receiving primary and preventive care services for most patients.” In fact, the study showed that mail order pharmacy users under 65 were less likely than local pharmacy users to visit emergency rooms. However, mail order pharmacy users under 65 on a subset of diabetic medications were more likely to forego a recommended serum creatinine lab test within 30 days. Patients over 65 who used mail order pharmacies were also less likely than local pharmacy users to have preventable emergency room visits. Despite the health benefits of mail order pharmacy, the study cautions that preventive and primary care must be kept in mind when encouraging their use.
We’re pleased to see the health benefits of mail order pharmacies highlighted in this study; after all, reputable online pharmacies are mail order pharmacies that allow patients to access medication safely and affordably.
Tagged with: diabetes, health outcomes
by PharmacyChecker.com | Nov 21, 2013 | Drug Prices, Politics
The answer is yes. Out of eleven developed countries, America is #1 when it comes to high drug prices preventing people from taking needed medications, according to a new international survey conducted by the Commonwealth Fund and reported on in Health Affairs. Twenty-one percent of American adults – over 50 million people – skipped medication due to cost, more than double the 9% who did so in Germany, the second highest rate. In the United Kingdom, only two percent of adults reported skipping medication due to drug costs.
The disturbing number of Americans forgoing prescriptions is not solely due to our large uninsured population. In fact, the Commonwealth Fund data shows that 15% of insured Americans skipped prescription medication due to costs, often because of high plan deductibles, co-payments, or co-insurance, supporting our recent analysis that those who will become insured under Obamacare may, too, find drug costs out of reach and seek affordable medication internationally. Hopefully, reforms under Obamacare, such as requiring plans to cover at least one drug in each “class” of drug and the eventual cap on out-of-pocket spending, will help Americans more easily afford their medication.
The data also shows the extent to which high drug prices affect patients with chronic conditions; skipping meds prescribed for chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and asthma, can lead to hospitalizations, emergency room visits, or even death. Twenty-nine percent of Americans with chronic medical conditions skipped their meds due to costs, more than double the 14% of Australians, who had the second highest rate. Only 1% of patients in the U.K. with chronic conditions skipped medication because of prices. Our conclusion? America can do better.
Tagged with: Commonwealth Fund, Health Affairs, Obamacare
