by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Nov 30, 2012 | Drug Importation, Drug Prices, Online Pharmacies
A new report from Express Scripts, one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers, shows that between September 2011 and September 2012, U.S. brand name prescription drug prices increased 13.3% — over six times the rate of inflation, which was only 2%.
What does this mean for American consumers? The answer is not simply that Americans will pay more for their medicine, increasing the profits of drug companies. It’s even more depressing than that. Tens of millions of Americans either do not fill or take prescribed medications due to cost, and an estimated 25 million Americans report becoming sicker because of it. With higher drug prices, we expect incidences of illness and hospitalizations to rise, with costs passed on to the American taxpayer. We lose as both patients and taxpayers, and the costs are staggering: a New England Health Institute report estimates prescription non-adherence costs to be almost $300 billion.
Americans who cannot afford these rising prices can access safe international online pharmacies to avoid going without needed medication. In contrast to rising drug prices in America, brand prices at these international pharmacies have actually decreased. Our latest drug price analysis shows that the savings available through these online pharmacies – on brand name drugs – have increased from March 2011. Today, online savings are 85%; in March of last year, they were 80%. More Americans taking needed medication will mean less sickness and hospitalizations that end up increasing healthcare costs funded by us, the taxpayers.
If you choose to order from an international online pharmacy, make sure it is safe. Pharmacies approved by PharmacyChecker.com are licensed, have licensed pharmacists, and require prescriptions. Look for the PharmacyChecker.com seal of approval, seen below, and make sure it links to a profile hosted by PharmacyChecker.com.
[Click seal for sample profile hosted on PharmacyChecker.com].
Tagged with: affordable prescriptions, Drug Importation, Drug Prices, Online Pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies
by PharmacyChecker.com | Nov 5, 2012 | Advocacy, Personal Drug Importation
Congratulations to President Obama on his re-election. We hope his next administration will heed the stories Americans are telling about their struggles to afford prescription medication. On that note, we loudly applaud our friends at RxRights.org for continuing to fight for Americans who are struggling to afford needed medication. A new webpage from RxRights.org brings testimonials from hundreds of Americans across the country into one place. Their stories remind us why access by Americans to safe, foreign online pharmacies is a matter of protecting the public health, and that blocking access will only endanger it.
Below are two excerpts from the new RxRights.org testimonial page:
“Current purchases of medicine from licensed online Canadian pharmacies are saving my wife and me at least $1000 per month and mean the difference between us living or dying. Without these meds, we would both be dead by now…” — Florida.
“My husband has COPD and in three months with Part D he is in the donut hole. Thank God for our Canadian pharmacy, they have helped to keep him alive for many years” — New York
SOURCE: http://www.rxrights.org/testimonials
Tagged with: Canadian Pharmacy, Drug Importation, RxRights.org
by PharmacyChecker.com | Jun 11, 2012 | Advocacy, Drug Importation, Healthcare Reform
It’s unfortunate, but now documented, that President Obama, who initially supported personal drug importation as a policy to lower drug prices, changed direction as part of a deal to gain the pharmaceutical industry’s support for his larger health care initiative. The details came out last week, as described in a New York Times article “Obama Was Pushed by Drug Industry, E-Mails Suggest.”
We hope that President Obama will return to supporting personal drug importation as the problem of high drug prices persists and tens of millions of Americans are going without needed medication. Although not publicly supporting it, fortunately, the government’s longstanding policy is not to interfere with individuals getting prescription medications from abroad. You can get information on licensed pharmacies and their drug prices on PharmacyChecker.com.
There are legislative actions in the works that could lead to a more aggressive enforcement policy through which personally imported medication could be destroyed. Americans can stop this from happening. Take action through RxRights.org to tell your elected officials where you stand.
Tagged with: Big Pharma, Drug Importation, Emails, Healthcare Act, Obama
