Meanwhile, taxpayers and seniors are asked to foot the rising bill for their drugs, no questions asked. As a consequence, drug manufacturers are able to create monopoly conditions, set high prices while raising them dramatically every year, and coast on revenue from old products. That’s because Medicare is prohibited from negotiating better prices. Since Medicare began paying for prescription drugs, it has been dealing with pharmaceutical companies with one hand tied behind its back. Nearly half of Medicare Part D spending goes toward paying for seniors’ medicines in the catastrophic coverage phase, after they’ve already spent thousands of dollars out of pocket on prescriptions. The United States is paying three times more than other countries for brand-name drugs. Earlier this summer, Gallup reported an estimated 18 million Americans were unable to afford a prescription due to its cost at some point this year. Related: Big pharma’s unconscionable insulin racket endangers people with diabetes It is essential to avoid the wrong path and to lower costs for Americans through Medicare negotiation while continuing to promote genuine breakthroughs, largely driven by small, innovative biotech companies. Negotiation would use the bargaining power of the 50 million seniors who get their medicine through Medicare Part D, taking their collective power back from the drug companies who control it today. Congress is debating a measure that would allow Medicare to negotiate a fair price with pharmaceutical companies. Taking out a mortgage for survival is a grim prospect.ĭown another path is a course correction on America’s runaway health care costs. In this scenario, the result of drug companies’ unchecked power could be that many more Americans will borrow for life-saving treatments the way they borrow for homes and educations. They’ll continue launching headline-grabbing drugs at outrageous list prices, even when there are questions about whether those drugs truly work. Down one path, pharmaceutical companies will continue hiking drug prices much faster than wages grow for typical Americans. America is at a crossroads when it comes to paying for prescription drugs.
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