Essay Sample on The Problem of Prescription Drug Price Increase

Money has always been a problem for people when it comes to the purchasing prescription drugs. Insurance companies, Medicaid, and the government all play a factor in the reason to why many Americans are not able to afford the medications they need (Vincent, Rajkumar). The issue at hand is the increase in prescription drug prices and the spending on this issue is playing a part in the unsustainable health care costs in the United States. This rise in cost of such drugs is a clear product of the growing population and also the increased use of drugs in health care among all ages of people. Over the years there has been a shift in the cost of prescribed drugs towards the higher-priced products since there has been a higher need of them. This has led to the problem many families face of having to choose to either buy the drugs they need in a life of death situation or to pay their house bills. Due to this fear, it causes them to rethink the future problems of how they or how their children will be able to afford such medications, if the prices keep rising at such rates. 

There are many actions that have fostered this increase in prescription drugs, one being the existence of a monopoly. Having an exclusive market to sell one singular drug, one that is unique, no alternatives available, leads to no competition. Looking at this problem firsthand in the United States in the case of cancer, there are no known cures, which leads to the production of an abundance of drugs that need to be taken. Each drug is produced and distributed by different companies, and each patient will need each drug at one point, which in turn leads to paying a lot on drugs, but also the companies having no competition (Vincent, Rajkumar). Without the competition there the companies can make their prices as high or as low as they wish, since they know there is no other place to get the drug. Another example is in the insulin market and how there are major companies that leads to again no competition and again the high prices of the insulin drug needed for diabetic patients. In theory the idea of monopolies should vanish over time, due to competition that should arise. But, in some cases, such as the cancer case this will not happen, once the one drug expires or is titled as out of patent life a new drug will be created taking its place (Vincent, Rajkumar). 

Another action that has fostered this rise in prices is the seriousness of the disease and the cost of development of the drug. In some cases, if not most the high price tag is often paired with the high number of Americans or individuals with the disease or whom need the drug. You would think if more people needed a drug the price would be lower, but in the prescription drug world, a higher demand means a higher price tag. Drug companies think that since many people buy drugs to help the patient’s life be prolonged or to even save the patient, that they will pay any price to do so. Something that goes hand in hand with the higher demand of the drugs is the cost of what it takes to make such drugs and the time it takes. New drugs development, “takes about 12 years for a drug to move from preclinical testing to final approval.” this also leads to a higher price tag on developing it, which is said to be around $3 billion (Vincent, Rajkumar). The last action that fosters this rise of drug prices is the lobbying power of the pharmaceutical companies. This has put a roadblock in trying to reduce the prices, since the companies have this high power of lobbying. 

All of these vulnerable individuals, from the elderly to young kids have to suffer from this high cost of prescription drugs, while the government these companies benefit from up charging. Things have needed to change for a while now and there are few ways that this can be done. The first thing that can be done is by policymakers, which comes with a list of five things; making the government more responsible, stopping potential abuses and anticompetition that blocks the competition of prices, build a better drug market that will create price competition, fix the drug supply chain and make the drug supply chain more transparent, and lastly to ensure public accountability (Waxman, Henry). Another thing that can be done is by insurance companies, which is the insurance companies can pay and help for paying for such drugs better and at a greater percentage to help those who cannot afford it. Unlike other issues that the United States has the cost of prescription drugs is a nonnegotiable issue. This problem of not having an opposing side to this issue at hand causes and allows this high cost of such drugs, this doesn’t take into regard what the value of the drugs are. 

There are numerous ways that would make this situation better through drug pricing legislative proposals, which would not only benefit consumers but also businesses. The first is that it would allow seniors to have to pay less out of pocket. Now there are no laws or proposals set in place for seniors to make the price for drugs lower, even though a majority of older adults are the ones taking drugs. Second has to do with Americans with private insurance, having a lower drug price would decrease the spending these private organizations do on these drugs. This in turn would decrease the premium prices for consumers, “and consumers who purchase their coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces would save $35 billion,” this benefits consumer and would also save money for the companies (Rapfogel, Nicole). Third is the issue that was explained earlier about those with diabetes and the cost of the insulin that they need to purchase. The fourth way this helps is that disabled people would have lower prices for their critical treatments. There are price negotiations under H.R. 3 which would save almost $100,000 per month on certain treatments (Rapfogel, Nicole). Going along with nothing being able to afford the drugs has to do with race in some cases, even though that should not even pay a factor in prices for drugs. But, with such proposals this ‘problem’ of race could be removed, this is the fifth way. In particular those from and Asian, Latino, or Black races are affected from this drug price increase. A drug price reform could help with this issue which would lower the out-of-pocket cost for this group of people, which would in turn help them get the help they need (Rapfogel, Nicole). Also, in the United States people of color also have a lower income which makes them not able to afford these higher prices, but this reform would help them obtain the drugs to improve their health. The last thing is that women would also benefit from the lower price of certain expensive drugs. This goes back to the issue that people of color have with wages, women have lower wages which in turn would decrease their likelihood of buying the drugs they need (Rapfogel, Nicole). Such policies that limit drug price increases to the rate of inflation would help those women in need of lower drug prices. 

The United States has the highest price for the same prescription drugs as any other industrialized countries (Gutierrez, Gabriela). There are legislations such as the H.R. 3 and the Lower Drug Costs Now Act that are set in place to help lower the prices of such prescription drugs. Another way that the price could be lowered on these prescription drugs would be the federal investment so that drug research can be done. Most drug companies primarily focus on the amount of money that they will be able to make (Gutierrez, Gabriela). If the federal government gave money to the companies, it would allow them to spend more money on the research, they do then spend their budget on production, which in turn would lead to a lower price (Gutierrez, Gabriela). This leads to lower prices since they are spending more time researching the drugs, they produce will be more effective, leading to the more people purchasing the drug, allowing them to focus on the health of the Americans then focusing on the money they are making. 

With this universal problem of the high cost of prescription drugs, the Biden administration have been trying to get bigger price cuts on drugs (Sanger-katz, Margot). Any issue must start somewhere, in this case is the acknowledgement from the government first of the problem. From there are the efforts from the policymakers, drug companies, and congress to take all into consideration and decrease the cost of prescription drugs. From negotiations to limits being put in place these changes in price would consumers and the companies’ noticeable ways. Allowing consumers to afford those drugs they need, while allowing the companies to still make the money they need to still produce the drugs to help better the health of all Americans.