Rising Prescription Medication Cost in the United States

Rising Prescription Medication Cost in the United States

Recently, there has been an increase in the cost of prescription medication in the USA. Citizens have had to spend more than average amounts of finances while paying for prescription drugs with indications that the price will further increase in the coming years. These costs are both borne by the individual citizens and the insurance providers, Medicare and Medicaid services. Several factors have contributed to the rise in the prices, which include the types of drugs and the dosages one requires. For instance, the price specialty drugs, like cancer, hemophilia, and Hepatitis C drugs, have considerably increased over the years, affecting the access and affordability of such medications.

The high cost of prescription drugs limits the access of such drugs to those who can afford to pay the prices. For instance, the limits to which medical insurance providers can contribute towards the purchase of such drugs remains limited. Healthcare problems like cancer, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and hemophilia affects all kinds of people. Making drugs affordable to only a section of the population creates an inequity in healthcare. People from low-income backgrounds will continuously be on the receiving end of such healthcare issues. Equity in healthcare would demand the elimination of any form of disparities in the provision of healthcare services. With the current increase in the cost of prescription drugs, the aspect of equity is repressed.

A just society ensures that goods and services are freely accessible and well distributed among all members within the community. With the increase in prices of prescription drugs, the evenness in the distribution of these drugs in society no longer exists. The drugs remain only to be well distributed to those who can afford the costs while those that cannot afford to stay alienated from the access. Pharmaceutical manufacturers consequently take advantage of limited competition in the market to advance this form of social injustice. This introduces the social classification aspect of healthcare provision and access in the USA..

The population most affected by the high cost of prescription drugs

The increase in the price of prescription drugs affects all Americans (Jenkins, 2019). However, the poor and those from low-income families are the most affected. Poor people have been demonstrated to have the least spending on healthcare services, especially the purchase of prescription drugs. With the increasing prices of these drugs, their access to such medications is further derailed. Prescription drugs are necessary for the containment of chronic conditions like cancer and HIV. These conditions are equally reported among people from all social classes. Limiting their access to only those who can afford them makes the poor and the uninsured more vulnerable to the effects of the rising costs.

According to a survey by the Center for Disease Control, people without medical insurance covers and those from low incomes are more likely to be harmed by the cost of prescription drugs. With most patients preferring cheaper options for prescription drugs, the increase in price consequently scares them from buying the drugs. For this reason, Young (2017) argues that most Americans are unable to get the medicines they require. Uninsured people are also vulnerable to the problem, with reports that most of them do not take the medications prescribed to them, citing the high costs. Low-income people, being unable to meet the costs of these prescription drugs, opt not to take these drugs. This has resulted in the deterioration of the health status among such populations.

Healthcare and health disparities related to the high cost of prescription medication

The high price of prescription drugs creates inequality in access to these drugs among Americans. A limited number of Americans can meet the high prices while the majority of low-income earners either opt for cheaper alternatives or completely go without these drugs. These alternatives are mostly less effective for the given medical conditions. For that reason, the health condition of low-income earners is negatively affected. Increasing costs of prescription drugs act as a limitation to better health for minority groups in America.

Income inequalities in the American population directly create the healthcare disparities observed in the USA. The poor have continuously been reported to have adverse health compared to the wealthy. The high costs of medication have made many low-income earners more miserable (Amadeo, 2020). The inability of people to access preventive prescription drugs results in a worsening of the medical conditions. Private health insurance plans are expensive for most of the population. While the wealthy can afford to pay for these plans, the poor cannot enroll for such policies. This also limits access to prescription drugs to the wealthy

Legislations and political activities related to the high cost of prescription drugs

The Trump administration has proposed a rule that will enable importation prescription drugs as well as strengthening Medicare services. Through these propositions, the federal government aims to cushion the citizens from bearing the high costs of prescription drugs. The importation will introduce competition to the local brands that are extremely expensive for most citizens. The House Democrats have also developed a proposal that would give Medicare the mandate to negotiate prices for prescription drugs. Negotiation is perceived to aid in the reduction and capping of the costs to ensure that they do not go beyond the affordable levels. Currently, manufacturers have a full mandate over the prices of prescription drugs.

Both Houses have also been intensively involved in legislative measures to reduce the costs of prescription drugs. According to Sachs (2019), the Lower Drug Prices Now Act introduced in the House of Representatives contains numerous changes that aim to lower the prices for prescription drugs. Some of the amendments were to add caps on the amounts a person can spend on prescription medication while restructuring the Medicare to ensure they cover the rest of the costs. These bills also introduce restraints on pharmaceutical companies from deliberately increasing prescription drug prices. Senate Finance Committee released an amended version of the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act that required pharmaceutical companies to pay for inflation as a rebate to Medicare (Wynne & Llamas, 2020).

Effect of the legislation on the consumer challenge

Through these legislations, Medicare has been able to negotiate prices for prescription drugs. Moreover, older people, above 64 years, have been allowed to enroll in Medicare plans through which they can get access to these prescription drugs. The amount that the elderly can directly contribute to the purchase of prescription medication has been capped, meaning they can only spend up to some amount while the rest is catered for by Medicare. The legislation has also enabled low-income earners to get access to some prescription medication. To some extent, it can be argued that the legislations have allowed access to prescription drugs to many patients, by making it quite affordable.