Who should pay the high cost of new drugs: Patients or governments?

Patients

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by William Clark II

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Begrudgingly, I write in favor of patients paying the cost for new drugs, because no matter what, we will have to,either by directly paying out of pocket,paying higher insurance premiums,or by paying higher taxes. The Pharmaceutical Industry is large,powerful and know that our very lives depend on them. Because of this,they have no incentive to lower the cost of new medications, nor will they unless compelled to.

If the government stepped up to the industry, and demanded that they stop inflating the price of drugs, and enforced fair price control, we would all benefit. First off you need not worry that the pharmaceutical company would stop making new drugs, or continue to research new and better ones, because the very nature of capitalism would ensure that someone else would fulfill the demand. Thus breaking the monopoly of the conglomerate's and opening the door to smaller companies that would be more cost efficient.

Once a monopoly is broken, the larger corporations are forced to become competitive,meaning they would have to lower their prices to retain customers and revenue. Just as any other industry does, and would have to keep on producing quality products.

By breaking the monopoly, the United States citizens could pay far less in their prescriptions each month, regardless of lack of insurance,or whether you have Medicare or Medicaid, and it would actually make insurance and government subsidized premiums lower, thus saving everyone money.

This would not be an easy task to do, because it would take a lot of pressure being put on our government to even make this feasible. With so many politicians being dependent on Pharmaceutical money to fuel their campaigns, they have a vested interest in keeping things just how they are, and the legion of lobbyist that work for the Pharma's. help ensure that their industries interest are being catered to.

Without the intent of sounding condescending towards other nations in any way,what so ever. The reason why most other Industrialized Countries can afford to pay all or part of their citizens pharmaceutical care is because the American people, have already paid for the research,development ,advertising and manufacturing of the drug. From then on out the manufacturer can then sell to other countries at a substantially reduced rate. Couple that with governments that are not "In bed." with the industry, and so set a price control,in which they negotiate the price from the manufacturer,in order to receive a fairer price for their citizens. It then seems absurd that the U.S does not do the same for their people.

My parents owned a construction company for many years, that worked mainly with government contracts, the government had no problems with setting the prices and negotiating the cost of a specific project when it came to building for them, yet will not stand up on behalf of the people when it comes to the pharmaceutical industry, to ensure fair prices for the American consumer.

The pharmaceutical Industry in the United States, has a system they use when developing new drugs. First is research and development, which take years and cost a large amount of money. Then animal and human trials,with a team of Doctors,researchers and other medical personnel tracking and documenting the drugs effectiveness and side effects. The next step is manufacturing, which means new equipment,more labor and other such expenditures as necessary to make the drug.

Finally there is advertising; The glossy handouts at your Doctors Office, the commercials on television, and the team of drug reps that go about the country,convincing your Doctor to prescribe this medication by means of bribery. Some gifts by drug reps can be as small as taking them to lunch at a nice restaurant, all the way to golf clubs,Opera tickets,or health spa certificates. Some of them have been visiting the same Physicians for years and know how to convince them properly by appealing to their interest and hobbies. Not all Doctors are like this, and a great deal do not pay any heed to them and prescribe what is best for patient's, but enough are convinced by such means that it is profitable for the drug companies to engage in such dubious practices. *The gratuities for the years 2001-2002 came to be 9.4 billion dollars alone.* (Source- Lisa Gibbs-Money Magazine.)

All of this cost big money, and the system works by having the American consumers pay for all of it, after that the company can then sell to other countries at substantially reduced rates. For example, it is cheaper for a non insured person to buy almost all of your medications on line, with them coming from Canada, then it is to pay for it at your local pharmacy. What is infuriating is the fact that it is produced here,shipped over the border,then brought back over to this country via a courier service, and still cost less. To verify this go on line and see how much one of your prescriptions would cost from an on line pharmacy,then call your local pharmacy to see what they would charge for it. You will find that almost always it is cheaper to import.

It would only be fair that the drug companies sell the American made medications at the same rate they sell to foreign countries, by having our government do the same for us. They could still make decent profits,and it would certainly help in keeping Social Security solvent for much longer.

So why does our government not do the same for us? Because, as outlined above, too many of those that could make such a difference are profiting by keeping medications inflated as they are.

Such a vicious circle this thing called greed...

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