Prescription Drug Cost Essay

The American healthcare system is a most expensive in the world. According to Kennedy and Wood (2016), many people are nonadherence to medications due to the cost, making it harder to afford the medicines, which in return “linked to the exacerbation of chronic conditions, increases health care use, and greater health system costs” (p. 1804). The EpiPen has been in the news due to the cost increase of 550% in the last eight years (Meyer, 2016, para. 5). As mentioned by Meyer (2016), “A Kaiser Family Foundation survey last month found 77% of Americans say prescription drug costs are unreasonable, with 82% backing giving Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices” (para. 7). The drug industry lobbied Congress and was successful to bar Medicare from negotiating drug prices in the Part D program in 2003 (Meyer, 2016, para. 13). The brand-name drugs are more expensive than generics; and the doctors who receive payments from the pharmaceutical industry prescribe more brand-name drugs to their patients (“The Cost of,” 2016).

The generic name drugs cost 80-85% less than the brand-name version, making it affordable as well as increasing the patient compliance (“The Cost of,” 2016). According to the article “The cost of generic and name-brand drugs” (2016), 80% of the prescriptions are filled with generic medicines in the USA. The state governments, nonprofit groups, and some pharmaceutical companies offer assistance programs for the patients who cannot afford medications; however, the patients have to apply for eligibility to receive medication assistance (WebMD, 2015, p. 1). The state government programs coordinate with Medicare to provide assistance to the elderly, disabled, and low-income population as well as patients with chronic conditions such as HIV or end-stage kidney disease (WebMD, 2015, p.