Cost of Drugs in USA

[midlifebear]

Setting the Mise en scène (you can skip this part, but I like to include lots of stage dressing):
Our otherwise comfortable lives, sans souçi, were recently interrupted when The Squeeze's mom, my Italian-born Argentine mother-in-law, began what is still a continuing and agonizing decline because congestive heart failure. OK, so three weeks ago we picked up and flew to Buenos Aires. Family, after all, is family.

Four days ago I had to leave my husband's side in BsAs for a quick visit here to the good ol' USA -- land that I love -- and discuss "bidness" with the cowboy CPA firm in Elko, Nevada. They are good cowboy CPAs and have kept me out of the pokey by making certain I pay all the US taxes, real and imagined, I owe. And I always owe a whole bunch. But wait . . . somewhere between Spain and Elko I mislocated my Omnaris nasal spray. Spring is in full force in the Sagebrush Steppe and Omnaris keeps people like me with chronic sinusitis due to various allergens happy and free to breathe through our noses. So, I visit my local cowboy doctor Internist person. I request a prescription for Omnaris. He not only writes me a prescription, but also gives me a form to fill out that includes a credit card-type thingy that he suggests I send in, because it will discount the cost of the Omnaris by $11 US. Yes, a whole eleven bucks. Cost for my drop in visit/physician's appointment: $125.

Schticker Schock (everyone read this so maybe someone can post a legitimate rationale why the cost of medicine in the USA is so high that every red-blooded, patriotic 'Mericuhn should be willing to pay even more, if asked):
I go to SAVON Drug in Elko and hand over the prescription for one -- count it -- one Omnaris nasal spray containing 50 mcg of ciclesonida, which is the technical name for the brand name drug. The following is a run down of what I have paid for the same quantity, brand name, and made from the same manufacturer/pharmaceutical company (NYCOMED) since last November, 2009:

Cost for Omnaris in USA: $126 after $11 discount.
Cost for Omnaris in Oaxaca, MX: 203 Pesos (about $18 in US Dollars) no discount. :smile:
Cost for Omnaris in Buenos Aires: 58 Pesos (about $17 US) no discount.:smile:
Cost for Omnaris in Barcelona, Spain: (0, zip, nada) no discount.:biggrin1:*



*I participate in Spain's national health care, because I'm a tax-paying Spanish Resident.

I wanted to breathe at night free of sinus congestion while I'm in the USA for the next 10 days. I forked over $126. No one bought me dinner and a movie.
Note to self: write down check list before packing so I never forget anything -- especially medication -- regardless where I'm going.

But really, $251 just to breathe comfortably through my nose? Why?

Please discuss

 

[HazelGod]

You think that's bad? You should see what they're charging for a dime bag these days.

 

[sbat]

The only thing worse than your situation, bro, is having your sinus problem but not $250

 

[midlifebear]

You think that's bad? You should see what they're charging for a dime bag these days.

A pox on thee, HazelGod. You made milk come out of my nose!

 

[Lex]

IMO, all drugs are highly over-priced in the USA, even the over the counter medications. $10 for naproxen sodium? Really?


The pharmaceutical industry is capitalism at its best.

 

[D_Portelay Porquesword]

I opted to apply for the program the pharmaceutical companies offer for folks that cannot afford meds. (Montel Williams is the face of that campaign)

It turned out to be a joke. The discount they offered was less than what Walgreen's offered if I applied for their store card!


These companies have bottomless pockets, they earn billions upon billions and they cannot help. They only say: ".....may be able to help." Right. Help or stop offering to do so all together.

 

[cdarro]

Far too expensive in our semi-regulated system here in Alberta. I can only cringe at the stories I hear about from the US, assuming they're accurate.

 

[SpeedoMike]

My M.D. suggested a trial of Abilify but at $1,000 per month that was out of the question. I never will know if would help until it becomes generic, which probably won't happen within what's left of my lifetime.

 

[Bbucko]

At one point in 2002 my insurance was paying somewhere on the order of $5600 per month for my various medications; my co-pays were over $175 and (happily) were paid for by the local ASO (AIDS Service Organization) through the Ryan White CARE Act (which is an earmark, BTW, not an entitlement).

Because of budget shortfalls (mostly on the state level), there are currently hundreds of Americans living with HIV/AIDS on Ryan White waiting lists and who therefor are not able to take the medications required to keep them alive.

In case anyone thinks this to be a transient phenomenon, people have died over on RW waiting lists over the last five years: death panels, anyone?

Edited to add this link from the Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation

 

[hypoc8]

My insurance doesn't cover Nexium. For a 30 day supply Walgreens wants $199. A generic isn't available here.

I did some checking around online and ordering through a place in Canada I can get 180 days supply of generic Nexium for I think it was $75 including shipping.

IMO it all boils down to plain ole GREED!

 

[Guy-jin]

A year's worth of cetirizine-HCl is $20. I don't call five cents a day overpriced for my primary allergy medicine. :smile:

Generic drugs can be acquired for quite cheap. Drugs that are not yet generic are expensive because the drug company spends a ridiculous amount of money to get drugs approved by the FDA. They need to recoup those losses as well as losses for the multitudes of drugs that don't make it through FDA approval.

Most people don't realize just how much drugs cost to develop and get approved. In my opinion, the price of drugs is generally fair.

At the risk of getting political, and that said, the government should cover the high cost. It is the government's oversight that makes drug development cost so much in the first place, so it only seems fair to me that the government ought to help recoup those losses by assisting the populace in acquiring them. As it is, the incentives for the FDA to make it less expensive for the drug company are not strong, and the consumer's tendency to blame the drug companies doesn't really solve the issue because it's the government they ought to be getting upset with over inefficiency.