The crisis in the cost of medicines in America is well-known.\u00a0 Americans spend more on prescription drugs \u2014 average costs are about $1,100 per person per year \u2014 than spent anywhere else in the world. \u00a0And the prices can be staggeringly high.\u00a0 For example, cancer drugs in the U.S. routinely cost $10,000 a month.<\/p>\n
These costs are often not directly <\/em>borne by the average American who has insurance coverage.\u00a0 Generally speaking, private insurers and government programs pick up the biggest share of the bill.\u00a0 However, high drug costs directly <\/em>impact health care premiums and taxes \u2013 both of which are rising.<\/p>\n Those rising costs impact the financial stability of the nation.\u00a0 Why is this the case?\u00a0 Unlike other countries, the U.S. doesn\u2019t directly regulate medicine prices. \u00a0In Europe, governments negotiate directly with drug makers to limit the cost to their state-funded health systems. \u00a0In the U.S., drug companies can more or less set whatever price the market will bear for those receiving medicine through the Medicare program. \u00a0Private payors, such as employer health plans, typically negotiate discounts for their enrollees.<\/p>\n As a result, patients in the U.S. directly pay about 17 percent of prescription medicine costs out of their own pockets. \u00a0In a 2013 survey, one in five adults in the U.S. said they failed to complete a prescribed course of medicine because of cost. \u00a0The figure was one in ten in Germany, Canada and Australia.<\/p>\n If private employers negotiate for the price of medicines and states limit drug choices to help offset costs, who looks out for those without health insurance <\/em>coverage or for seniors whose costs aren\u2019t fully covered under Medicare Part D?<\/p>\n Other than possible help offered by drug companies or pharmacies, New Yorkers without coverage are left to comparison shop for the lowest drug prices.\u00a0 The state of New York tries to assist that effort by collecting drug prices for the most widely prescribed drugs.<\/p>\n Under New York law, the state Health Department has created a website to allow consumers to comparison shop for the most frequently prescribed medicines.\u00a0 The website allows consumers to search as many as six medications simultaneously by zip code, county or city.\u00a0 For consumers who lack adequate coverage for prescription drugs, the Department\u2019s website could yield considerable savings.\u00a0 The law also requires that at the checkout area of each pharmacy a written notice must be provided informing consumers about the availability of the website.\u00a0 (The website can be found at: https:\/\/apps.health.ny.gov\/pdpw\/SearchDrugs\/Home.action<\/a>.)<\/p>\n The need that could be filled by this program is real.\u00a0 According to recent U.S. Census information, over one million New Yorkers lack health insurance, meaning they must pay full retail price for prescriptions, and \u2013 as mentioned earlier \u2013 seniors in the Medicare \u201cdoughnut hole\u201d also face cost pressures for medicines.<\/p>\n A recent review of what pharmacies are charging showed a shockingly large range in retail prices across the state.\u00a0 In fact, a recent survey of prices posted on the state Health Department\u2019s website by the New York Public Interest Research Group, in some cases consumers could be paying as much as $200 more for the exact same prescription in the exact same region.<\/p>\n NYPIRG reviewed fourteen regions of the state and examined the prices for six of the most frequently prescribed medications.\u00a0 NYPIRG found an enormous range in prices charged, with the greatest disparity of $207 in prices for Advair Discus in Manhattan.\u00a0 In the city of Albany, the drug Advair Discus had the greatest range in price \u2013 a difference of nearly $154.<\/p>\n Clearly, it pays for consumers to shop smart.\u00a0 Yet, those comparisons only work if the public knows of the existence of the program.\u00a0 Under New York State law, each pharmacy is required to post a sign alerting the public to the drug pricing website.\u00a0 Yet, when NYPIRG spot checked that requirement, it found that only about 40 percent of the pharmacies had the required signage.<\/p>\n Given that at least one million New Yorkers need to know the costs of their medicines, the state must do better.\u00a0 If costs are too high, those who can\u2019t afford medications often go without.\u00a0 Not taking needed medicines can result in devastating consequences.<\/p>\n Of course, expanding coverage is the best response, but in the meantime, New York must make sure that this program works.\u00a0 New York should publicize the website, make sure pharmacies are conspicuously displaying the website information and come up with an easier-to-remember website address so the program can benefit all New Yorkers who could use some help shopping for prescriptions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The crisis in the cost of medicines in America is well-known.\u00a0 Americans spend more on prescription drugs \u2014 average costs are about $1,100 per person per year \u2014 than spent anywhere else in the world. \u00a0And the prices can be staggeringly high.\u00a0 For example, cancer drugs in the U.S. routinely cost $10,000 a month. These […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2114,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113\/revisions\/2114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}