The need for the cost of medicine to go down

The rise in the cost of medicine is a pain that's felt by most people except pharmaceutical companies. Even with top government leaders promising a drop in the cost of medicine, the prices only go higher and higher, with consumers sinking in deeper and deeper healthcare debt. Margaret L. Salmon.

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Image source: drugtopics.com

Drug manufacturers rarely take the blame for the price hike. Instead, they point it out to the list price, or the amount usually reduced by additional payments to middlemen like pharmacies, which only benefit officials and health insurance companies. Patients are no strangers to this practice. The increase hit their wallets as their insurance deductibles reset every beginning of the year, which would require them to pay for their medicine straight out of their pockets. Margaret L. Salmon.

One would think that the answer to the problem is generic medicine. However, manufacturers of generic drugs don't help the case. In 2015, a recall for 257 generic drug products was made as they were either hard to dissolve, outright fake, or contaminated. Pharmaceutical firms utilize strategies that help them monopolize the industry. Before seeing a drop in the cost of medicine, government and business leaders must first develop policies that prevent pharmaceutical companies from becoming monopolies. Margaret L. Salmon.

Leaders must put a stop to restrictive distribution programs for generic drug manufacturers to conduct bioequivalence studies on sample medications. Pay-for-delay agreements should not be entertained and must be eliminated to enable generic competition to develop drug products for less. Margaret L. Salmon.