Paying Too Much for Prescription Drugs - Maybe There is a Simple Solution
A retiree asks why Congress, the current administration, drug company investors, and insurance companies are not pushing for pricing parity when it comes to the sale of prescription drugs in the United States and the rest of the world. For years the American taxpayer has been subsidizing the medical expenses of individuals living in countries that have socialized medicine and it is high time we level the playing field.
(PRWEB) September 25, 2004 –- I have often wondered why with all the brain
power that resides in the American drug company culture and Washington D.C., no
one has mastered simple sixth grade mathematics. Unless I’m missing something,
American drug companies could generate just as much profit if they uniformly
priced drugs somewhere between where they are currently priced in the United
States and where they are being priced elsewhere in the world.
As it
stands today, Americans are currently paying anywhere from 25% to 50% more for
prescription drugs than their foreign counterparts. Looked at another way,
foreigners are getting a 25% - 50% discount which means that the American
consumer is being forced to subsidize the medical needs of the international
community. I personally think it’s time this form of foreign aid come to a
stop.
If parity were brought to the marketplace internationally, the drug
companies would make the same profits, so what keeps the drug companies from
doing just that? Sure, the French would throw a hissy fit, but why should we put
the interests of the French ahead of the interests of our own
citizens.
I’m told that the primary reason for
the pricing differential between the United States and Canada relates to the
fact that the Canadian government buys drugs in volume. Why isn’t there a
company this country buying drugs in bulk and distributing them the same way
they are in Canada? For that matter why doesn't our government buy and
distribute them?
The key to such a program's success lies in pressuring
drug companies to not only raise the price of medicine outside the United States
but to reduce the price of medicine correspondingly here in the United States.
Until then, as US taxpayers we are going to continue to subsidize the medical
needs of people living outside this country and that just isn't right.
If
you want an answer to these questions, please contact the http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ [President and your
elected representatives], a few http://www.pharmacy.org/company.html [drug companies], and
your insurance company asking them why they aren’t taking the initiative to make
this happen. It’s a simple solution that would go along way in making life
easier for those in this country who are living on fixed incomes.
If you
don’t have the time to waste reiterating this open letter, all you have to do is
issue an invitation to them to read this appeal and that can be done if you copy
and paste the address appearing in your browser window in the body of your
message in the forms these individuals provide visitors on their web sites.
If you know their email addresses and are using Internet Explorer, go to
the “File” menu, select “Send”, and then email the page or a hyperlink to the
page accompanied by an invitation to read this letter. For that matter, you
might even save it as a favorite place and email it to your friends and
neighbors.
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/9/prweb160729.htm