The pricing of meds makes little sense. Take your typical generic: the company that makes it, for pennies per tablet, has little overhead or risk. They did no R and D for the med. When someone sues for an adverse event, they usually sue the original company, not the generic one. Yet, if they want to charge $10 a tablet, they can. The newer, branded drugs often are better, or offer an advantage over generics; some generics do not work as well as the brand, for various reasons. These branded drugs, cash pay, can be ridiculous(an expensive new one used to be $3 per pill, not they can be $20 or $40 or $400..for some biologics, in the thousands for a month supply.
Other countries have price controls; that is what we desperately need. Congress has rumbled about this, but not passed anything. The companies themselves have accepted price controls, and agree that “something has to be done”(maybe they should voluntarily lower prices….but unlikely to happen).
In the meantime, Goodrx.com(good App also) works pretty well, often the same med at Walgreens for $250 is $60 at another pharmacy thru GoodRx. With the App, you don’t have to download the coupon.
The high cost of the drugs creates other problems as well; insurance companies balk, and create barriers for the docs(pre-authorizations etc., or the need for on the phone discussions “peer to peer”, which all takes a lot of time and effort; so, docs don’t prescribe the newer ones as much, to avoid all the paperwork, and the patient suffers for it). The financial burden on people is enormous; many have to decide, do I eat, or buy my diabetes or blood pressure meds??….not a great choice………
