HEALTH CARE

Drugs Lead the Cost Increases

The increase in prescription drug costs accounts for 44 percent of the rise in health care costs this year. Some of the increase can be justified by the use of drugs in lieu of surgery or a newly-created drug for a condition that previously was not treatable by drugs.

Over the last several years, the FDA has taken drug manufacturers to task for their practices. They have been fined for substandard production processes; called on the proverbial carpet for failure to fully disclose harmful side effects; and have had an unprecedented number of drugs pulled off the shelf because of adverse outcomes resulting in serious illnesses and death. The influence of pharmaceutical firms in a Republic-dominated Congress stands to jeopardize this consumer protection focus.

Specific problems that have contributed to the increased drug expenditures include the following:

• Manufacturers continually seek to extend patent protection for drugs well beyond the legal limits set for other patents. Additionally, they have delayed the introduction of generic drugs through litigation and payments to the generic manufacture.
  
  
• Manufacturers spend billions on direct-to-consumer advertisement of drug products that are often only marginally (if at all) more effective than drugs currently on the market. Such ads generally downplay the potential for serious side effects.
  
  
• Detailers (pharmaceutical sales representatives) are a constant presence in doctors’ offices promoting new, more expensive drugs that are frequently no more effective than existing generic drugs.
  
  
• The industry targets children by using popular cartoon characters to push drugs that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined to be less effective than cheaper drugs in dealing with the same condition.
  
  
• The pharmaceutical industry promotes "grassroots coalitions" (such as Citizens For Better Medicare), research studies and experts as independent, when they are frequently controlled and/or financed by industry.
  
  
• The industry attempts to defend exorbitant profits on the grounds they are needed to research cures for Alzheimer’s, cancer, and other devastating conditions while ignoring the fact that funds allocated to marketing, administration and profits dwarf R&D expenditures.

At the same time the government has been taking aim at questionable industry practices, others have joined to fight the ongoing rounds of price increases. Rx Health Value is a private sector coalition of health plans, large employers, unions (including the UAW), and consumer advocates. A major focus of the group will be to improve drug safety records. The coalition is also determined to slow the rate of increase in the cost of prescription drugs which many coalition members have seen remain at more than 20 percent for each of the last three years. The coalition hopes to counter the impact of direct-to-consumer advertising and the detailing in doctors’ offices. In an initial effort, it has called on the FDA to tighten controls on drug advertising efforts which fail to adequately disclose the potential for adverse side affects.

In this Section:

Introduction
Prescription Drugs
Patients' Bill of Rights
2001 Agenda

In This
Section:

Introduction

Prescription
Drugs

Patients' Bill
of Rights

2001 Agenda