Getting Out Of Reach :: essays research papers

acquiring Out of Reach Prescription medicine legal injurys atomic number 18 rising practically faster than the rate of general consumer inflation. The most heavily affected are those who can least afford it, like older Americans living on fixed incomes, and the working poor with inadequate or no health insurance. The train in drug prices is causing the public to ask why. The reasons embarrass the immense research comprises, consumer advertising and the growth of managed care. The continue rise in prescription drugs costs has touched off intense public wall on how best people can get some relief. roughly politicians and consumer groups eat up pushed for some form of price controls. Drug companies oppose price regulations. They contend it would restrain innovation in an industry that invests billions of dollars annually on research. Joe Madera, a retired man in his late 60s living in Pomona, CA, pays much than $250 a month out of pocket for prescription drugs to maintain hi s diabetes nether control. Medicare covers his doctor bills and any hospital visits, but the federal health political program does not cover prescription. While this mans household income is fixed, the cost of his medication just keeps going up. Most Americans do not scent the increase in drug prices directly because they purchase prescription medicines finished their employee health plans or their HMOs, where they do not pay the full price, practically making only a $10 or $20 co-payments. The rise in drug prices does hit this group indirectly. Many health insures have blamed higher drug cost as the reason shadower hikes in medical premiums or restriction of benefits. One reason why retail prices are going up is hat the new times of drugs is expensive to get down. The cost of research and developments are high. Creating a complex, genetically engineered drug versus producing a conventional drug is like the difference between manufacturing a Ford Escort car and designing a fi ne German Mercedes-Benz. Indeed, the process of taking a drug from the laboratory to the patient is a lengthy one, requiring years and costing millions of dollars. And success is not guaranteed. Often at that place is a huge difference between how a drug behaves in the test tube and how it acts on humans. New drugs typically require some(prenominal) phases of tests on humans to demonstrate that they work and do not produce serious side effects. Only one medicine out of fiver makes it through human clinical tests, a representative for the Pharmaceutical inquiry and Manufacturers of America argue.