In an online survey that was taken this past year, due to the high cost of prescription drugs, 44% of the answers showed that they did not fill their prescribed medication. Some even went as far to cut their pills in half so that their prescriptions would last longer. This can lead to serious health problems, requiring more treatments (at a higher cost), and even death.
Some of the most common prescriptions needed, like insulin, are about $250 per vial. Depending on the person, some may need up to 6 vials per month. An average price for someone relying on insulin to stay healthy is about $1,300 for one month without insurance. There are other cheaper options available with insurance but that depends on who your insurance provider is. One option is trying to switch to a cheaper insulin, which has to be approved by your doctor and might not work for everybody.
In addition to paying for insulin there are additional supplies needed. One of the additional supplies needed are insulin pumps. On average with insurance an insulin pump ranges from $5 - $3,250, without insurance it can range from $4,500 - $6,500. Another additional price is a glucose monitor ($40 - $60) without insurance and it can be another $100 a month for test strips. Majority of insurance companies cover glucose monitors for type 1 diabetes. While some insurance companies are slowly starting to cover them for people with type 2 as long as they are not insulin dependent.
Do you think that prescription drug prices should be lowered?
Do you think individuals with insurance should have to pay more than people without?
What do you think could be done to lower prescription drug prices?
https://www.singlecare.com/blog/insulin-prices/
https://www.medicinenet.com/how_much_does_a_glucose_monitor_cost/article.htm
https://www.thepricer.org/insulin-pump-cost/
Replies
Good job overall Claire! Good topic choice as well! Your summary is well done but I would like to see more of your thoughts and opinions in your summary.
I think that prescripion drug prices are definetly too high for some people that need them and I think that they should be lowered to acomadate the people that are in need. I think that everyone should have to pay the same price for their prescription drugs and the overall price should be affordable for the average person.
I agree, prescription drugs prices need to be lowered so that everyone can afford and pay for their prescription drugs. I also agree they should cost the same for everyone. I also think that the manufacturers should not be able to take advange of people who need prescriptions to stay healthy.
The declaration of independance states that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness. It's a no brainer that life saving perscription drugs should have their prices lowered ten-fold. If you don't have the right to life, then somebody has screwed up. We shouldn't even need insurance to make sure we don't go into crippling debt over an epipen. We could get lower drug prices by doing what most other developed countries do. lower drug prices on a federal level.
I agree, that insurance should not be needed to be able to pay for prescription drugs. The prices could also be lowered by the manufacturers since prescription drugs don't cost as much to make as the price they cost. Which is determined by the manufacturers.
I think prescription durgs should be more afforable because peolpe who might not be able to affored the medication and have no insurance could potentially die depending on how bad their condition is. I don't think you should have to pay more if you have insurance sure their are people who have good soruces of icome and insurance but not all jobs that provide insurance and people who get insurance other ways dont always have enough for people to pay more. Prescription drug prices could be lowered if more medication was made in the U.S.
I think that prescription drug prices should be lowered because most drugs are over priced. I think that if you have insurance, you should pay less than someone without. You're choosing to pay extra for it so you should get a discount, otherwise it will encourage people to drop their insurance which is very dangerous.
I agree, that if people who don't have insurance pay less then people who pay for insurance to get a discounted price on their prescriptions some people will decide not to pay for their insurance. I also agree that they are way to overpriced.
I do believe the perscription drugs cost could be lowered at least a little bit. It's hard for people who don't have a good income or who are unemployed to pay for medicine that could possibly saving their life, without that specific perscription it could be life risking. Although I don't believe that people with insurance should have to pay more for the people who don't have it. It's not their fault that person can't get the medicine they need, it's not fair to those people because in the end they could be paying double because of the perscriptions they need along with the insurance to help people with theres.
I agree, if you are already paying for insurance you should not have to be paying for insurance and can be paying for an overpriced prescription. Since some people need a certain perscription to keep them healthy and even save their life they should be lowered not only for the people who struggle to pay for them but everyone.
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