The Price of Drugs Continues to Increase Save

Drug prices increased an average of 10% in 2015 (after a 13.5% increase in 2014) and includes big name drugs from major pharmaceutical companies. This comes at a time when generic drugs have skyrocketed to the point of inciting a Senate investigation, and rare drugs for rare disorders being overpriced by companies like Valeant.

On average, branded drugs increased 14.77% according to Truveris, a health-care data company that tracks drug prices. They found that generics rose 3%, gout drugs increased 33% and medications for erectile dysfunction increased 20 percent. (http://buff.ly/22Vqa7r)

Pfizer increased its prices 10.6% for more than 60 branded drugs according to the Wall Street Journal. With an upcoming merger with Allergan, Pfizer prices will increase 9-20% for more than 100 drugs (http://buff.ly/1PVfBKD).  Amgen increased the cost of Enbrel by 8% in late December, after an 8% increase in September and a 10% increase last May. Enbrel costs more than $36,600 a year. 

Manufacturers explain such cost hikes are reasonable given the benefits, the need to fund on-going research and increased pricing by competitor agents. They also point out these increases fail to disclose programs designed to help those with financial constraints and the aggressive discounts or rebates that are provided insurers and other payers.

Nonetheless, escalating drug prices has garnered the attention of law makers and presidential candidates, including Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Marco Rubio, who have attacked the escalations and proposed various measures to rein them in.

This comes at a bad time as one in four adults are struggling with the cost of their medical bills (http://buff.ly/1Zj9dPT). A survey by the New York Times and the Kaiser Foundation found 26 percent of adults had problems paying medical bills over the last 12 months. While the uninsured (53 percent) were most affected, having insurance did not protect against the financial problems from medical bills. This is compounded by rising deductibles and less coverage by insurers who are trying to contain costs.