Congress Should Address Real Medicare Drug Problem

June 18, 2003

As the debate rages on in Congress over providing a prescription drug plan for Medicare patients, both parties continue to trim back the limbs instead of getting at the root of the problem.   Yes, there’s a problem with some seniors being able to afford their medication but why?

Let’s look at the real problem.

According to the AARP, a record number of people over the age of 45 are taking prescription drugs.   According to their study, more than three in four persons age 45+ are taking prescription medications on a regular basis.   The average person 45+ is taking 4 prescription medications per day!   This issue is totally ignored in the national debate.   Americans are over-prescribed and that’s one of the reasons their drug bills are so high each month.  

Anti-depressants alone have grown into a $12 billion dollar industry in America.   Over 7 million of us are on an anti-depressant.   We’re also bombarded with advertisements for all sorts of cure-all pills.   The next time you hear a commercial for “The Purple Pill” note that most of those commercials don’t even tell you what it does.   They merely urge you to “ask your doctor if The Purple Pill is right for you.”   We are already programming generations of young people to follow the drug prescription route.   Experts tell us that, on average, 2 to 3 students in every classroom in America are on Ritalin or some other behavior-modifying drug.  

Couple the alarming increase in prescription drug use in this country with the skyrocketing cost and you better understand how we got to this debate over paying for prescription drugs for seniors.

 

But why do drugs cost so much?  

There are many variables but it basically boils down to the relatively short window in which drug companies have to make money off their new drug before it goes generic.   There are ways to address that.   First, it seems it would be much more cost effective from the taxpayers’ standpoint to beef up the FDA and expedite the drug approval process.   I’m not saying we should rush drugs to market but many drug companies complain that the red tape adds years to a process that should take mere months.   Understand that the clock is ticking from the time the drug company files for a patent on a drug.   They have around 17 years to make hay while the sun shines and several of those years are eaten up in the approval process.

The President and Congress have addressed the drug cost issue by improving access to generic drugs, which are cheaper.   What that does is drive up the initial cost of drugs before they go generic because the drug company is trying to recoup its costs and make a profit.   How many cancer patients do you know who are willing to wait 17 years for a generic drug because it’s cheaper?   It stands to reason that the sooner the drug goes generic, the more expensive it will be initially, and that’s when everybody demands the drug.

The most important part of this whole debate is there is no prescription drug crisis for seniors.   Doctors tell me that there are all sorts of programs to help those in need get drugs at low cost.   The drug companies themselves have programs providing low-cost drugs to those who can’t afford them.   This whole notion of having to choose between food and medicine is a bunch of bovine scatology fabricated by the left-wing advocates of socialized medicine.

The prescription for curing the so-called senior citizen drug problem is simple.   Take a dose of common sense and call me in the morning.