It’s no secret that Americans pay far more for prescription drugs than consumers in any other country in the developed world. Most European countries impose price controls on Big Pharma that keep their prescription drug prices to less than two-thirds of what Americans pay.
Obviously, Big Pharma doesn’t want that happening here — which may help to explain why Pfizer has funded a new Rand Corporation study saying that lowering drug prices through price controls would have horrific consequences for Americans.
How horrific? It would actually reduce the length of your life!
As Reuters reports:
Imposing European-style price controls on prescription drugs in the United States would result in modest cost savings that would be more than offset by shortened life spans as the pace of drug innovation slows, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. They said lowering insurance co-payments would be a better way of attacking the problem of rising prescription drug prices in the United States, which pays more per capita for pharmaceuticals than any other nation.
“We found policies that regulate the prices of drugs could result in modest savings for consumers, in the best cases on the order of $5,000 to $10,000 per person over a lifetime,” said Darius Lakdawalla of the nonprofit Rand Corporation, who worked on two studies appearing in a special report on drug pricing in the journal Health Affairs.
“But in many other cases, those policies resulted in very substantial losses to consumers in the form of reduced life expectancy and those would be worth tens of thousands of dollars”…
They said introducing price regulations into a largely unregulated market like the United States would result in less investment in developing life-saving drugs, which in the long run would reduce the life expectancy of Americans.
I found it interesting that Pfizer’s funding of this little project was not mentioned until the 11th paragraph of the story.
I also found it interesting that there is no mention of the fact that in most European countries with prescription drug price controls, life spans are longer than in the United States.
Way to keep your eye on the ball, Reuters.
A final point to ponder: Rand says its study is objective. It just happens to put the burden of healthcare price reform on Big Insurance rather than Big Pharma, by saying the solution is to find a way to lower drug co-pays.
Do you think if the study had been funded by Humana or some other big insurance provider, Rand’s report might say something different?
-
-
Search Blog Posts
-
Save Even More Money!
-
-
Trending Content
-
Watch our YouTube Video
-
Categories
Big Pharma Buy prescriptions online Canadian drugs Drug costs Drug reimportation Drug safety eDrugSearch.com FDA Health 2.0 Healthcare100 Healthcare blogs Healthcare solutions Low-cost drugs Medicare Part D Merck Online pharmacies Online pharmacy safety Pfizer Pharma bloggers Pharmaceutical companies Pharmaceutical marketing Pharma cheerleaders Prescription drug abuse Prescription drug prices Prescription drugs Prescriptions Wal-Mart drug plan -
Blogroll
- Bullet Wisdom
- Bulverde Business Directory
- Christian Counseling San Antonio Tx.
- Christian Schools in San Antonio Texas
- Christian Social Network
- Christians United for Israel
- DrugWonks.com
- Eye on FDA
- GoozNews
- Health 2.0
- Hunting Forum
- In the Pipeline
- Jesus Christ Our King
- John Hagee Ministries
- Kevin, M.D.
- Local Search Marketing
- My $299 Website
- Pharm Aid
- Pharma Marketing
- PharmaGossip
- Pharmalot
- San Antonio Asphalt
- San Antonio Life Insurance
- San Antonio Pressure Washing
- Storage New Braunfels Tx
- Texas Wildlife Supply
- The Angry Pharmacist
- The Health Care Blog
- The Peter Rost Blog
- World Vision
-
Tags
big pharma Canadian drugs canadian pharmacies canadian pharmacy consumer reports craig newmark divine healing Drug costs drug prices Drug reimportation eDrugSearch.com FDA Fosamax Generic drugs healing scriptures Health 2.0 healthcare reform Hypertension Jehova Rophe Jesus Christ Lipitor Metformin miracles nabp online pharmacy dictionary online prescriptions osteoporosis peter rost Pharmacies pharmacists pharmacychecker pharmacy spam phrma Prescription drugs prescription medication Proverbs 3:5-8 reimportation relenza Roche saving money SSRI swine flu Tamiflu The Great Physician The Lord our Healer -
Recent Tweets
- eDrugSearch Blog Rank on the Healthcare100: http://t.co/VJprL4LZWl [#]
- New blog posting, How to Get Prescription Medication Without Health Insurance - http://t.co/1ZdLavB87d [#]
- 10 Tips for Safer Prescription Drug Use http://t.co/GFnMIN1mCy [#]
- New blog posting, How to Beat High Drug Prices By Comparing Low Cost Pharmacies - http://t.co/fsZ0stNZme [#]
-
Archives
-
Recent Comments
- Heather Sturges on What is the Difference Between Effexor and Cymbalta?
- Lupe Machol on Cost of diabetes drugs has nearly doubled
- Manpower For Hospital In Pune on Why is Medicine Cheaper in Canada?
- Jen on How a Canadian Pharmacy Can Help You Offset Drug Price Hikes
- nino iarajuli on Vending machine dispenses prescription drugs