Why do my prescriptions cost so much?

This is a question so many of us ask ourselves every time we go to have a prescription filled. The short answer is that Big Pharma has made medications that can save our lives and that gives them a lot of power to charge us what they want.

With that in mind, advocates within our current healthcare system are trying to stand between you and higher healthcare costs. Things like pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs are trying to negotiate those prices so that our employers and ourselves get a better deal on life saving drugs. They are able to come to these manufacturers with the force of a wholesale purchase. If you or I had to negotiate a drug price alone with a large drug manufacturer, we would be at the mercy of these huge companies and their desire to be paid.

It is very costly to be sick for both you and your employer. No one within the current healthcare system has more to lose financially than you and whoever writes your check. As an individual you have to rely on good insurance options that your job offers. Without advocates like PBMs and insurance companies, both you and your employer are at sea without a paddle.

It can be easy to blame the person we write the checks to. Our insurance company and the drug store. Understanding the very tangled and delicate healthcare system the way it currently stands can be overwhelming. Big Pharma is hoping that it stays complicated and that you don’t know about the specifics so that they can gain control of their own price points and actually make it more expensive.

No one enjoys being told how to manage their healthcare choices but without these advocates, we simply won’t be able to afford the new choices we would be offered. Insurance companies and PBMs have the ability to track large numbers of results and efficiency patterns associated with available medications. Although we may love our current doctor and respect his opinions, it’s comforting to know that those opinions are mixed with the vast knowledge that comes with these entities and how they can see the data on a larger scale. Better and more knowledgeable care means lower costs for everyone.

The question now should be what keeps our drug prices from getting any higher. With past and potential future legislation, that is exactly what could happen. We need to make sure that we inform ourselves about the process of our healthcare system before we fall victim to misleading messaging we get from people like Big Pharma. Knowledge is power and that is how we fight these higher prices.

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