Americans pay much more for generic and brand-name drugs than their counterparts in other countries.
The US Department of Health and Human Services compared drug prices in 2022 and determined:
U.S. prices across all drugs (brands and generics) were nearly 2.78 times as high as prices in the comparison countries. U.S. prices for brand drugs were at least 3.22 times as high as prices in the comparison countries, even after adjustments for estimated U.S. rebates.
Anyone prescribed an epinephrine auto-injector understands the exorbitant costs involved in obtaining and keeping current your supply of the lifesaving drug.
There are a number of reasons Americans pay so much more, including a lack of universal healthcare, a fragmented health insurance industry, and the inability of the government to negotiate prices directly with drug companies for all consumers as many other countries do.
Another reason is the byzantine system we have in place that relies on a specific middleman to negotiate drug prices with insurance companies and pharmacies: Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs).
The New York Times published an article this June entitled “The Middlemen — The Opaque Industry Secretly Inflating Prices for Prescription Drugs,” well worth the read if you have a subscription.
Here is the Times video that accompanied the article with an excellent description of who these middlemen are and what they do:
How are you coping with today’s drug prices? Let us know in the comments section below.
- The Middlemen — The Opaque Industry Secretly Inflating Prices for Prescription Drugs — The New York Times
- Our Reporter on How Pharmacy Benefit Managers Work — The New York Times
- Comparing Prescription Drugs in the U.S. and Other Countries: Prices and Availability — US Department of Health and Human Services
