Prescription Drugs Essays - Pharmaceuticals Policy, Pharmacy

Prescription Drugs In a recent article, an MNBC correspondent brought up the issue of high prices on prescription drugs. Many of these drugs are special vitamins, as well as supplements that certain peoples bodies lack and need and are forced to buy. This poses a financial problem. If this were to happen in both Canada and the United States, many families in both countries would suffer severely for this medical reason, a reason they shouldn't have to pay for. In some aspects, this is selfish of the government. By leaving these drugs to be overpriced, the government is basically turning a blind eye towards the fact that many of these people are having to spend an extra thousand dollars, maybe an extra thousand dollars they don't have. The prices on these drugs could easily be regulated, but, as stated in the article, the money that these companies receive goes towards research and cures for the treatments these people are receiving. So it comes down to health care. Should the health care system pay for these? While it would solve problems, it would also produce them. People with privatize health care are settled, they put in a certain amount of money each month, and they get these medications along with the system. If a common health care system would pay for these drugs, two things would occur. First, the health cares budget would go down. Not just a little, but it would plummet. Health care coming out of taxes would not be enough, and as a result, taxes would be raised. This is probably the last thing people want. Secondly, many, many people would go away from the deal much richer. Basically, it's like asking for everyone else to pay for their problems. So who's to blame? Nobody, really. You can't say it's a persons fault for being sick and requiring medical help. Also, you can't expect everyone else to pay for them to get better, a lot of people can't afford higher taxes, and it's punishing them. So it is a problem with difficult solutions, but the best solution would be for the government to limit the high prices of these drugs, but at the same time, put more and more money into research for finding a cure for these illnesses. This would solve both problems, and with the budget in both Canada and the United States, this wouldn't pose too many financial problems. Bibliography http://www.msnbc.com/news/245699.asp