A few months ago everyone was in an outrage over the 400%
price increase for the Mylan epi pen, since then people have not been
talking about it as much, but this problem has not gone away. Mylan epi pens
are still almost $600 for a two pack and even with insurance coverage families
are paying around $100-$400 out of pocket for a drug they need to potentially
save their life in the case of an allergic reaction.
For low income families it is hard to afford this drug, and
if your child needs to keep one at home and one at school at all times then you
need to make sure you are keeping up with the yearly expiration date. Paying
that much money every year to keep your child safe is ridiculous and if I was a
parent to a child with a life threatening allergy I would be in an outrage too.
For years Mylan was the only company to produce the epi pen
but since then a cheaper generic
version of the device that delivers the epinephrine (medicine used in the
epi pen) have shown up in the market. Mylan simply raised the prices because they
could. No other companies were producing a way to get this medicine injected so
they decided to raise the prices and that’s just not right.
Now that a Generic version is coming out Mylan is just
hurting themselves economically but we still have to consider this new price of
epi pens. Now that new companies are going to start producing their own
versions of the epi pen they will most likely be charging less then Mylan to
make a profit, but how much less?
A hacker group created a DIY version of an
epi pen that only costs $30, to show people that they don’t need to be spending
hundreds of dollars for an epi pen. Since this has come out it shows that these
new companies who want to create a generic version should not be charging
anywhere near $600 for an epi pen.
People need to continue
to voice their opinions on the epi pen prices and not stop until a generic version
comes out that is cheap enough for anyone and everyone to afford.
"No other companies were producing a way to get this medicine injected so they decided to raise the prices and that’s just not right."
ReplyDeleteMerely saying that something is "not right" does not make it so.
"new companies who want to create a generic version should not be charging anywhere near $600 for an epi pen."
I do not think you understand how pricing works in a capitalist economy. Historical attempts to set prices from the top-down tend to end badly (USSR, Venezuela).
"People need to continue to voice their opinions on the epi pen prices and not stop until a generic version comes out that is cheap enough for anyone and everyone to afford."
One of the major problems with society these days is that people feel that *talking* about something is equivalent to *doing something* about something.
"I do not think you understand how pricing works in a capitalist economy. Historical attempts to set prices from the top-down tend to end badly (USSR, Venezuela)."
ReplyDeleteIt is insufficient to simply say that top-down pricing tends to end badly in this case. Bottom-up estimation also accounts for what else is available on the market and for what price. However, since it has been proven to be a relatively cheap drug to produce, the differential between Mylan's price and any new price would come under a moral purview to a certain extent. U.S.-market drug pricing in particular gives a large amount of power to drug and insurance companies. It will be interesting to see if a significant undercut by a new company would be a better long term financial strategy to remain competitive.
I'm curious as to what specifically you (Carl) would like to point to by bringing up the USSR (I assume the 'moral policies' during the 80s but what specifically is comparable?).
"People need to continue to voice their opinions on the epi pen prices"
Not everyone cares about epi pens either - maybe what you were going for here is the trend the epi pen cost hike represents: the growing cost of drugs in the U.S.
It's very true that 'talking' does not always equate with 'doing,' unfortunately. And legally speaking there is very little the average person can do at present to influence drug prices (besides promote bad publicity and refuse to buy). We experience the double-edged sword of a capitalist economy mixed with a populace and government leery of federal influence in healthcare. "Medicare cannot, by law, negotiate with pharmaceuticals," for example. (http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/28/health/us-pays-more-for-drugs/)
While capitalist competition may promote advances in drug development, powers negotiating for the patients could indeed use some voices.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-29/epipen-s-69-cost-in-britain-shows-other-extreme-of-drug-pricing-itnvgvam
I'm not sure what 80s "moral policies" you're thinking of, so I can't directly address your question. My USSR reference was based on my inference that the OP was favoring an economic system where prices were dictated by the government rather than the free market. For many years, the Politburo created a "Command Economy" first within the USSR and after WWII including the Warsaw Pact nations. Which worked right up until the point when it stopped working.
DeleteNow that Venezuela is tanking, the only other extant example of a Command Economy would be North Korea. China and Cuba are countries that used to have them, but are transitioning. In my original comment, I thought about bringing up President Nixon's 1970 flirtation via "wage and price controls", but did not for reasons of space.
Rising drug prices (and health care costs) is a reflection of a failure of the free market. "Regulatory Capture" and "Crony Capitalism" along with the necessity for political compromise to get get Obamacare passed are to blame. (Which is why the bill was amended to prohibit Medicare from negotiating.)
At the second debate, both Clinton and Trump spoke about this issue. Voting for whichever one you feel would be more effective would be one way to effect change.
While I do not agree with the Epipens price increase, I think it is irresponsible of the author to highlight the "DIY Epipen"; these hackers are obviously inexperienced and my biggest worry is that the patient going into anaphylactic shock will be inadequately treated because the dose will either be ineffective or wayyy too strong.
ReplyDeleteYes, it sucks that Mylan currently has a monopoly on the epinephrine market, but they are doing a surprising amount to compensate. The "free Epipen coupon" (depending on your insurance plan) is available on the Epipen website; not to mention they have discounts from 20%-50% if the individual is paying out of pocket. I have also heard that Mylan is promoting programs to give out free Epipens to many public schools across the country. I would never give my child a "DIY" Epipen, especially when it seems like there are many avenues available to obtain an affordable one.