PILL PRICING
Certainly, some government agencies must have become mixed in recent times. It seems as if NASA is pricing pharmaceutical products these days and coming up with some fantastic, barrier busting prices, too.
Well, maybe not NASA . There is much more common sense and acceptable reasoning in what they do, than in this matter of deciding how much drugs are to cost those in need.
If you wish to consider the matter honestly and fairly, you will not be crowded in doing so because not too many people seem to be at that location at the moment. Far to many of those who are interested have private axes to grind, too. We hear words of condemnations between election times from political voices which fade off into the distance when positive reductions in drug prices are considered. Critics will say that is because they are being lead around in obedient PAC packs. The leashes are, for the most part, often difficult to see in the overall picture.
How are drug prices fixed? It may be that I chose a faulty word there - “fixed” - but, on second thought, I'm not going to change it even though it does contain a slight suggestion that some hanky-panky - some “rigging” is going on somewhere when the prices are set on the drugs we have to pay for one way or another. The latest study I have read indicates that average - the “average” price, mind you, of a prescription is seventy-three dollars!
I've been through this oh-so-proper and business-like, price-setting routine myself – and I learned long ago not to put much trust in such business conclaves. We were dealing with a manufactured item and the actual cost of production was known to a fairly accurate degree. I would assume in the making of medicines it would also be possible to ascertain what materials used actually cost, as well. As rule those who, in any way dealt with the product, were called together in the General Manager's office. Such meetings were usually made up of twosomes; head of each department and an underling, male or female, who actually knew what was going on and could provide numbers and dates required. Such meetings were often called for “first thing in he morning”, coffee cups in hand , or just before quitting time in afternoon, again with sustaining coffee cups in hand. After hearing the reports of several of the departments concerning actual costs - their portion of it - repetitive dullness became apparent and the tally being kept on the budget easel up front was climbing rapidly. Discussion became the mode, and someone who had grown tired of the whole procedure did what I never dared do – and made a motion that “we price the item a few dollars over the price being asked by our competitors if we felt we could get away with it” price it a few dollar under the competitive price if we were not too sure of the quality or its marketing potential. The price decided upon had little or nothing whatever to do with the actual manufacturing cost. I'm afraid that' s pretty much the way drug prices are being set - with the accent on the “how much can we get away with”side.
The departmental envy problem was apparent in such sessions and that precluded any realistic price being set. A step-by-step analysis of actual costs is essential if prices are to be set at levels commensurate with assuring the drug companies of a reasonable profit and better prices to consumers.Drastic changes are needed in determining the extent of exclusive rights to product before it becomes generic in nature. Public awareness of the true situation must be strengthened, as well, because far too many people think that if insurance in some form “takes care of it” - even part of it – they are “home free”. In time, they pay for it in higher insurance rates and other ways of shifting costs around until the user meets the supposed cost thereof.
Profiteering pill pricing is a prime peril! And, the longer we wait to take corrective measures the worse it is going to become! We cannot expect the ill to continue to use over half of their monthly income to pay for prescription drugs.
A.L.M. October 26, 2002 [c727wds]
