User:Kvaldezh/Medication costs

The process of creating drugs to testing them to selling them is a long process. Aside from the costs for research and trials, many consumers are unaware of the process of the drug supply chain. There are many middlemen and companies that buy and sell the drugs. This includes "drug manufacturers, drug wholesalers, pharmacies, and payers." Big Pharma's influence in the policies and regulations regarding drug patents and prescription costs, protects pharmaceutical companies from having to be transparent about where the money goes and who those high prices benefit, including Pharmacy Benefit Managers. Transparency between drug manufacturers and sellers increases accountability between producers and consumers and allows for patients to know more about what they are paying for. Prescription Drug Price Locators allow for patients to learn of more cost-effective sellers and find discounts that will benefit them.

In an effort by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to regulate drug price transparency in television advertising in 2019, the HHS saw a resistance to change against legislation. Although what the HHS sought to change was a step in the right direction for drug price transparency, Federal Judge Amit P. Mehta ruled in favor of the pharmaceutical industry. The ruling was based on the inability to give the HHS such power to enact such legislations. Policymakers have a lot to take into account when regarding the issue of transparency, as there are many middlemen involved in the selling and buying of prescription drugs.

The effects of high prescription costs on consumers also affects their long-term health and overall life expectancy. When properly used, a medication can benefit a patient and cure their disease. When a patient cannot afford to pay for their medication, they lose out on the optimal benefits of proper and adequate dosages. High prescription costs don't just affect patients in the short run, but also deteriorates their overall quality of life, as they are exposed to chronic illnesses that could have been prevented by that first prescription. Evidence from studies indicates that insulin therapy as a treatment for patients with high glucose levels that are not yet diabetic, leads to a decrease in insulin resistance, which benefits patients.